For Immediate Release
April 29, 2007

MANASSAS – Vpstart Crow Productions will continue its 2007 season by presenting one of Swedish playwright August Strindberg's most fascinating works, The Ghost Sonata, May 4-20 at The Cramer Center, located at 9008 Center St. in Old Town Manassas, VA.

Helmed by Artistic Director Christine D. Lange, the production will runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., with a pay-what-you-can preview on Thursday, May 3, at 8 p.m. There will also be a talkback with the audience immediately following the matinee on Sunday, May 6.

Written in 1907 and also known as Spöksonaten, The Ghost Sonata is about a young, naïve student, who idealizes the lives of the inhabitants of a stylish apartment building in Stockholm. He makes the acquaintance of the mysterious Jakob Hummel, who helps him to find his way into the apartment, only to find that it is a nest of betrayal, sickness and emotional vampirism. The world, the student learns, is hell and human beings must suffer to achieve salvation.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students, seniors, military personnel, and City of Manassas and Prince William County employees. For ticket reservations, please contact BoxOfficeTickets.com at (800) 494-TIXS or visit www.boxofficetickets.com/vpstartcrow. For group sales, please contact Vpstart Crow at boxoffice@vpstartcrow.com or (800) 660-8580. For more information, please e-mail Vpstart Crow at info@vpstartcrow.com, call (800) 660-8580 or visit www.vpstartcrow.com.

Meanwhile, Vpstart Crow will also hold auditions for Conrad Seiler's The Wonderful Adventures of Don Quixote on Sunday, May 13, from 6-9 p.m., and Monday, May 14, from 7-9 p.m., at The Cramer Center.

Callbacks, if necessary, will be held Tuesday, May 15, from 7-10 p.m. The production will run July 13-29, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at The Cramer Center, with a pay-what-you-can preview on Thursday, July 12, at 8 p.m.

The Wonderful Adventures of Don Quixote is based on the famous novel The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha (or El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha), written in two parts by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605 and 1615. Don Quixote tells the tale of a young village woman's uncle who, after reading about chivalry, now imagines he is a knight himself named Don Quixote de la Mancha. Despite tearful concerns by his niece, Antonia, Don Quixote – with his good horse, Rocinante, and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza – ventures forth into the world for the sake of his imaginary lady, Dulcinea del Toboso, to right wrongs, and challenge his imaginary arch enemy, the Knight of the White Moon. Meanwhile, Antonia has confided in her housekeeper, who seeks advice from the village scholar, Dr. Carrasco. Dr. Carrasco then concocts a plan to bring Don Quixote to his senses, and the adventure begins!

Director Jamie Bartosavage Erdman is seeking to cast 16 actors. No appointment is necessary. Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. Callbacks will also consist of cold readings from the script as well as movement exercises. Some who are cast may be asked to play multiple roles, and all actors will be paid a small stipend covering all rehearsals and performances at the end of the run.

For more information, please contact Ms. Bartosavage Erdman at info@vpstartcrow.com or (800) 660-8580, or please visit www.vpstartcrow.com.

ABOUT VPSTART CROW PRODUCTIONS, INC.
Founded in 1994, Vpstart Crow Productions, Inc. (pronounced “upstart”) is a non-Equity and non-profit professional theatre company dedicated to performing the works of William Shakespeare and other theatre classics. Vpstart Crow’s mission is to produce live theatre as a vital, accessible and exciting part of community life. Employing a resident company of local professional actors and artists of the highest caliber, Vpstart Crow is dedicated to breaking down the barriers between audience and actors in a performance style that is thought-provoking and altogether vpstartling.

The term “vpstart crow” comes from one of Shakespeare’s rival English playwrights, Robert Greene. In his 1592 pamphlet, Groats-Worth Of Wit Bought With A Million Of Repentance, Greene criticizes Shakespeare: “… for there is an vpstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his tigers hart wrapt in a players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you; and being an absolute Johannes factotum (“Johnny-do-it-all” or “Jack-of-all-trades”), is in his owne conceit the onely ‘Shake-scene’ in a countrey.” In fact, Vpstart Crow spells its name with a “v” rather than a “u” in reference to the way the English language was written in Shakespeare’s day.

Press contacts:
Christine D. Lange
Artistic Director
Vpstart Crow Productions, Inc.
(800) 660-8580
artistic@vpstartcrow.com

Sara Joy Lebowitz
Managing Director
Vpstart Crow Productions, Inc.
(800) 660-8580
managing@vpstartcrow.com

Jay Tilley
Public Relations Consultant
Vpstart Crow Productions, Inc.
(571) 216-7419
sagart16@yahoo.com