FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE & BROADCAST

June 29, 2007

Salinas, CA

Press contact: Dawn Flood

publicity@westernstage.com

Please see release for all appropriate public information

Kiss Me Kate - the Perfect Marriage of William Shakespeare and Cole Porter

The Western Stage continues its 2007 season with Kiss Me Kate July 14 – August 4. With music by Cole Porter, this romantic musical comedy about two divorced actors whose backstage relationship mirrors the tumultuous courtship in The Taming of the Shrew will delight all who love the witty and sophisticated Broadway musicals of the 1940s. Kiss Me Kate plays on the Mainstage, Hartnell College Performing Arts Center. Performances are Fri and Sat at 8pm and Sun at 2 pm. Season tickets are still available, saving patrons over 42%. To purchase individual tickets or to learn about our subscription packages, visit The Western Stage online at westernstage.com or call the box office at 831-375-2111. (113 Words)

Salinas, CA — June 29, 2007

If one theme permeates The Western Stage’s 2007 Mainstage season, it may be best summed up as the universal struggle to find love despite impossible odds. From the challenge of rekindling a failed relationship in Kiss Me Kate to negotiating delicate issues about inter-racial relations in South Pacific, the romantic entanglements the characters populating TWS’ Mainstage this season promise to be as explosive as they are humorous.

This trio of musicals about the trials and tribulations of the heart begins July 14th with Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate, a musical tour de force ripped straight from a Shakespearean folio.

Initially conceived by producer Saint Subber while stage-managing a touring production of The Taming of the Shrew in which the two stars, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, bickered as fiercely back stage as they did on stage playing Katherine and Petruchio. (Fore more, see supplemental article)

At the center of the play is the relationship between Fred Graham and his ex-wife Lili. When the two are cast in a production of The Taming of the Shrew in Baltimore, Maryland, they begin to realize that they may still have more tender feelings for one another than they realized. So, when Lili accidentally receives a bouquet of flowers from Fred which were really intended for another actress in the production, she sees it as further proof that he is still in love with her. Complications ensue once Lili learns the truth about who was intended to receive the flowers, and a battle of the sexes erupts that rivals the one taking place on stage.

Filled with some of Cole Porter’s most memorable songs like “Wunderbar”, “Brush Up Your Shakespeare”, and “So in Love”, Kiss Me Kate proved to be Porter’s come back musical when it premiered in 1948. The musical ran over 1,000 performances and won five Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Composer of a Musical, to name a few.

This production is directed by Lorenzo Aragon whose previous credits include: Rain of Gold (2003, 2005), Meet Me in St. Louis (2006), and Man of La Mancha (2002).

Kiss Me Kate plays through August 4^th on the Mainstage in the Hartnell College Performing Arts Center. Performances are Fri. and Sat. at 8pm and Sun. at 2pm. Season tickets are still the best bargain, saving patrons up to 42% off the regular ticket price. To reserve tickets or learn about some of The Western Stage’s subscriber packages, call the box office at (831) 375.2111 or visit TWS online at www.westernstage.com.

Dan Tarker

Literary Associate