The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities will open the 2018 – 2019 Black Box season with Educating Rita, directed by Lynne Collins, on Friday, October 5, 2018. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with matinées on Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m., through November 11. Preview performances are October 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. Pre-show chats and audience talkbacks are held throughout the run of the production. To purchase tickets call 720-898-7200 or go online

John Hutton

John Hutton

https://arvadacenter.org/educating-rita . Please note – the October 20th performance is a benefit for Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. Educating Rita is underwritten by Karen and Jack Berryhill. The 2018 – 2019 Arvada Center Theatre Season is sponsored by Lutheran Medical Center.

Educating Rita stars Emily Van Fleet (Rita) and John Hutton (Frank) in this marvelous two-character play about awakening your mind and rediscovering your life. Rita is a working-class hairdresser who wants to learn. Frank is a failed poet and professor who wants to drink. When they are thrown together, they embark on a journey that neither expected. The story is loosely based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, which became the heart of My Fair Lady and the film Pretty Woman. This funny and touching play reveals the unlikely connections that can surprise and change us.

John Hutton (Frank) is a very familiar actor to Colorado audiences having spent 23 years with the Denver Center Theatre Company. Other local credits include work with Colorado Shakespeare Festival, where he last appeared in 2016 and Curious Theatre Company.

Emily Van Fleet (Rita) has performed in 9 Arvada Center productions, including Sunday in the Park with George, The Drowning Girls, Bus Stop, Tartuffe, and Death Takes a Holiday. She will return to the Black Box stage when the Repertory Company opens its third season in February 2019.

In addition to director Lynne Collins who is also the Artistic Director of Plays at the Center, the creative team includes Stage Manager Christine Rose Moore, Scenic Design by Brian Mallgrave, Lighting Design by Jon Olson, Sound Design by Becca Pearce, Costume Design by Nicole Watts, Wig & Makeup Design by Danielle Griffith and the dialect coach is Gabriella Cavallero.