Fayetteville native Rebecca Harris to star in first TheatreSquared production
NWA’s professional theatre announces Bad Dates team
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – TheatreSquared, Northwest Arkansas’ professional regional theatre, has hired an artistic team for its opening show, Bad Dates, in May. Rebecca Harris, a Fayetteville native now living in Pittsburgh, will star in the sophisticated new comedy by Theresa Rebeck. Also on board are Amy Herzberg, director, Michael Riha, set and lighting designer, and Valerie Robison, costume designer.
Harris, who graduated from Fayetteville High School, has accumulated an impressive list of credits both in New York and around the country. She has appeared Off-Broadway in such cutting-edge work as the Improbable Theatre’s Lifegame and originated roles Off-Off-Broadway in plays by Romulus Linney, Dan O’Brien, and Ian Belton and in the Anne Bogart-directed American Silents. Regionally, besides working at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and the City Theatre in Pittsburgh, she has acted with Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre and Houston’s Alley Theater, where she was directed by Edward Albee in his The Play About the Baby. Her television credits include “Life on the Line,” “Sex & The City” and “Law and Order.” Film credits include Road and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Harris has an MFA in acting from Columbia University.
Director Amy Herzberg has numerous acting and directing credits from around the country, though she will be most familiar to area audiences through her work with the UA University Theatre, including, most recently, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change and Parade. She and assistant director Morgan Hicks are both founding company members of TheatreSquared. Set and lighting designer Michael Riha heads the design program in the UA drama department, where he has designed scores of shows for the University Theatre main stage series. He will be the chief designer for the Muni Opera In Saint Louis this summer.
Rounding out the Bad Dates production team are costume designer Val Robison of Rogers and stage manager Jennifer Cozens of Gentry.
Bad Dates opens May 18 in the Studio Theatre at the Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios and runs for three weeks. A sophisticated combination of Sex in the City, Bridget Jones’ Diary and The Sopranos, the New York Times called the play both “savvy” and “disarming” after its Off-Broadway debut. It has since enjoyed considerable success at regional theatres around the country.
TheatreSquared is a regional company of professional artists dedicated to producing exceptional theatre for both adult and youth audiences, along with innovative educational programs. True to its purpose, the company’s second show, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, is aimed at children and their families. It is slated to open in the beginning of August, also in the Studio Theatre. For each of its shows, the not-for-profit TheatreSquared expects to hire a mix theatre professionals from the area and around the country.
For further information about TheatreSquared, its upcoming season, or how to help, visit www.theatresquared.org or email Managing Artistic Director Kassie Misiewicz at kassie@theatresquared.org.
Who: Actor Rebecca Harris and other theatre artists
What: TheatreSquared hires Bad Dates team
When: Announced on April 3; opens May 18.
Where: Fayetteville, Ark.
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