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Meet the Company

Melissa Ferrick

Melissa grew up in Ipswich, MA during the 70's, playing the violin and going to jazz clubs on the North Shore with her father, who managed local bands. In elementary school, she learned to play trumpet and bass guitar, which led the way to songwriting in high school.  At 16, Melissa was accepted into the New England Conservatory's Youth Orchestra and Wind Ensemble as a trumpet player, giving her the opportunity to tour with the Conservatory's Extension Division, which traveled to perform in California and China. She was accepted to Berklee College of Music on songwriting and trumpet scholarships and chose to continue her music education there from 1988-1990.  After two years playing Boston's local rock club scene, Melissa left school and moved to New York City. In 1990, Melissa lived on 14th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, playing at the Bitter End weekly and working at Right Track Recording studios and Chrysalis Records to learn the ropes of the business.  In July of 1991, Melissa's phone rang and she was asked to open that night for Morrissey in Boston on his Kill Uncle tour.  She was invited to finish the U.S. dates with Morrissey and to continue on to the U.K. as his opening act.  When she returned to the States, at 20 years old, she was offered deals with three major labels.

Melissa signed with Atlantic Records, and in 1993 she released her debut album, "Massive Blur."  After her sophomore effort, "Willing to Wait," was released in 1995, Melissa was dropped by Atlantic Records.  She regrouped and released three albums on Boulder, CO based W.A.R.? Records. In 2000, Ferrick founded her own label, Right On Records, and released a string of Albums and EPs. In 2010, before almost going bankrupt, Ferrick put her own label on hold and signed with NY based MPress Records. Melissa released two albums with MPress, 2011's "Still Right Here" and 2013's "the truth is." Still Right Here debuted on Billboards Heat-Seekers Album Charts, won an 8th annual International Acoustic Music Award (IAMA), and garnered two Independent Music Award (IMA) nominations. The title tracks music video premiered on the launch of Huffington Posts Gay site and won two RightOutTV awards. Ferrick was also a featured music honoree in OUT Magazines OUT100  focusing on artists who make an impact on the community.  2013's "the truth is" was the first self-produced album since 2004 and an evolution in the sound she had developed over the course of her career.  

The record was also a creative departure in its collaborative approach to the recording process, hiring Grammy award winning engineer Trina Shoemaker to mix the album remotely from Alabama and Independent Mastering to master the album from Nashville. The result was a sweeping Americana/Alt-Country record that won the 2014 Independent Music Award for Alt-Country Album of the Year Fan Vote.

Ferrick is also an eight-time Boston Music Award winner and regarded by the industry and her peers as one of the most prolific and hardworking artists in the business.  Ferrick tours regularly and plays throughout North America, performing upwards of 100 shows a year. She has shared the stage with Morrissey, Marc Cohn, Paul Westerberg, Dwight Yoakam, John Hiatt, Weezer, Tegan and Sara, G-Love & Special Sauce, Bob Dylan, Dan Bern, Ani DiFranco, k.d. Lang, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, Joan Armatrading, Mike Doughty, The Indigo Girls and many others.

Melissa is also a Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.

See more at: http://www.melissaferrick.com/bio/#sthash.FKnILE7J.dpuf

Mark Cortale

Producing Artistic Director- The Art House/New Works Provincetown

Mark Cortale is celebrating his tenth anniversary season as  Producing Artistic Director of The Art House in Provincetown, MA. Since 2011 he has presented artists that include Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Kristin Chenoweth, Chita Rivera, Megan Mullally and Christine Ebersole. In 2019, he produced the Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominated Off-Broadway musical Midnight At The Never Get. He founded the international Broadway @ Concert Series featuring Seth Rudetsky as music director and host in Provincetown in 2011 and has presented these concerts at theatres that include the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Broward Center, The Wallis, The Kimmel Center, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Huntington Theatre Company, The Herbst Theatre and the Leicester Square Theatre in London. Beginning in June of 2020 these concerts were offered virtually every Sunday during the pandemic as The Seth Concert Series in association with BroadwayWorld.  Mark also founded the singing string quartet Well-Strung which debuted at The Art House in 2012.  In 2019 he launched a developmental theatre lab called New Works Provincetown.  New Works Provincetown with producing partners Jonathan Murray & Harvey Reese currently has two musicals in development: The Last Diva with a book by Jonathan Tolins, music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michale Korie and Maiden Voyage with book and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein and music by Carmel Dean.

