Arizona Theatre Company Opens LOMBARDI, 10/20

Few people know the real story of football's most legendary coach, Vince Lombardi. Through his inspirations and passions, he had an ability to drive people to achieve more than they ever thought possible. Arizona Theatre Company's "Lombardi" centers on the iconic Green Bay Packers coach during a pivotal week in 1965. This Southwest premiere production of the Broadway hit plays at the Temple of Music and Art and runs from October 20 – November 10, 2012. It continues its run in Phoenix at the Herberger Theater Center from November 15 – December 2, 2012. "Lombardi" is supported by Opening Night Sponsor, Kate Garner. Arizona Theatre Company Season Sponsors are I. Michael and Beth Kasser.

"Lombardi" is written by Academy Award winner, Eric Simonson, and based on the book "When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi" by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, David Maraniss. Arizona Theatre Company's production of "Lombardi" will be directed by Casey Stangl and co-produced with Cleveland Play House. "Lombardi" moves like a seamless drive down the field from start to finish," wrote the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, and the NY Daily News said, "'Lombardi' scores!"

Although the NFL Super Bowl trophy is his namesake, Lombardi remains a man of legends and myth. But "Lombardi" explores the man behind the legend. In November of 1965, youthful Look Magazine reporter, Michael McCormick, gets the opportunity to write the sports article of a lifetime. His boss Tom Ryder arranges for him to stay a week as the house guest of Vincent Lombardi and is given unprecedented access to the practice field. Ryder, it turns out, is a friend of Lombardi's. Just how close a friend comes to light during the course of the play, forcing both McCormick and Lombardi to re-examine their morals and ultimately, their respective career paths. Lombardi's all-too-human strengths, vulnerabilities and flaws are gradually, and sometimes grudgingly, revealed through the actions and reminiscences of Lombardi, his wife Marie, and a core group of loveable, veteran football players.

When asked what motivated him to write this play, playwright Eric Simonson said, "I have always been fascinated with people in our culture, American culture, who have such a force of personality that they've somehow made themselves part of the cultural landscape. Vince Lombardi is one of those people. You could also say that about folks like Theodore Roosevelt, Frank Lloyd Wright…any number of people. These people have not only influenced the cultural landscape, they also had fascinating lives. For me, Vince Lombardi was a football coach, but he was much more than that. He was a philosopher, he was a teacher, he inspired a lot of people through what he said and the way he said it. He's a fully dimensional man, a complicated man, more complex than people realize."

Eric Simonson (Playwright) was the director and co-writer (with Jeffrey Hatcher) of ATC's acclaimed production of "Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright" in 2002. His plays and adaptations include "Magic/Bird"; and "Lombardi," on Broadway; "Slaughterhouse-five," off-Broadway; and numerous plays which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago: "Nomathemba" (written with Ntozake Shange and Joseph Shabalala), "Carter's Way" and, most recently, "Honest and Fake." Other plays include "The Last Hurrah"; "Louder Faster" with Jeffrey Hatcher (commissioned by ATC); "Edge of the World" and "Speak American." Simonson's work has been produced in Japan and throughout the United States at theatres including Huntington Theatre Company, L.A. Theatre Works, City Theatre of Pittsburgh, The Kennedy Center, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Madison Rep, Kansas City Rep, and Crossroads Theatre Company. Simonson directed the Broadway production of "The Song of Jacob Zulu," which received six Tony Award nominations, including one for Best Direction. He also is an accomplished film and opera director. With Campbell Scott he co-directed "Hamlet" for Hallmark Entertainment, as well as three documentaries for HBO: "Studs Terkel – Listening to America," Emmy nomination; "A Note of Triumph," earning Simonson a Best Documentary, Short Subjects Academy Award; and "On Tiptoe," Academy Award nomination. In 2005 he received a Princess Grace Statue Award for Sustained Artistic Achievement.

David Maraniss (Author) is an associate editor at The Washington Post and 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner for his coverage of then presidential candidate Gov. Bill Clinton. In addition to "When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi", Maraniss is the author of five critically acclaimed and bestselling books: "Barack Obama: The Story" "First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton," "They Marched Into Sunlight-War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967," "Clemente-The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero" and "Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred The World."

