The Fine Arts Center Theatre Company Presents OTHER DESERT CITIES, March 14-31

The Fine Arts Center Theatre Company will present the Colorado Premiere of Other Desert Cities, the acclaimed new family drama by John Robin Baitz, March 14-31.

Nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Play, and a 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist, the story revolves around a family pushed to the brink, when a daughter, Brooke Wyeth, arrives at her parents' Palm Springs home on Christmas Eve with the manuscript of her tell-all memoir in tow, which unearths a devastating family secret. With biting wit and razor-sharp insight, Other Desert Cities stands as one of the centerpieces of the FAC's exploration of Families.

The cast of five features Mitchell McGuire (Lyman), Leah Chandler-Mills (Polly) Birgitta De Pree (Silda), Kate Berry (Brooke) and Sammy Gleason (Trip).

McGuire is an Equity Actor based out of New York City with multiple Broadway credits (Three Sisters, Red Devil Battery Sign), several off-Broadway (Tom Paine, King Lear) and regional theatre credits (Old Globe, Coconut Grove), numerous television (Law and Order, Late Night with Conan O'Brien) and film appearances (Oh, Calcutta) and hundreds of commercials.

Chandler-Mills, a theatre instructor at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, has performed in over 35 productions for TheatreWorks and the Fine Arts Center. Trained at The Julliard School, Chandler-Mills played the role of Ismene in a futuristic Antigone in the first Theatre in America production for PBS, toured with Sir Ralph Richardson in his last international tour (Lloyd George Knew My Father), and performed in Arthur Kopit's Wings starring Constance Cummings on Broadway. Her FAC credits include Fuddy Meers, Sunday in the Park with George and Last Night of Ballyhoo.

De Pree is an actor and educator whose work includes performing, writing, directing and teaching. She received her MFA from the National Theater Conservatory in Denver and has performed in venues throughout the United States, including the Denver Center Theater Company, Folger Shakespeare Company, Washington DC, The Rhinoceros Theater, San Francisco, Denver's Comedysportz and The Denver Children's Museum. She is the co-founder of the Millibo Art Theatre and was voted "Best Actress" in the 2012 Gazette "Best of the Springs."

The Gazette: "Through the years, De Pree has established herself as a confident director, educator and dauntless organizer of the Six Women Playwriting Festival. She's also beloved as a performer in the Millibo Art Theatre's run of children's productions. Perhaps no role inspires an audience's glee like her Babette Matdiva, the stylish Eastern European host of many Millibo Art Theatre events. In Babette, De Pree's wit, her genius at ad-lib and ability to embody character not only charm but have virtually established Babette as a person in her own right."

Berry is a Colorado-based Equity Actor performing in the Arvada Center for the Arts' production of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit in 2013 and William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in 2012, as well as Creede Repertory Theatre's The Road to Mecca in 2011 and The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite in 2010 for which she won a Denver Post Readers' Choice Award for "Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Role."

Gleason is an FAC favorite at the SaG?Ji Theatre performing in The Producers, Sweeney Todd, Crazy For You, 1776, Beauty and the Beast and more. Lately, Gleason has earned writing and performing credits for WYNOT Radio Theatre, which has performed throughout Colorado, including at the Fine Arts Center.

The creative team includes Christopher L. Sheley (Scenic Design), Holly Anne Rawls (Lighting Design), and Janson Fangio (Costume Design).

Other Desert Cities is sponsored by El Pomar Foundation, KLITE 106.3, KKTV, Colorado Springs Independent, Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, H. Chase Stone Trust, The Mining Exchange,
A Wyndham Grand Hotel (Official Hotel of the FAC Theatre Company), and the members of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

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