Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara Presents the West Coast Premiere of Touch the Names: Letters to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Touch The Names: Letters to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is composed of actual letters written by friends and family to the fallen soldiers memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. These remarkable letters, notes and poems are interlaced with songs performed by the legendary blues singer Chic Streetman. Directed by Randal Myler.

Santa Barbara, CA (PRWEB) February 12, 2006 -- On Friday, February 10, Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) of Santa Barbara is honored to announce the west coast premiere production of Touch the Names: Letters to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This extraordinary work, conceived by Broadway writer/director Randal Myler and legendary blues singer/composer Chic Streetman, will run through Sunday, March 5, 2006. Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara performs Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 2:00 and 7:00 pm.

Touch The Names is composed of actual letters written by friends and family to the fallen soldiers memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. These remarkable letters, notes and poems are interlaced with songs performed by the composer Chic Streetman. Director Randal Myler received special permission from the U.S. National Park Service to extract these letters from the Library of Congress records and use them as the complete text of the this poignant theatre piece. Six actors portray various people: fellow soldiers, sons, fathers, wives and daughters who through their tribute letters and poems speak to the courage and patriotism of many Americans in a time of war.

Robert Grande Weiss, ETC Artistic Director, is happy to announce that co-creators Randal Myler (director) and Chic Streetman (musical performer) will be in Santa Barbara to participate in this west coast premiere production. This will be Myler’s second production for ETC. In 1989, he directed Molly Newman’s Shooting Stars, a play about one of the first women’s basketball teams. Recent New York City directorial credits include Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Outer Critic's Circle nominee for Best Direction also co-authored), Love Janis (over 700 performances off-Broadway, also authored) and the Tony Award nominated musical It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues (also co-authored Tony nominee) at Lincoln Center and the Ambassador Theatre. Mr. Myler has been an Associate Director of the Denver Center Theatre Company for the last twenty years.

Chic Streetman is a Santa Barbara legend (and former resident) known for his music programs for children and many concerts and recordings that he has done over the last twenty years. As a composer he is probably best known for his original music for George C. Wolfe's production of Spunk at the Public Theatre in New York City. Chic Streetman conducts workshops for youth and adults in schools or at their place of business. His world-class workshop "Express Yo'self" has garnered international acclaim by providing a safe, fun and exciting environment to explore and develop self-confidence. Mr. Streetman currently resides in Seattle, Washington.

Mr. Myler has brought out three New York actors for this west coast premiere.
Veteran actor Annie Golden is best known for her featured role in Milos Forman's Hair and has had featured roles on "Cheers" and "Miami Vice." On Broadway, she has appeared in the 1977 revival of Hair, The Leader of the Pack, Ah, Wilderness!, On the Town, and The Full Monty. She also created the role of Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme in Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's musical Assassins in 1991. Randy Ryan has worked on Broadway for years and in television with such shows as Law & Order, Sex and the City and Thomas Lyons is our third visiting New York actor having played numerous rolls on Broadway, Off-Broadway and television including Law & Order, Rescue Me and Spin City.

Other cast members include Tria Xiong, a Hmong-American, who is a native of Laos and came to the U.S. as a direct result of the Vietnam War. Ms. Xiong is now an actor living in Los Angeles working in movies, T.V. and commercials. Kem Saunders is a working actor now living in Los Angeles and is appearing in Male Groupie, part of HBO’s Independent film series now playing. Rounding out the cast is a Santa Barbara favorite, Gretchen Evans. Now in her sixteenth season with ETC, she has performed in over thirty roles with the company.

ETC has ensembled a dynamic production team which includes Barbara Lackner as Costume Designer, Tal Sanders as Set Designer and Dan Weingarten as Lighting Designer.

The Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara was founded in 1979 and housed at the intimate Alhecama Theatre located in the historic Presideo District in downtown Santa Barbara at 914 Santa Barbara Street. ETC is Santa Barbara’s longest running, most award-winning professional resident theatre company, now in its 26th season.

Ticket prices for Touch the Names: Letters to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial range from $25.00 to $37.00. ETC offers discounts to students, seniors and groups of 10 or more. Single tickets and group tickets are available through the Ensemble Theatre Box Office at (805) 962-8606.

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