Casey Stangl (Director) is making her ATC debut. She is a Los Angeles based director of theatre, opera and television. Recent projects include Tony Kushner's adaptation of "The Illusion," the West Coast premiere of Carson Kreitzer's "Slither," "The Car Plays" for Moving Arts and the world premiere of a new adaptation of Noel Coward's "Peace in our Time," winner of the 2012 Los Angeles Weekly Best Production. Nationally, Stangl's work has been seen at South Coast Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival, Guthrie Theater, Denver Center Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Portland Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre Los Angeles, HERE Arts Center in New York, and many others. Opera credits include Music Academy of the West, Fort Worth Opera, Kentucky Opera, Portland Opera, Minnesota Opera Company, Pine Mountain Music Festival, Opera Omaha, Omaha Symphony, and Juilliard Opera Center in New York. Stangl was the founding artistic director of Eye of the Storm Theatre in Minneapolis, for which she was named Minnesota Artist of the Year.

The cast of "Lombardi" is lead by Bob Ari (Vince Lombardi) and Deedee Rescher (Marie Lombardi). Bob Ari (Vince Lombardi) recently appeared as Mark Rothko in "Red" at Cleveland Playhouse and George Street Theatre. He has acted on Broadway in "Frost/Nixon," "The Constant Wife," "Bells Are Ringing" and "Laughter on the 23rd Floor." Off-Broadway appearances include "The Late Christopher Bean," "Die Mommie Die!," "Jolson & Company," "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," "Baby Anger" and "June Moon." His many U.S. regional appearances include Pioneer Theatre Company, Fulton Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, and Walnut Street Theatre. Film and television includes "Two Lovers, Wanted," "Kissing Jessica Stein," "Music of the Heart," "Cradle Will Rock," "Christmas Evil," "The Good Wife," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "Cheers" and more. Deedee Rescher recently appeared onstage in "Prisoner of Second Avenue" with Jason Alexander, "Shirley Valentine," "Red Herring," "Pursuit of Happiness" and Steve Martin's "The Underpants in Los Angeles." Television credits include a recurring role on ABC's "The Whole," "Good Luck Charlie," "My Name is Earl," "Malcolm in the Middle," "Friends," "Roseanne," "The Nanny," "The King of Queens" and more. Film credits include "Skin Deep," "Summer School," "Once Bitten" and the indelible lady bus driver in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

The cast also includes NICK MILLS (Michael McCormick), who recently appeared in the world premiere of "Baby Talk" at Ars Nova in New York, a multi-media, one-man show that he created and performed. He was part of the original cast of Itamar Moses' "Back Back Back" at The Old Globe, as well as the Los Angeles premiere of "How to Disappear Completely and Never be Found" at The Theatre @ Boston Court. BRANTON BOX (Paul Hornung) has extensive credits in both television and film, including "Private Practice," "The Exes," "90210," "NCIS," "Chuck," "Party Down," "General Hospital," "Charmed," "The Bold and the Beautiful," "She Spies," "Austin Stories," "Bounty Killer," "Going Greek," "New Suit," "L.A. Twister" and "They Would Love You in France." DAVID HARDIE (Jim Taylor) whose recent theatre credits include the Orlando Shakespeare Theater Productions of "Cymbeline" and "Romeo and Juliet" and also the Action Theater production of "Merchant of Venice." Recent film credits include "Nothing Special," written and directed by Angela Garcia Combs, and "Sacred Whispers" directed by Constantinos Isias. WILLIAM OLIVER WATKINS (Dave Robinson) recent stage credits include Denver Center Theatre Company, Nuyorican Poetry Club, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, National Black Theater of Harlem, Studio Arena, Great Plains Theatre, and The Black Rep in St. Louis. He has guest-starred on Robert De Niro's "NYC 22," "Nurse Jackie," "Law & Order: Prime," "Law & Order: SVU," "Rescue Me" and "Canterbury's Law."

