Friday, October 03, 2008

The Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Tom Wojtunik as Artistic Director.

Wojtunik, who last year directed Proof for APAC, brings a wealth of talent and experience plus an influx of humor, passion for storytelling, generosity and inspiration to the new season line-up.

The 2008-2009 season will include the inclusion of new work to APAC's regular programming. Wojtunik will premiere The 15/20s: Staged Readings of New Works, introducing APAC audiences to the development process and paving the way for new work in the regular mainstage programming. The 15/20s will be produced under the AEA Staged Reading Guidelines, which allows 15 hours of combined rehearsal and performance time for actors (20 hours for musicals), hence the name The 15/20s.

APAC’s seventh season will kick-off in February with Ragtime, the epic musical by the award-winning composer/lyricist team Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens and book writer Terrence McNally. Wojtunik, who will direct, says, "The spirit of unfailing optimism that permeates the characters in this story, even in the midst of a country faced with enormous changes, feels more vital today than it did when it first opened on Broadway ten years ago." In May APAC will produce Lillian Hellman's controversial masterpiece The Children's Hour, directed by Jessi D. Hill, recipient of the 2008/09 Denham Fellowship from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation.

No comments: