CORAL GABLES (July 14, 2008) –Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, South Florida’s Theatre Company of the Year, reveals a crowd-pleasing 2008-2009 season, featuring two Tony-award winners for Best Musical, a World Premiere musical, a gripping new play, and two contemporary, comedic musicals.

“We’ve compiled an expansive and exciting 2008-2009 season that presents a wide spectrum of theatre to our South Florida audiences,” Executive Producing Director Barbara S. Stein said. “Patrons will have an opportunity to see the highest caliber of exciting new works and extraordinary musical theatre events in the warm and ambient Miracle Theatre, where every seat is an orchestra seat.”

“Our 08-09 season has been selected with great care and understanding for our audience development and our organization’s future,” Artistic Director David Arisco said. “We have surveyed our audience members, both independently and collectively, and we feel we have hit the mark with our 08-09 programming choices.”

To begin the 2008-2009 Season, Actors’ Playhouse offers an opportunity to celebrate your patriotism with the illustrious multiple Tony Award winning musical 1776, which plays Oct. 1-Nov. 2, 2008. Winner of three Tony Awards for its groundbreaking Broadway run in 1969, a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical in 1997, and hailed for the 1972 film, 1776 is a gripping musical about the birth of our country. With, music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and book by Peter Stone, this award-winning musical is a humanizing look at our founding fathers just days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, full of insight, passion, and humor. With a booming, melodic score, 1776 brings out the American in you. It’s your patriotic duty to come see this dramatic representation of the second Continental Congress carving out our country’s most revered document on the eve of a national election. 1776 is a great educational and cultural experience for the entire family.

Following this blockbuster musical is a new comedy, Gutenberg! The Musical!, Dec. 3, 2008-Jan. 4, 2009. With book, music and lyrics by Scott Brown and Anthony King, this hilarious show that originated at Actors Playhouse in New York will now be presented at Actors’ Playhouse in Coral Gables for a lot of great laughs over the holiday season. Called “a smashing success” by the New York Times, Gutenberg! The Musical! is a two-man spoof about aspiring playwrights pitching their big, splashy musical to prospective producers. With an endless supply of energy, playwrights Bud and Doug sing all the songs and portray all the parts in their musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg. The result is a smart and hilarious musical that is hailed by critics and audiences alike. Patrons who enjoyed our hit musical The Big Bang will love Gutenberg! The Musical!

Bombshells, A Musical Explosion of Life, Love, and Telling It Al!, a World Premiere with deep, South Florida roots, rings in the New Year, Jan. 14-Feb. 8, 2009. Based on the best selling book Dish and Tell, written by six high-powered Miami women called the Miami Bombshells, the show celebrates its premiere at the Miracle Theatre following its staged reading at the theatre in July 2007. The musical, like the book, is a compilation of vignettes based on the stories of how women juggle their personal and professional lives, which will leave the audience nodding in understanding, winking in complicity, and howling with laughter. Set to an original pop score by a local composer/playwright Jeanette Hopkins with musical orchestration by renowned musician Artie Butler, Bombshells provides a look at the roller coaster that is life. Some of the stories are funny, some are full of raw emotions; others are just a bit outrageous, proving that sometimes truth is much stranger and a lot more interesting than fiction. Every woman will see a little bit of herself on stage, and both men and women will be moved, touched, and entertained by this brand new musical.

Crowning the season, is the South Florida Regional Theatre Premiere of Les Misérables, Mar. 4-Apr. 5, 2009. The most celebrated musical of all time and the longest running musical worldwide, Actors’ Playhouse proudly produces the first area regional production of Cameron Mackintosh’s 3-time Tony Award winning musical theatre masterpiece at the Miracle Theatre. This larger-than-life musical credits its music to Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics to Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil, book to Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil and is based on the novel by Victor Hugo. Les Misérables is an epic saga of social injustice, full of passion and the triumph of the human spirit. Les Misérables recounts the struggle of the French people during the early 1800’s. No matter how many times you’ve seen Les Misérables, its heart-wrenching ballads and powerful ensemble will make for an extraordinary experience for the entire family in our 600-seat Adams Mainstage Auditorium at the Miracle Theatre.

Hitting home with our South Florida audiences is the Florida Premiere of Havana Bourgeois by Carlos Lac·mara of Los Angeles, May 13-June 7, 2009. Set in Cuba from 1958-1960, Havana Bourgeois explores the impact of Fidel Castro’s Revolution on the Cuban middle class. Havana Bourgeois is a universal drama that illuminates the choices we make as history closes in around us. This remarkable new play follows the associates of an advertising agency as Castro moved from redeemer of the poor to dictator, forcing droves of middle class Cubans to flee the country. This historical play mixes powerful drama with touching humor, and will capture the heart and soul of our theatre patrons and our entire community. Relive this compelling moment in history as seen through the eyes of the people who lived and breathed it.

Closing out this outstanding season is Married Alive, the best new couples musical since I Love You, You’re Perfect Now Change, July 8-Aug. 16, 2009. Married Alive is a funny and poignant new musical that will march down the aisle of the Miracle Theatre as the Actors’ Playhouse summer show. With book and lyrics by Sean Grennan and music by Leah Okimoto, Married Alive celebrates the trials and tribulations of two contemporary married couples, one newlywed and one oldywed. Originally named From Niagara to Viagra, this hilarious new musical shows us the triumphs and defeats of marriage, from babies to empty nests, from job stress to wedded bliss. Married Alive will not only make you laugh, it will make a difference in your life.

The best way to guarantee seats to this exciting new season is to become a valued Actors’ Playhouse subscriber. Season subscriptions for the 2008-2009 Season are on sale now with prices ranging from $174 for preview performances, $228 for Wednesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday matinees, $264 for Friday and Saturday evenings, and $270 for VIP Flexible/Anytime tickets for premium seats in every performance. Opening Night Subscription, which includes invitation to a Gala party and Bacardi bar, are $432. Miracle Maker donor subscriptions, including two tickets to opening nights, donor acknowledgement, and two tickets to†the annual Reach for the Stars Gala Auction 2009 are $1250. Subscriptions for children 18 years and younger with a full paid adult subscription, and college students, are $102 (restrictions apply). All prices include handling charges and fees. Group rates are available for fifteen people or more through the group sales department. Actors’ Playhouse subscribers receive guaranteed best seating and pricing, lost ticket insurance, generous membership benefits to Coral Gables’ finest restaurants and discounts on single tickets, among other benefits.

Actors’ Playhouse, the resident theatre company and managing agent of the Miracle Theatre, has an agreement with Actor’s Equity Association, the union of professional actors, New York. Under the leadership of Executive Producing Director Barbara S. Stein and Artistic Director David Arisco, Actors’ Playhouse is a Florida Presenting Cultural Organization, one of eight major Florida professional theatre companies, and one of twenty-two major cultural institutions in Miami Dade County. In addition to its Mainstage season, Actors’ Playhouse produces a year-round five-show season of Musical Theatre for Young Audiences, a National Children’s Theatre Festival, and a Theatre Conservatory and Summer Camp Program.