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Winner of the 2009 Ovation Award for Best Musical Production for
“Kiss of the Spider Woman - The Musical”
Havok Theatre Company presents
The Broadway Musical…
THE STORY
OF MY LIFE
(A 90-minute Chamber Musical in One Act)
Music & Lyrics by Neil Bartram, Book by Brian Hill
Musical Direction by Michael Paternostro
Directed by Nick DeGruccio
Limited Engagement Opens on Friday, February 26
at the Lillian Theatre in Hollywood!
January 28, 2010…Hollywood…Winner of the 2008/09 L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Award for its
critically-acclaimed production of Kiss of the Spider Woman (Best Musical - Intimate Theatre),
Havok Theatre Company is thrilled to announce its first production of 2010, the Broadway musical
THE STORY OF MY LIFE with music and lyrics by Neil Bartram, book by Brian Hill, musical
direction by Michael Paternostro and directed by Havok’s Artistic Director and Ovation Awardwinner Nick DeGruccio. The show will star Robert J. Townsend (Mamma Mia, Jekyll & Hyde) as
Thomas Weaver and Chad Borden (Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Laramie Project) as Alvin Kelby.
Nominated for four Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Musical, THE STORY OF MY
LIFE will begin previews Wednesday, February 24, 2010 and will open on Friday, February 26 at the
Lillian Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.
The Story of My Life tells the story of two childhood friends and how their friendship profoundly
defined their lives. Thomas Weaver is a best-selling, award-winning author. Alvin Kelby was his best
friend for thirty years. But time can test the bonds of friendship, and when it does, Thomas calls on
the only resource he has - his stories of Alvin - to learn where things went wrong. A richly melodic
musical, The Story of My Life is a soaring tribute to the power of friendship and the people who
change our lives forever.
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THE STORY OF MY LIFE
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ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
NEIL BARTRAM (Music and Lyrics) is the recipient of a Dramatists Guild Jonathan Larson
Fellowship, a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, and was a finalist for the 2007 Fred Ebb Award.
He is the composer/lyricist of The Story of My Life, which was developed at NAMT and Goodspeed
before debuting on Broadway in February 2009 (Directed by Richard Maltby, Jr.). Neil also wrote
the music and lyrics for Somewhere In The World (5 seasons at the Charlottetown Festival), and The
Nightingale and the Rose. With book writer Brian Hill, Neil is currently developing a musical based
on Timothy Findley's novel Not Wanted On The Voyage (at Northwestern University with director
Amanda Dehnert) and an original musical Clara’s Piano (workshopped by the Stratford Shakespeare
Festival with director and conceiver Susan H. Schulman). Cast albums include Somewhere In The
World and The Story Of My Life (PS Classics). Neil is a member of the Dramatists Guild, ASCAP,
and is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Music Theatre Workshop. In 2009, Neil was a double
Drama Desk Award nominee for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics for The Story of My
Life.
BRIAN HILL (Book) In collaboration with composer/lyricist Neil Bartram, Brian has written the
book for a number of musicals including an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and the
Rose and Somewhere In the World, which was a hit for five seasons at the Charlottetown Festival. Not
Wanted on the Voyage, an adaptation of the provocative Timothy Findley novel, is in development
with the AMTP and Northwestern University under the direction of Amanda Dehnert, and Clara's
Piano, conceived and directed by Susan H. Schulman, was developed by the Stratford Shakespeare
Festival. The Story of My Life gained recognition through the NAMT Festival of new musicals and
received a workshop production at Goodspeed Musicals' Norma Terris Theater and had its
Broadway premier in February of 2009 directed by Richard Maltby, Jr. and starring Malcolm Gets
and Will Chase. Brian received a 2009 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Book for
The Story of My Life.
NICK DEGRUCCIO (Director) is a three-time recipient of the LA Ovation Award for Direction. He
has also received the 2008 Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle Joel Hirschhorn Award for
Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre, as well as the 2009 BackStage Garland Award for
Direction - Outstanding Season of Work. He received Ovation Awards for his direction of Jekyll &
Hyde at Cabrillo Music Theatre, The Laramie Project at the Colony Theatre & Laguna Playhouse
and1776 at Performance Riverside. Recent credits include Putting It Together, A Year With Frog and
Toad for South Coast Repertory, Rent and the West Coast Premiere of The Andrews Brothers
at Musical Theatre West (Ovation Award for Ensemble, Nomination for Direction). Nick is Havok
Theatre Company’s Artistic Director and directed Kiss of the Spider Woman (Ovation Award – Best
Musical Intimate Theatre and Ovation Nom for Direction plus 4 LADCC Noms) and the LA
Premieres of Thrill Me (2 Ovation Noms, LADCC Nom) and Dog Sees God (2 LADCC Noms, 3 LA
Weekly Noms, GLAAD Media Nom) for Havok’s inaugural season.
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THE STORY OF MY LIFE
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His other productions and Ovation-nominated works include Side By Side By Sondheim for The
Rubicon Theatre and Pasadena Playhouse, the LA premiere of Side Show (Colony Theatre), Guys
and Dolls and La Cage Aux Folles (Musical Theatre West), The Last Five Years in rep with I Do! I
Do! (Pasadena Playhouse), The Full Monty (San Diego Music Theatre), The Spitfire Grill (Laguna
Playhouse/OC Weekly Award Best Musical), Zanna, Don’t! at West Coast Ensemble (LADCC
Award for Direction), Bad Apples, a World Premiere Play for The Rubicon Theatre, Beehive at the El
Portal Theatre and City of Angels, An Ideal Husband and Putting It Together (Colony Theatre). Other
directing credits include: I Left My Heart…a Tribute to Tony Bennett (Welk Resort), My Way (La
Mirada PAC) and Altar Boyz for The Welk Resort. For Musical Theatre Guild, he directed the L.A.
