________________ _________________________News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 16th, 2015

Contact: Brenda Jean Foley (347) 848-6647

Tracy Liz Miller (347) 423-6181
bridgeinit@gmail.com

Cast for World Premiere Includes SWS Fixture Allison Sell

Inaugural Production Draws Top Talent
MESA, AZ The Bridge Initiative's inaugural mounting is the world premiere of New York
playwright Kat Ramsburg's Anatomy of a Hug which will feature Allison Sell, well known to
Phoenix audiences from her many stints on the stages of Southwest Shakespeare Company
(including Equivocation, Uncle Vanya, As You Like It, King Lear). Joining Sell is Melvina Jones,
a recent transplant to the Valley from San Francisco, whose professional credits include work
with Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Toni Jourdan, most recently seen in Twelfth Night with Class 6;
and Phil Weaver-Stoesz, an MFA candidate (in directing) at ASU. The production is helmed by
Amanda Noel Trombley, who directed How I Learned to Drive for Class 6 at the Mesa Arts
Center earlier this year.
The design team is equally talent rich. Emmy winner Kara Thomson will design the set, and she
is joined by fellow MCC faculty member costume designer Mallory Maria Prucha. Media
elements are by Daniel Fine, MFA graduate from ASU, who is currently working at San Diego
REPertory Theatre. In keeping with The Bridge Initiative's mission of mentorship, the lighting
and sound designers are students Cameron Bennett and Ryan Lee Kirkpatrick.
Anatomy of a Hug explores what happens when a convict (Jourdan) receives Compassionate
Release from her prison sentence into her daughter Amelia (Sell)'s care. A lifetime of living
vicariously through her beloved TV characters doesn't prepare Amelia for the actual drama of her
mother's return or the advances of a charming co-worker (Weaver-Stoesz). The ticking clock of
her mother's illness means Amelia must decide if her fictional life is safer than the possibility of
her own story.
Performances on Friday, June 19th at 7:30PM; Saturday, June 20th at 2:30 & 7:30PM; and Sunday,
June 21st at 2:30PM. Ramsburg is flying in from New York for the premiere and will participate
in a talkback after the Saturday evening performance. Tickets ($15 / $10 for students/seniors;
press passes available) can be purchased at mesaencoretheatre.com/shop/anatomy-of-a-hug/.
Since its launch in January as a result of an Art Tank grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, The
Bridge Initiative's efforts to promote the work of female artists has been celebrated by local and national
media outlets. Its mission also includes bridging the gap between academia and the professional world to
encourage students to envision a clearer path to becoming lifelong artists.

_____________bridgeinit.weebly.com_____________