Closing Out The Town Hall Theatre 2018/19 Season Is WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

Closing out the Town Hall Theatre 2018/19 "Lost & Found" Season with a bang is WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, a sizzling musical farce of female resilience, with book by Jeffrey Lane, music and lyrics by David Yazbek, based on the Academy Award nominated film by Pedro Almodóvar. WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN will have 12 performances, including two previews, May 30 through June 22, 2019, at Town Hall Theatre Company, 3535 School Street, in Lafayette, CA. Tickets are $18 - $35, and are available through the Box Office at (925) 283-1557 or online at www.TownHallTheatre.com.

THT will host four Special Events for WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN: an Opening Night Gala on Saturday, June 1, 2019; LIT UP at Town Hall, a literary salon, on Wednesday, June 12, 2019; and Theatre Club, our post-show talk-backs with complimentary wine, on Friday, June 7, and Friday, June 21, 2019. For WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, Town Hall Theatre's newest community partner is "Dress For Success San Francisco."

At each performance through June 9th, Town Hall's audience members can make a difference in the lives of women across the Bay Area by donating new and gently-used handbags, shoes and office attire.

Newly revised and streamlined for the London West End, WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN whisks us off to sexy 1980s Madrid, and to the unravelling world of a voice-over artist - Pepa - Pepa's wandering lover, the lover's wacky ex-wife, their son and his fiancée, Pepa's angsty model friend and her suspicious boyfriend, plus a lawyer, and a talkative taxi driver. All this black comic chaos is served up with a very specially laced gazpacho, and an irresistible Spanish-flavored beat.

"When I was a boy, I grew up surrounded by strong women ... the kind of generation of women who saved our country from the [Spanish Civil] war," the Spanish director Pedro Almod var said, in a symposium shortly before the London premiere. It was these women who passed on to him the "inspiration for the female characters" he has created throughout his career. The vibrant Pepa and her female friends in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown are ultimately survivors. Even the eye-popping Technicolor colors which are a trademark of the film, and now imbue the musical stage version, are more than a simple fashion statement, representing an expression of release from the many years of a repressive regime.

Town Hall Theatre is excited to be offering the Bay Area a first look at the West End 2015 revised version of Women on the Verge. In an interview, composer Yazbek has said he and Lane wanted to revisit the show because they wanted to focus more on the main character's story, keeping the story thread clear. Yazbek describes the show as not only very funny, but also quite timely and moving.

THT's creative team for WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN is composed of 75% female theatre artists, including the Director, Music Director, Choreographer, Sound Designer, Costume Designer and Properties Designer. WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN is directed by Dawn Monique Williams with music direction by Lindsey Schmeltzer, choreography by Roberta E. Inscho-Cox, and showcases an ensemble of amazingly talented Bay Area performers: Patricia Pitpitan as Pepa, Sheila Viramontes as Lucía, Marah Sotelo as Candela, Keaton Wilkerson as the Taxi Driver, PAUL PLAIN as Iván, Madison Gerringer as Marisa, Steven McCloud as Carlos, Debbie Lynn Carriger as Paulina, and Gianna Capozzi, Isabella Capozzi, Reginald Clay, Kathy Ferber, and Carolina Morones in the ensemble.

The award-winning team of designers, boasting credits from all around the Bay Area, include: Martin Flynn (scenic design, previously designed Song of the Nightingale among many other productions at Town Hall); Delayne Medoff (lighting design); Lana Palmer (sound design); Valera Coble (costume design); and Debbie Shelley (properties design).

WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN is a stage adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar's film of the same name. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown had workshop readings in October 2009 and March 2010; the latter was directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher. The musical opened on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre in Lincoln Center on November 4, 2010. The regional premiere of the musical took place in September 2014 at the Theatre at the Center in Chicago. A West End production, also directed by Sher, opened at the Playhouse Theatre in January 2015, starring Olivier Award-winning performer Tamsin Greig. Celebrities that have starred in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown include: Patti LuPone (Lucía), Salma Hayek, Jessica Biel, Matthew Morrison, Justin Guarini (Carlos), Sherie Rene Scott (Pepa), Brian Stokes Mitchell (Ivan), Danny Burstein (Taxi Driver), Paulo Szot (Iván), Mary Beth Peil (Concierge) and Laura Benanti (Candela).

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