The creative team includes Michael Schweikardt (Scenic Designer), who returns to ATC where he designed "Ella" and "Lost in Yonkers." Schweikardt has created sets for the world premieres of "Nobody Loves You" and Duncan Sheik's "Whisper House" for The Old Globe and for several musicals by Joe Iconis. Other recent credits include the critically acclaimed productions of "Carousel," "Showboat," "Annie Get Your Gun," "1776," "Big River" and "Camelot" for Goodspeed Musicals. Alex Jaeger (Costume Designer) previously designed "Tally's Folly" for ATC. He has designed for theatre, film and opera across the country. Last season, he designed "The Taming of the Shrew" for Great Lakes Theater. Other productions include "Two Sisters and a Piano" for Public Theater, and many productions for Oregon Shakespeare Festival including "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Romeo and Juliet," "August: Osage County" and "Dead Man's Cell Phone." Lap Chi Chu (Lighting Designer) has designed for such theatres as New York Theatre Workshop, Public Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, PS 122, The Kitchen, Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Kirk Douglas Theatre, South Coast Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, McCarter Theatre Center, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, San Jose Rep, Dallas Theater Center, Indiana Rep and Intiman Theatre. T. GREG SQUIRES (Resident Lighting Designer) began working for ATC in 1988 as a lighting and sound technician. Squires was the designer for "Permanent Collection" and "Tuesdays with Morrie." Squires has been the Associate Lighting Designer for Michael Gilliam, Dennis Parichy, Ann Wrightson, Don Darnutzer, Allen Lee Hughes, York Kennedy, David Lee Cuthbert and Peter Maradudin. In addition to ATC, Squires has designed lights and/or sound for Laguna Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Creede Repertory Theatre, Borderlands Theater and Childsplay. James C. Swonger (Sound Designer) is resident sound designer at Cleveland Play House where he has designed sound for more than 40 productions including the world premiere of Ken Ludwig's "The Game's Afoot," "Daddy Long Legs," "The Trip to Bountiful," "Crime and Punishment" and more. Jeffrey Cady (Projections Designer) returns to ATC where he designed projections for "Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club," "[title of show]," "Woody Guthrie's American Song," "Love, Janis" and others. Recent design credits include "Dance with Me" at Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts, "It Ain't Nothin' but the Blues" at Portland Center Stage, "A Christmas Carol" for Kansas City Rep, "Cups" for Theater League, and "Summer of Love" for Ogunquit Playhouse. Nationally, he has designed lighting and projections for Columbia Artists Theatricals' tours of "Love, Janis." Cady also has served as the head media server programmer for the Broadway production of Green Day's "American Idiot" and Cirque du Soleil's "Wintuk." Glenn Bruner is the Production Stage Manager.

Arizona Theatre Company offers accessibility services for patrons with disabilities for select performances. Audio Description provides patrons with vision loss a running audio description of the movement and activities onstage through an infrared broadcast system. An Audio-Described performance is offered on November 8 at 2:00 p.m. Interested patrons with vision loss may request a tactile tour one hour prior to curtain. American Sign Language Interpretation is presented by professional, theatrically-trained ASL-interpreters for people who have deafness or hearing impairment. An ASL-interpreted performance is offered on November 8 at 7:30 p.m. Open-captioning allows patrons to read the play's dialogue on an LED screen as the play progresses. An open-captioned performance is offered on November 8 at 2:00 p.m. For open-captioned or ASL-interpreted performances, patrons should request seats best suited to ASL interpretation or captioning when purchasing tickets. Large print and Braille playbills and infrared listening amplification devices are also available at every ATC performance with reservation. TTY access for the box office is available in Tucson at (520) 884-9723 or via Arizona Relay at (800) 367-8939 (TTY/ASCII).

Tickets for "Lombardi" start at $32, are subject to change depending on time, date and section, and are available at www.arizonatheatre.org or by calling the box office at (520) 622-2823. Discounts are available for seniors and active military. A $10 student ticket pricing is now available for all performances. Half-price rush tickets are available for balcony seating for all performances one hour prior to curtain at the ATC box office (subject to availability). Pay What You Can is October 23 at 7:30 p.m. Balcony seats for this performance are available for a suggested $10 donation. (Tickets must be purchased at the Temple of Music and Art Starting one hour prior to curtain on October 23. Seating is first-come first served and is not guaranteed. Cash only, please. Two tickets maximum per person.) For discounts for groups of 10 or more, call (520) 622-2823.