Dayton, OH -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/10/2010 -- Victoria Theatre Association’s Miami Valley and Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series present MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS, May 11 – 23 at the historic Victoria Theatre. A comedy by Ron Hutchinson and produced by The Human Race Theatre Company, MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS gives an “inside” look at how the script for the movie Gone with the Wind was created—in five days!

“Frankly, my dear, this is one funny play…a rip-roaring farce…[with] witty, pointed dialogue and hilarious situations…” NY Daily News

Hollywood. 1939. David O. Selznick has just five days to salvage Gone with the Wind, or he’s ruined for life! Filming has barely begun on his latest magnum opus, Gone with the Wind, and “Selznick’s folly” is already a massive train wreck. He’s fired the director, the script is a disaster, and he now has only five days to save the movie and his reputation. This true-life piece of Hollywood lore sets the stage for MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS, playwright Ron Hutchinson’s hilarious take on just what might have transpired during those desperate five days that produced the final script for Gone with the Wind.

MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS takes audiences behind the closed doors of Selznick’s office, where he has corralled director Victor Fleming and screenwriter Ben Hecht, and charged them with the task of getting the train back on the tracks. Selznick locks all three of them in the office and refuses to let anyone out until they have completely overhauled the movie’s script. Armed with a typewriter and fueled by nothing more than bananas, peanuts and coffee, the three men set about the daunting task of turning a 1,000-plus-page novel into a coherent 130-page movie script!

Playwright Ron Hutchinson skillfully combines the memoirs and recollections of those involved, along with his own personal experiences as a movie re-write man, to create an utterly hilarious portrait of the long-gone days of the Hollywood studio system. MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS premiered at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 2004 and made its Off-Broadway debut at New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club in 2005.

The production of MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS is co -directed by The Human Race Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, Marsha Hanna and local actor Jake Lockwood and features Richard Marlatt as David O. Selznick, Erik Gratton as Victor Fleming, Tim Lile as Ben Hecht, and Caitlin Larson as Ms. Poppenghul. Behind the scenes, Dan Gray is Scenic Designer, David Covach is Costume Designer, Charlie Parker is Sound Designer and, John Rensel is Lighting Designer. Also lending support backstage are: Technical Director, Scott J. Kimmins; Head Carpenter, D. Tristan Cupp; Production Stage Manager, Heather Jackson; Properties, Heather Powell; and Production Assistant, Hols Fischer.

Produced by The Human Race Theatre Company, MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS was placed on the VTA’s Miami Valley and Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series as a replacement for TALLY’S FOLLY, when the title became unavailable due to a Broadway revival.

For tickets call Ticket Center Stage at 937-228-3630, 888-228-3630, online at http://www.ticketcenterstage.com or visit the Box Office in person, located in the Wintergarden of the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center.

The Miami Valley & Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series presentation of Moonlight & Magnolias receives support from Leadership Sponsor AT&T Real Yellow Pages and additional support from Performance Sponsor For the Good of Seniors. This is a collaborative sponsorship consisting of these senior-service related companies: David’s Cemetery & Mausoleums; Grand Court Dayton; Home Instead Senior Care; Roberson Law; Routsong Funeral Home, Inc.; Senior Pathway Consultants; Sterling House Washington Township; and VITAS Innovative Hospice Care. Entrepreneur Sponsorship Circle Sponsors for Moonlight & Magnolias are Times Community Papers, Command Roofing Company, WYSO, CompuNet Clinical Laboratories, Harlow-HRK Sales & Marketing Inc., Invotec Engineering, Inc. and Uptime Solutions/Liebert.