Directed by Noah Himmelstein (Sammy Gets Mugged! at The Living Theatre with the NY Fringe Festival), Positions will receive six performances as part of UrbanArias’ second annual Festival.

Prior to the full production, a public presentation of the piece will be offered March 21 at 7:30 PM at Artisphere. The evening will feature a talkback with the creators and director. For tickets, priced $17-$200, visit http://www.urbanarias.org/performances/positions-1956-workshop.

The cast will feature Jesse Blumberg, baritone, who created the role of Connie in The Grapes of Wrath and starred in the premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Green Sneakers; Vale Rideout, tenor, who created the leading role in John Musto’s The Inspector at Wolf Trap Opera; and Amedee Moore, soprano, who recently sang the role of Clorinda in La Cenerentola at Opera North.

	Jesse Blumberg
	photo by Arielle Doneson

Positions 1956, according to press notes, is a 90-minute opera in three parts, "each based on a different type of instructional material from the 1950s: a fitness manual (think Charles Atlas, 98-pound weaklings, and titles like 'Physique and Delinquency'); a ballroom dancing manual (think Arthur Murray’s famous 'footprints'); and a sex manual (think titles like 'How to Please Your Husband.')"

The production will also feature scenic and lighting design by David L. Arsenault and costume design by Costume Design. Tickets, priced $22, are available by visiting http://tickets.artisphere.com.

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For its 2012 Festival, UrbanArias will also present a double-bill of Before Breakfast by Thomas Pasatieri and Frank Corsaro and The Filthy Habit by Peter Hilliard and Matt Boresi. Robert Wood is artistic director.