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Heartland Festival tryouts scheduled for March 1
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The UW–Platteville Heartland Festival will return for its 13th season, under the artistic direction of Dr. Ann Dillon Farrelly and Dr. David Schuler.

“The festival format remains the same as last year, with the two musicals running consecutively for the eight-week season,” said Farrelly. “The dinner theatre show will be replaced by a cabaret show which will run throughout the festival.”

The cabaret will feature Broadway favorites sung by the Heartland actors while the audience enjoys cocktails, snacks and desserts. “We know the dinner theatre has some avid fans, but we wanted to try something new this year,” said Schuler. “It gives our actors another venue to show off their wonderful voices.”

Missoula Children’s Theatre will return July 7–12 with the classic “The Secret Garden.”

The first show of the 2014 season will be “Give My Regards to Broadway: An Evening with the Heartland Company,” a cabaret directed by returning musical director Lizzie Hansen.

The Center for the Arts Theatre will host the Pulitzer-prize winning “Next to Normal,” a musical about mental illness and loss, directed by Farrelly.

“We know the subject matter in ‘Next to Normal’ is very adult, but it is such a powerful musical that requires such talented actors, we could not pass up the opportunity to present this Tony award-winning musical to the Platteville audience,” said Farrelly.

The final show of the season will be “Shrek the Musical” directed by Schuler and choreographed by Connie SaLoutos Furlan.

“This screwball romantic comedy about acceptance, self-esteem and redemption has a sparkling musical score by award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori and will surely be a fun-filled, entertaining experience for the entire family,” said Schuler.

The festival opens Friday, June 6 with “Give My Regards to Broadway!”

“Next to Normal” will run Friday–Sunday, June 13-29, and “Shrek” will run July 3–20.

Auditions for the Platteville community are Saturday, March 1, with both children and adult auditions taking place that day. Children’s auditions (“Shrek” only) are open to anyone entering the fourth grade to those entering the eighth grade.

The boys’ audition will be from 2 to 2:30 p.m., and the girls’ audition will be from 2:30 to 3 p.m. The adult auditions, open to anyone entering ninth grade and older, will be held from 3:30 to 6 p.m. The Heartland production staff will also be holding technical theatre interviews March 1 from 2 to 6 p.m.

All auditions will be held in the CFA Theatre. For more information about audition/interview requirements and to download an audition form, visit  www.theheartlandfestival.com. Call the University Box Office, 342-1298, to schedule an audition/interview time.