FROM BROADWAY TO WHITE PLAINS, STARS UNITE IN THE WORLD PREMIERE OF RENOVATIONS

WHITE PLAINS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (WPPAC) is pleased to announce the world premiere production of Andrew Gerle’s RENOVATIONS, directed by Mikhael Tara Garver and starring Todd Cerveris (South Pacific) as John Marchese, Lenny Wolpe (Wicked) as Tully Marchese, with Ken Forman (Wilder, Wilder, Wilder), and Liz Larsen (Hairspray). This all-star cast includes nominees of the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Drama-Logue Awards.

RENOVATIONS will play a three-week limited engagement at the White Plains Performing Arts Center (11 City Place, White Plains, NY). Performances begin Thursday, March 17 and continue through to Sunday, April 3. Opening Night is Saturday, March 19 (8 p.m.). Tickets are $39 ($29 previews) and are now available online at www.wppac.com or by calling 877-548-3227.

In RENOVATIONS, a magazine writer attempts to reconnect with his construction worker father by renovating a house near his hometown of Scranton, PA. This captivating new play strikes a universal chord as it explores both the humorous and painful aspects of the father-son relationship.

The production features scenic design by Eric Southern, lighting design by Seth Reiser, sound design by Will Pickens and costume design by Katja Andreiev. Libby Unsworth is the stage manager.

RENOVATIONS plays the following regular schedule through April 3:

Thursdays at 8 p.m. – Saturdays at 8 p.m. & Sundays at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $39 ($29 previews) and are now available online at www.wppac.com or by calling 877-548-3227. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theatre Box Office or by calling the box office at 914-328-1600 (Hours: Monday-Wednesday 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Thursday & Friday 11:00 AM – intermission; Saturday 2:00 PM – intermission and Sunday 12:00 PM – intermission).

Running Time: 90 minutes (no intermission)

Website: www.wppac.com

Directions: The White Plains Performing Arts Center is located on the 3rd Floor of City Center, downtown White Plains. City Center is a retail/entertainment complex that also includes Shop Rite, Target, Barnes & Noble and Cinema de Lux. City Center is located between Mamaroneck Avenue and North Broadway off Main Street. The entrance into City Center is found at the intersection of Main Street and City Place, between Mamaroneck Avenue and North Broadway. There is a municipal parking garage attached to the City Center building for all patron parking. It is a metered parking system and charges 75 cents an hour 24/7.

BIOGRAPHIES

TODD CERVERIS (John Marchese) Broadway: South Pacific, Twentieth Century. Off-Broadway: Almost Maine, The Booth Variations, The Butcherhouse Chronicles, Time and The Conways. National Tours: Spring Awakening, Twelve Angry Men. The Acting Company. Regional: Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Actors Theater of Louisville, Old Globe Theatres, George Street Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, Portland Stage, others. Film & television: “White Collar,” “Nurse Jackie,” “One True Thing,” “Living and Dining,” “Law & Order.” His work as a writer/director earned him a 2010 Gold ADDY Award and Top Ten Honor.

KEN FORMAN (Valentino, Donny, Lou and others) recent work includes The Miracle Worker and The Diary of Anne Frank (Bay Street Theatre) and Accidentally, Like A Martyr and 33 To Nothing (Wild Project). He was also in Late Fragment and From Riverdale to Riverhead (Studio Dante) directed by Michael Imperioli. He appeared on Broadway in Wilder, Wilder, Wilder – Three By Thornton (Tony nomination for Best Revival) and in over a dozen plays with the Willow Cabin Theater Company. He was on the national tour of I’m Not Rappaport (Vincent Gardenia) and in People Die That Way, I Want You To and Tom Noonan’s What The Hell’s Your Problem? (Paradise Theater), Suicide Sam (Axis Theatre Co.), The Black Monk (Connelly Theater) and Richard II (11th Hour Theatre Co.), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Roundabout), Measure For Measure (New York Shakespeare Festival), Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth (Theatre For A New Audience), and I Stand Before You Naked (American Place Theatre). He’s been on TV in Boardwalk Empire, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Criminal Intent, Chappelle’s Show, Welcome To New York, and Up All Night. He is also in the movies Lonely In America and Hacks.

