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For more information, interview possibilities or media passes, please contact:
Leigh Allen, Marketing Director
leigh@humanracetheatre.org
(937) 461-3823, ext. 3112

FIVE COURSE MUSICAL FEAST COMING TO DAYTON

DAYTON, OH - January 31 - Anyone hungry for a fun night out will have their appetites so sated they’ll need to loosen their belts to make room for the belly laughs, when The Human Race Theatre Company presents Five Course Love this summer. The table is set for Gregg Coffin’s culinary musical tour of five dates gone hilariously wrong to open at The Loft Theatre June 12.

Coffin’s work isn’t new to Dayton. An earlier musical, Convenience, wowed local audiences when it was being developed and rewritten here in 2004, and has gone on to success across the country.

Five Course Love is well past the rewriting stage, having drawn rave responses from audiences and critics coast to coast for three years. Even tough New York critics became fans of the Oberlin grad when the show ran off-Broadway. The Associated Press described it as “hilarious and imaginative” and syndicated columnist Liz Smith called it “a smashing production.”

Coffin says Five Course Love was inspired by a friend’s tales of her horrible experiences with speed dating. “We were laughing so hard,” he says, “and it put an idea in my head of how it would be even worse if you were eating. So my little composer mind thought, ‘what if the food inspired the music?’”

The five courses come in five eateries, with country music at a barbecue joint, Italian opera at a trattoria, and on into German, Mexican and ‘50s do-wop sounds and savories. And as for the disasters encountered by the various would-be Romeos, a Mafia hit is just par for the course.

In addition to musicals, Coffin has composed incidental music for dozens of stage productions, including Human Race productions of Proof and The Drawer Boy. He has just completed a new musical, called rightnextto me.

The Human Race production of Five Course Love will be directed by HRTC Resident Artist and Wright State theatre professor Joe Deer, who drew raves for his work on Big River and Seussical at The Loft.

Tickets for Five Course Love are available by calling Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630 or (888) 228-3630, or via www.humanracetheatre.org.

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Founded in 1986, The Human Race Theatre Company presents universal themes that explore the human condition and startle us all into a renewed awareness of ourselves. The company moved to the Metropolitan Arts Center in 1991, taking up residence at The Loft, a 219-seat theatre. In addition to the Loft Series (in collaboration with the Victoria Theatre Association) The Human Race produces for the Fifth Third Broadway Series, the Musical Theatre Workshop series, and special event programming. The Human Race, under the direction of Artistic Director Marsha Hanna and Executive Director Kevin Moore, also maintains educational outreach programs for children and adults, guest artists and artist residencies in area schools, The Muse Machine In-School Tour, Youth Summer Stock and The Human Race Conservatory. The new Caryl D. Philips Creativity Center of The Human Race opened in January 2006 to provide a space for extensive theatre education classes and workshops.