Kristin Chenoweth, Kelli O'Hara, Lillias White, Stephanie J. Block & More Announced for Provincetown Art House Summer 2021

On the heels of this week's announcement by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker that all of the state's businesses can reopen at 100% capacity as of May 29, Mark Cortale, Producing Artistic Director of Provincetown's Art House theater, has announced a fittingly momentous lineup of music and comedy superstars for the summer 2021 season. The occasion coincides with what will be his official ten year anniversary helming the famed Cape Cod venue - after the 2020 season was postponed. Returning center stage is the internationally acclaimed Broadway @ series first launched here in 2011 by the dynamic duo of Cortale and Sirius XM radio star Seth Rudetsky, and now in more than a dozen major venues worldwide. For Tickets and information, visit www.ptownarthouse.com or call 800-838-3006.

The 2021 season kicks-off with a long-awaited double dose: first with hilarity from Emmy-winning comedian Judy Gold returning for a season-long sit-down with her hilarious stand-up comedy show from June 25 - Sept 1. And secondly with high notes, as the Broadway @ The Art House series brings Sierra Boggess, Broadway's original Ariel in The Little Mermaid and a frequent Christine Daaé in Phantom of the Opera and its sequel Love Never Dies, on July 2 & 3 with Seth Rudetsky as pianist & host.

Summer 2021's Town Hall series, produced by Cortale at the town's largest venue, will welcome the series debut of drag phenom Alaska Thunderf*ck, winner of the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, on July 11 for one show only. She will be followed by virtual runway of four of Broadway's most celebrated leading ladies: Kristin Chenoweth - star of Broadway's original Wicked as Glinda, Tony-winner for You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, star of TV's Glee and Emmy-winner for Pushing Daisies - brings her show For the Girls direct from Broadway for two shows on August 8 with Mary-Mitchell Campbell as music director. Kelli O'Hara, Tony Award winner for The King and I, Tony nominee for last season's Kiss Me Kate, makes her P-Town series debut on August 15 with Seth Rudetsky as music director and host. Stephanie J. Block, 2019 Tony Award winner for her title role in The Cher Show, and Tony nominee for Falsettos and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, makes her Town Hall debut on August 22 with Seth Rudetsky as music director and host. And Beth Leavel, a Tony nominee this past season in the musical The Prom, Tony Award winner for the title role in The Drowsy Chaperone, and slated to play Miranda Priestly in Elton John's upcoming musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada on Broadway, will make her Town Hall debut on September 5, with Seth Rudetsky as music director and host.

Provincetown has been heralded as America's Best Beach Town, and as the Best Gay Resort in America. Over the past 100 years, many of the country's greatest artists have called P-Town home - and for its tenth anniversary season, Cortale's celebrated Broadway @ The Art House series will once again be home to an array of the New York stage's greatest stars: After kicking off with B'way star Sierra Boggess' series opener on July 2 & 3, the series proceeds in stellar fashion with Jenn Colella, Tony nominated star of the Tony-winning smash hit musical Come From Away, and star on Broadway of If/Then, Chaplin, High Fidelity and Urban Cowboy making her series debut during Girl Splash week on July 23 & 24 with Chris Ranney at the piano. Rachel Bay Jones, Tony Award Winner for Broadway's smash hit Dear Evan Hansen and Star of Pippin returns on July 31 & Aug. 1, with Seth Rudetsky as pianist and host. Liz Callaway, Tony nominee for Baby and star of Cats and Miss Saigon on Broadway returns to P-Town with Seth Rudetsky as pianist & host on August 13 & 14. Susie Mosher, who played Prudy Pingleton on Broadway in Hairspray and host of The Lineup at Birdland - the acclaimed weekly, wild, anything-goes variety show - makes her Art House debut on August 21. Lillias White, Tony Award winner for The Life and star on Broadway in CATS, Carrie, Dreamgirls, Once On This Island, and more, makes her Art House debut on August 27 & 28 with Seth Rudetsky as pianist & host. Beth Malone, Tony nominated star of Fun Home, Angels in America and most recently star of the Off-Broadway revival of The Unsinkable Molly Brown, makes her anticipated Art House return on August 30 for one show only, with Seth Rudetsky as music director and host. Marilyn Maye, Grammy nominee and living legend who has been called "The greatest white female singer in the world" by none other than Ella Fitzgerald" returns for her eleventh summer for a two week run from August 31 - September 11, with Billy Stritch at the piano. And Christine Pedi, star of Broadway's Chicago, Talk Radio, Little Me and daily host of SiriusXM's On Broadway channel, takes the stage on September 11 with Matthew Ward at the piano.

