Capitol Steps, PIRATES OF PENZANCE & Loretta Swit Set for Poway Center's 2012-13 Season

Michael Rennie, Executive Director of the Poway Center for the Performing Arts Foundation has announced four new shows to be added to the 2012/2013 Professional Performance Season.

"We are tremendously excited to be part of the West Coast tours for both country music legend Clint Black and the hilarious comedy troupe the Capitol Steps. Add to that a lavish production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance and the premiere of Loretta Swit of M*A*S*H in a new production of Eleanor: Her Secret Journey, and you have one of the most diverse line-ups in our 23 year history."

After an 11- year hiatus, The Capitol Steps return for an election year special tonight, February 16 at 8pm. They began as Senate staffers who set out to satirize the very people and places that employed them. The group was born in December, 1981 when some staffers for Senator Charles Percy were planning entertainment for a Christmas party. Their first idea was to stage a nativity play, but in the whole Congress they couldn't find three wise men or a virgin. So, they decided to dig into the headlines of the day, and they created song parodies & skits which conveyed a special brand of satirical humor. Since they began, the Capitol Steps have recorded over 30 albums, including their latest, Desperate Housemembers. They've been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS, and can be heard 4 times a year on National Public Radio stations nationwide during their Politics Takes a Holiday radio specials. "There is rarely anything funny about an election year. More than ever elections have become about divisiveness, separatism and heaping helpings of negativity - all of which is in direct opposition to our mission," says Rennie. "We're in the business of building community and bringing people together! So we thought 'what better way to mend fences with our neighbors than to get them together for a good laugh?'" The Capitol Steps are the proverbial equal opportunity offenders skewering left, right and middle with a wink, a nudge and tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Part theater camp, part community gathering - all fun! Missoula Children's Theatre returns to present Snow White on Saturday, March 16 at 3 and 7pm. The actor/directors will transform more than 60 local children into stage-savvy thespians in just six days. Auditions, open to all children age 5 through 18, will be held Monday, March 11 at 4pm at the Center. Participating children will spend the week learning the trade of the stage - from auditions to rehearsals to a performance of an all-new musical version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. See tomorrow's stars on stage today! For audition information visit www.powayarts.org.

Stash the gold, guard the women and hide the rum - the "Pirates" have arrived! Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance will set sail across our open stage on Saturday, March 30 at 8pm. This swashbuckling Gilbert and Sullivan adventure is loaded with enough laughs to fill Davey Jones' locker. It follows the fortunes of Frederic, a young lad who is mistakenly apprenticed to the Pirate King. When Frederic falls for the lovely Mabel, whose father is the very model of a modern Major General, a tempest brews on the sea of love. Full of roving rogues and dazzling damsels in distress, it's a treasure chest full of mischievous musical mayhem. A topsy-turvy tale of love and duty highlighted by the famous strains of "Poor Wandering One," "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General," "Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast" and more. "Musical theater has been in short supply for us in recent years. So we will more than Make Up For it with this production," comments Rennie. "With a cast of more than 20 actors, lavish costumes and a full orchestra, the Center will fairly burst at the seams with song. Penzance has always been one of my favorite Gilbert and Sullivan shows - funny, flirty and filled with bumbling pirates. What's not to love! This will be a great show for parents and grandparents to introduce kids to the world of musical theater!"

The season closes with Loretta Swit in Eleanor: Her Secret Journey on Saturday, April 20 at 8pm. The one-woman play is a deeply personal portrait one of history's most intriguing first ladies, Eleanor Roosevelt who brought warmth and compassion to issues of war, peace, and human rights. The action follows during Eleanor's years after World War I as her canny and clear-eyed intelligence helped her evolve from an ugly duckling into a powerful woman. The play, Eleanor: Her Secret Journey is based on Rhoda Lerman's book published in 1979. "Few first ladies have left their mark on American history like Eleanor Roosevelt - and few have given us so many memorable quotes. Many will remember our 2010 presentation of the amazing Ed Asner in his one man show, FDR," says Rennie. "We were so smitten with Mr. Asner's portrayal of our nation's 32nd president that we leaped at the chance to present the other side of the story. Eleanor Roosevelt may be a far cry from Ms. Swit's most famous role, Hotlips Hoolihan of M*A*S*H, but we anticipate a performance every bit as moving as Mr. Asner's. A must see for history buffs and fans of America's strongest first lady, the woman who taught us that 'sometimes silence is the greatest sin.'"