Sandy Duncan will open Theatre Aspen’s 2011 summer season performing in Colorado native Steven Dietz’s comedy, “Becky’s New Car,” it was announced today. Duncan will work alongside her son, Jeffrey Correia, who will also play her son in the play opening June 24.
Duncan, 64, has starred on television in “The Sandy Duncan Show,” “The Hogan Family” and the mini-series “Roots.” On stage, the three-time Tony Award nominee is best-known for her portrayal of Peter in Broadway’s “Peter Pan.” She also has appeared on Broadway as Roxie Hart in Chicago, and in “My One and Only,” “The Boyfriend” and “The Canterbury Tales.”
“I’ve hoped to get Sandy out here to do a play for a while now,” said Theatre Aspen artistic director Paige Price. “That we also get Jeff is simply fantastic.”
Duncan performed with Correia, 23, in Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” in 2009 at the Mountain Playhouse in Pittsburgh. They played Amanda Wingfield and her son, Tom.
Theatre Aspen’s summer repertory season will also include “Annie” (July 7-Aug 20) and the new musical “Vices: A Love Story” by Michael Heitzman, Ilene Reid, Susan Draus and Everett Bradley (July 28-Aug. 20).
“Becky’s New Car,” directed by Fulbright Scholar Kate Powers, will be the first production in Theatre Aspen’s new Hurst Theatre in the Rio Grande Park. It replaces the tent facility that has been home to the company since 1989.
“I’m thrilled about having Sandy behind the wheel of ‘Becky’s New Car,’ ” Dietz told The Denver Post. “Kudos to Paige and Theatre Aspen.”
The play description: “Have you ever been tempted to flee your own life? Becky Foster is caught in middle age, middle management and in a middling marriage, with no prospects for change on the horizon. Then one night, a socially inept and grief-struck millionaire stumbles into the car dealership where Becky works. Becky is offered nothing short of a new life, and the audience is offered a chance to ride shotgun in a way that most plays wouldn’t dare.”
Theatre Aspen was awarded the “outstanding regional theater” Henry Award in Denver in 2009, and Alison Luff won a 2009 “best supporting actress” Denver Post Ovation Award for her work as Olive in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” 2010 Ovation nominees included Joan Hess in “Same Time, Next Year” and Beth Malone in “The Marvelous Wonderettes.”
For further information, contact Theatre Aspen at 970-925-9313, extention 2, or go to
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