MIKHAEL TARA GARVER (Director) is an immersive theater director who has worked at the Atlantic Theater, American Repertory Theater, Collaboraction Theater, American Conservatory Theater, The Kitchen, Bard University, Grand Arts Center, New York University, American Theater Company, Timeline Theatre, Court Theatre, and Steppenwolf Theater Company. Select New York world premieres: The Legislative Process; Checkpoint; First Odd Prime; a musical immersive Black Snow; nonplay: shadows of a dream; and Juvenal Players by Pablo Helguera. Various Chicago directing credits: why they invented dancing; The Pool of Bethesda (After Dark Award); Enter Alice; Recent Tragic Events (Top ten shows Time Out/Chicago Tribune); The Violet Hour; Faith Healer(Jeff Award); and Orange Lemon Egg Canary. B.S. Northwestern University. M.F.A. Columbia University. Time Out Chicago Top 20 People to Watch 2007; National Theater of Scotland’s 2009 Emerging Artists. Artistic Assoc. SITI company. Upcoming: Cloud 9 (Atlantic Theater); Choice (The Culture Project); Fornicated From the Beatles (A.R.T.); Experiment Rplay (ICA). In development: Once Upon a Time (site-specific to premiere in NYC in September, 2011); In No Particular Order by Matt Wilson; Gloryana by Andrew Gerle; The Water Play by Sarah Gubbins (currently in workshop at The Goodman Theater); and a large scale Death of a Salesman Cycle; among others. www.mikhaeltaragarver.com

ANDREW GERLE (Playwright) Composer, playwright and pianist Andrew Gerle is a three-time recipient of the Richard Rodgers Award for musical theater writing, administered by the Stephen Sondheim and American Academy of Arts and Letters, for The Tutor (book and lyrics by Maryrose Wood), and recently won his fourth for his original musical, Gloryana. With lyricist Eddie Sugarman, he won a 2006 Jonathan Larson Award for their show, Meet John Doe, which received seven Helen Hayes nominations for its world premiere at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC., and he received the first Burton Lane Fellowship for Young Composers from the Theater Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. He has recently been collaborating with librettist Royce Vavrek on new works for The New Ensemble Theater Company, as well as an opera, The Beach, which was selected for New York City Opera’s 2011 VOX reading series. His play Renovations was recently included in The Blank Theater’s Living Room Reading Series in Los Angeles, and will be premiered in 2011 at the White Plains (NY) Performing Arts Center. A revue of his songs, “Say We Flew”, will play at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in NYC in March.

Andrew has been a Fellow at the MacDowell Artists’ Colony and a writer-in-residence at the Sundance Theater Institute at Ucross and the Eugene O’Neill Musical Theatre Conference. As a musical director, he has worked on dozens of Off-Broadway, regional and touring productions, and was heard as the “hands” of Coalhouse Walker, Jr., in the recent Tony Award-winning revival of Ragtime. He has served as musical director and accompanist for such distinguished artists as Kitty Carlisle Hart, John Raitt, Jennifer Holliday, Leslie Uggams, Liz Callaway, Mary Testa and Michael Rupert. A CD of his jazz arrangements of the songs of Maltby & Shire with vocalist Christa Justus was released in 2010 under the PS Classics Label. His book, “The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition”, will be published this March by Hal Leonard (Applause Books). He is on the faculty of Yale University, where he teaches musical theater songwriting. Please visit www.AndrewGerle.com.

LIZ LARSEN (Mia, Rosemary, Sunny and others) Broadway: Broadway: Hairspray, Smell of the Kill, The Rocky Horror Show, Most Happy Fella (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics noms, Drama-Logue Award), Damn Yankees, Fiddler on the Roof, Starmites, A Little Night Music, Annie. Off-Broadway: Bingo, A New Brain (Lincoln Center) Loman Family Picnic (MTC) DuBarry was a Lady (Encores), New Yorkers (MTC), Him & Her (Fringe Performance Award), Such Good friends (NYMF performance award), My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding (NYMF performance award) Nat’l: Sunday in the Park (Helen Hayes Award), Baby (Helen Hayes nomination), TV: “The Sopranos,” “My Guys” (series regular) “Exit 9” (series regular) “Law & Order” (10 years recurring), “Law & Order: SVU, (4 years recurring), “Exiled”, “Sex and the City,” “Deadline,” “The Street.” Husband: Sal. Young men: Alessandro, Joey.

LENNY WOLPE (Tully Marchese) Broadway: Wicked (The Wizard), The Drowsy Chaperone (original Feldzeig), The Sound of Music (created title role), Copperfield, Into the Light and Onward Victoria. National Tours: Wicked (Wizard), Little Shop of Horrors (Mushnick), Guys & Dolls (Nathan), South Pacific (Billis) and …Forum (Hysterium). Off-Broadway: Company, Wonder Years, Brownstone. Regional: The Baker’s Wife (Baker opposite Alice Ripley), Gypsy (Herbie opposite Betty Buckley), and The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (Paper Mill), Into the Woods (Baker-TUTS), Radio Gals (Dramalogue Award) and A Class Act (Pasadena Playhouse), She Loves Me (Westport), Fiorello, Of Thee I Sing, Mack + Mabel (Reprise – LA) Rothschilds, No Way to Treat a Lady (Coconut Grove), Black Comedy (Pioneer), Stepping Out(McCarter)

THE WHITE PLAINS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization, based in downtown White Plains, is dedicated to the presentation and production of a full spectrum of performing arts events for the City of White Plains and its surrounding communities.