As if that lineup were not dazzling enough, The Art House has also gained an international reputation for hosting cutting edge comedy and music talent picks which, born out of the LGBTQ club scene, are increasingly crossing-over to mainstream success. This summer's main stage will once again feature a star-studded roster: following the opening of Judy Gold's summer-long stand at the venue from June 25 to September 1, Tori Scott, hailed as one of Time Out New York's Top 10 Cabaret Artists, returns July 9 & 10 with Jesse Kissel at the piano. Steven Brinberg brings his latest edition of Simply Barbra to P-Town, offering Streisand hits, hilarious anecdotes and celebrating the recent 50th anniversaries of her films Hello, Dolly and On A Clear Day, July 15 - 17. Indie Rock star Melissa Ferrick returns for her tenth Art House season, during Girl Splash on July 22 for one show only. RuPaul's Drag Race star Ginger Minj makes her anticipated debut at The Art House from Aug. 4 - Sept. 11. Deven Green, the award-winning Canadian comedy chanteuse known for her video parody character "Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian," returns with Handsome Ned and their comedy show, Watch Thin People Eat on Aug. 6 & 7. Unitard, the comedy trio that Time Out NY called "incredibly vicious and relentlessly hilarious" returns to Art House stages with their comedy Badassy on Aug 10. Ben Rimalower of Patti Issues renown will perform a live special podcast show Broken Records - The Albums You Wouldn't Shut Up About at the Art House on August 23. Sirius XM Radio Andy star John Hill returns to his Broadway roots with his latest comic storytelling tour de force, Dead On Arrival, directed by Ben Rimalower, on August 24. And, Nicolas King - who the New York Times calls a "polished crooner" who takes pop and jazz and infuses his Broadway roots in a swinging concert that "makes waves faster than a raging tsunami!" (Theater Scene) - returns to The Art House after headlining for Ptown's CabaretFest in 2019, with Jazz great Mike Renzi on piano this August 26. Rounding out the line-up is Daniel Shevlin (with Lance Horne) on September 18 & 19.

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5150621

For fans that wish to see the Broadway @ The Art House and Town Hall stars this summer, the venue provides the opportunity to reserve those seats with its 2021 Broadway Season Pass. It guarantees Season Pass holders the best seats available, 'front-of-the-line' access, and a significant discount off the price of VIP seating. More information can be found at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4548247.

Coming Up Next...

Now-September 1: Judy Gold
July 23-24: Jenn Colella (with Chris Ranney)
July 31-August 1: Rachel Bay Jones (with Seth Rudetsky)
August 2: Judy Kuhn (with Seth Rudetsky)
August 4- September 11: Ginger Minj
August 6-7: Deven Green and Handsome Ned's Watch Thin People Eat
August 8: Kristin Chenoweth's For the Girls (with Mary-Mitchell Campbell)
August 10: Unitard's Badassy
August 13-14: Liz Callaway (with Seth Rudetsky)
August 15: Kelli O'Hara (with Seth Rudetsky)
August 21:  Susie Mosher
August 22: Stephanie J. Block (with Seth Rudetsky)
August 23:Ben Rimalower's Broken Records 
August 24: John Hill's Dead On Arrival
August 26: Nicolas King (with Mike Renzi)
August 27-28:Lillias White (with Seth Rudetsky)
August 30:Beth Malone (with Seth Rudetsky)
August 31-September 11: Marilyn Maye (with Billy Stritch)
September 5: Beth Leavel (with Seth Rudetsky)
September 11: Christine Pedi (with Matthew Ward)
September 18-19: Daniel Shevlin (with Lance Horne)
September 24-25: Krysta Rodriguez
October 30: An Evening With Sasha Velour

THE ART HOUSE TEAM 2021

Shelley Jennings- Supervising Tech Director & Sound Designer

Jamie Casertano- Tech Director & Lighting Designer

Warren Anker- House Manager

Brian Glidden- Box Office Manager

Thom Vindiola- Production Stage Manager

William Lord- Spotlight Operator

Karen Pagano, Keith Hunt, David LeVangie, Thom Markee, Jim Woodworth and Rob DiVincenzo- Ushers

Tom Fervoy- Director of Press & Communications

Melinda Ancillo- Graphic Designer

Jenn Wais- Social Media Designer

Jake Latts- Production Intern

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