Aurora Theatre�'s THE FOX ON THE FAIRWAY Begins Tonight, 5/3

Aurora Theatre ends its season with The Fox on the Fairway opening tonight, May 3, 2012. The play is written by Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo) who "hits a hole-in-one with his tribute to the great English farces of the 1930s and 1940s. Love and money are in the rough at the Quail Valley Country Club. Two rival country club owners waggle around mistaken identities and play through over-the-top romantic shenanigans in order to stay on the fairway and ace a happy ending. This uproarious golf comedy promises to hit the sweet spot."

Aurora Theatre has enlisted a comedy expert, Dad’s Garage Artistic Director Kevin Gilesse to direct the region’s top comedic acting talent. As the rival country club big wigs are longtime Atlanta favorites Robin Bloodworth (The Night of the Iguana, Theatre Emory; End Days, Horizon Theatre) and Dan Triandiflou (Improvisational comedian with Dad’s Garage and The Second City). Jacob York (Fat Pig & Academy, Aurora Theatre) returns to Aurora Theatre as the upstart caddie Justin trying to win the love of country club sweetheart Louise portrayed by the lovely Jenny Holden (Wrath of Con, Dad’s Garage). The cast also includes gifted comediennes Courtney Patterson (August: Osage County, ALLIANCE THEATRE; Boeing, Boeing, Aurora Theatre) and Suehyla El Attar (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, aurora Theatre; Tennis in Nablus, ALLIANCE THEATRE). Aurora Theatre’s longstanding history of Ken Ludwig’s work makes them the logical choice for the regional premiere. Producing Artistic Director Anthony Rodriguez, “Our patrons still talk about Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo and as a comic actor, I loved actually being in those shows. When I found out this new farce was set on the golf course, I knew no other theatre in the country has the audience better able to appreciate it than here in golf-crazy Gwinnett.”

About the Playwright

Ken Ludwig is an internationally acclaimed playwright whose many hits on Broadway and throughout the world have made his name synonymous with modern comedy. He has had six shows on Broadway and six in London’s West End, and he has won the Laurence Olivier Award, England’s highest theatre honor, as well as three Tony Award nominations and two Helen Hayes Awards. His work has been commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and has been performed in thirty countries in over twenty languages. His musical, Crazy For You ran for over four years on Broadway and in London, and is currently playing in a revival in the West End. Lend Me A Tenor, originally produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and recently revived on Broadway with an all-star cast, was called “one of the two great farces by a living writer” by The New York Times. Other plays and musicals include Moon Over Buffalo (Broadway & London’s Old Vic, starring Carol Burnett, Lynn Redgrave, Joan Collins & Frank Langella); Twentieth Century (Broadway, starring Alec Baldwin & Anne Heche); The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Broadway); Treasure Island (London, Theatre Royal, Haymarket; 2009 AATE Distinguished Play Award for Best Adaptation); Shakespeare in Hollywood (commissioned by The Royal Shakespeare Company, Helen Hayes Award as Best Play); Leading Ladies; Be My Baby (starring HAl Holbrook and Dixie Carter); The Beaux' Stratagem (adaptation with Thornton Wilder at the request of the Wilder Estate); The Three Musketeers (Bristol Old Vic); An American in Paris; Sullivan & Gilbert; The Fox on the Fairway; The Game’s Afoot; Midsummer/Jersey; The Hound of the Baskervilles; and his first children’s play, ’Twas the Night Before Christmas. His work has appeared in The Yale Review, and he has written a book for Crown Publishing entitled How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare. He studied music at Harvard with Leonard Bernstein and theatre history at Cambridge University in England. For more information, please visit www.kenludwig.com.

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