Premiere of A Man Of No Importance (GLAAD Award Nomination) and Andrew Lippa’s The Wild
Party. Other credits: Basic Training (2nd Stage/NAACP Award Nomination for Direction), The
Fantasticks (Performance Riverside), Pippin (BCLO) and Happily Ever After…After All (voiceovers
by Angela Lansbury) (9 O’clock Players). Nick is an alumnus of the Lincoln Center
Theatre Director’s Lab West.
MICHAEL PATERNOSTRO (Musical Director) Broadway: Guys and Dolls (Rusty
Charlie/Crapshoot Dancer), Beauty and the Beast (LA, Lumiere/LeFou), Saturday Night Fever (DJ
Monty), and Original Companies of Fosse, Sweet Smell of Success, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and the
2006 Revival of A Chorus Line (Gregory Gardner). Touring: West Side Story (Action/Arab) and The
Producers (Carmen Ghia) and Showboat (Frank Schultz) at the Hollywood Bowl. At Musical Theater
West: Carmen Ghia in The Producers (Ovation Award, Featured Actor), Pianist/Musical Director of
Forbidden Broadway and Rent. Musical Director: Havok Theatre Company’s Kiss of the Spider
Woman and Thrill Me, and Breaking Up Is Hard To Do at Cabrillo Music Theater, Life Could Be a
Dream at the Hudson Mainstage, and in NYC, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, and Guare’s Landscape
of the Body. As a piano-playing actor, he played Sidney Cohn in On Your Toes and Oscar in 42nd
Street, both twice. Assistant Director: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Old Globe San Diego.
Composer: Scary Musical: a New Musical.
THE STORY OF MY LIFE features an award-winning design team. The set design is by Tom
Buderwitz. The lighting design is by Steven Young. The sound design is by Drew Dalzell. Associate
Producers are Kathleen Parker & Jodi Carlisle. The Stage Manager is Lindsay Martens.
ABOUT THE CAST
ROBERT J. TOWNSEND (Thomas Weaver) has just returned from San Diego where he was
performing as Nicky Giblin in the critically acclaimed San Diego Rep production of The Seafarer.
Robert has toured the country with the National Tours of Camelot (Sir Sagramore), Grease
(Kenickie), and most recently in Mamma Mia (Father Alexandrios).
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THE STORY OF MY LIFE
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His regional credits include the title role in Jekyll & Hyde (Cabrillo Music Theatre - Ovation Award,
Lead Actor in a Musical), Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls (San Diego Musical Theatre), Trevor
Graydon in Thoroughly Modern Millie (Sacramento Music Circus), Baron von Gaigern in Grand
Hotel (Colony Theatre Company), as well as Chris in Miss Saigon, Man #1 in I Love You, You're
Perfect, Now Change, Sir Percival Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Curly in Oklahoma!,
Rapunzel's Prince in Into the Woods, Beast in Beauty and the Beast and Jamie in The Last Five Years.
CHAD BORDEN (Alvin Kelby) played Molina in Havok’s Kiss of the Spider Woman (Ovation and
LADCC Award noms for Lead Actor). Chad has performed at Pasadena Playhouse, Laguna
Playhouse, Rubicon Theatre, La Mirada Theatre, South Bay CLO, Reprise!, Hollywood Bowl,
Musical Theatre West, Cabrillo Music Theatre, Santa Barbara CLO, Sacramento Music Circus,
AMT of San Jose and Elephant Theatre where his favorite roles include Bobby in A Chorus Line, Tin
Man in The Wizard of Oz, Motel in Fiddler on the Roof, Will Parker in Oklahoma!, and Larry in Burn
This. Chad was a member of the Ovation Award-winning ensemble of The Laramie Project and was
also Ovation nominated as Bud Frump in How to Succeed in Business (Colony Theatre). A graduate
of Northwestern University, Chad did two National Tours (Mordred in Camelot and The Duke
Ellington Songbook) and performed regionally at Cincinnati Playhouse, Chicago's Marriott
Lincolnshire, and Boston's Merrimack Repertory. His TV credits include “General Hospital”, “Bold
and the Beautiful”, and “Girls Behaving Badly”.
ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING
THE STORY OF MY LIFE will preview on Wednesday, February 24 at 8pm, Thursday, February
25 at 8pm and will open on Friday, February 26 at 8pm and run through Sunday, April 4, 2010 at
the Lillian Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood.
Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm; Sundays at 3:00 pm. Ticket prices
for Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 are $34; Saturdays at 8:00 & Sundays at 3:00 pm are $38. (Ticket
price is $25 for previews). For ticket reservations, please visit www.havoktheatre.com or call 1-818505-1875.
For press information, press interviews, photos or press comps, please contact David Elzer at DEMAND
PR at 818/508-1754 or at ELZERD@aol.com.
Havok Theatre Company's mission is to produce Los Angeles Premieres of Broadway, Off-Broadway
and Regional plays and musicals, World Premieres of new works, and revivals of rarely-produced
critically-acclaimed pieces. Our top priority is creating the highest quality artistic experience possible.
We will strive to contract LA's best union actors and designers and give voice to new playwrights,
composers and lyricists. With a passionate, fresh and edgy approach to both art and business, we will
bring our audiences highly entertaining and thought-provoking theatre.