Michael James Leslie, Ashley Blanchet to Star in Kansas City Rep's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

Kansas City Repertory Theatre has announced the cast for Little Shop of Horrors, its final production of the 2011-12 season.  The Rep's Associate Artistic Director Kyle Hatley will direct. He has also directed the Rep's productions of Circle Mirror Transformation, A Christmas Carol, The Borderland, Nathan Louis Jackson's Broke-ology, and he has appeared in The Whipping Man and The Glass Menagerie at the Rep.  Hatley is a noted writer and director for the Kansas City Fringe Festival and is artistic director and co-founder of Chatterbox Audio Theater.                              

Also in the cast are: Ashley Blanchet as Audrey (Memphis at the Shubert Theatre); Nick Cordero as Orin (original cast of The Toxic Avenger Musical, Man of Rock at New York Musical Theatre Festival; national tour of Rock of Ages; Showtime's "Queer as Folk"); Eboni Fondren as Ronette (Kansas City Jazz and Blues Festival); Coleen Grate as Chiffon (Cabaret at KC Rep); Jennie Greenberry as Crystal (A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Story, The Musical! at KC Rep; currently appearing in Lucky Duck at New Victory Theatre); Gary Neal Johnson as Mushnik (93 shows at KC Rep including August: Osage County, Cabaret, Bus Stop, A Christmas Carol and King Lear; King Lear at the Goodman Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC; The Voysey Inheritance a KC Rep co-production with American Conservatory Theater; Much Ado About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice at Utah Shakespeare Festival); Joseph Medeiros as Seymour (2009 Broadway revival of Guy and Dolls, original cast of Big, The Blue Flower, Yank).  

The design team includes:  Meghan Raham, Scenic and Costume Design (KC Rep: Circle Mirror Transformation, Broke-ology, Clay-also Lincoln Center Theater LCT3, world premiere of Venice-also Center Theatre Group; Joshua Horvath, Sound Design (KC Rep: Trip to Bountiful, Clay-also Lincoln Center Theater LCT3,  Winesburg, Ohio, Around the World in 80 Days, Saved, Broke-ology-also Lincoln Center Theater LCT3, world premiere of Venice-also Center Theatre Group; Jason Lyons, Lighting Design (KC Rep: A Christmas Story, the Musical!, A Flea in her Ear, Clay-also Lincoln Center Theater LCT3 and 2009 Drama Desk Award nomination, Broadway: Rock of Ages, The Threepenny Opera, Barefoot in the Park.  Production Stage Manager is Mary R. Honour.

Little Shop of Horrors runs April 20 - May 20 at the Rep's Copaken Stage located downtown at 13^th and Walnut streets. Tickets cost $20-$75; youth tickets are $20.  For information about performance times and ticket options, call the Rep Box Office at 816-235-2700 or visit www.KCRep.org.  For group ticket information and sales, please contact Group Sales at 816-235-6122.