(Dayton, OH) – March 6, 2006 – America’s greatest living playwright will be featured on The Loft Theatre stage this month when Victoria Theatre Association and The Human Race Theatre Company present Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, March 23 – April 9, as part of the Humana Loft Series 1.

Albee’s Pulitzer Prize winner is a caustically funny and moving exploration of the bonds of friendship and family in a threatening world. Agnes and Tobias, a seemingly comfortable middle-aged couple, find themselves engaged in a battle of wits with Agnes’ sister Claire, a self-professed drunk, and daughter Julia, home after her fourth failed marriage. Their equilibrium is further jeopardized by the sudden arrival of their best friends, Edna and Harry, seeking refuge in this already fragmented environment. A two-time Tony Award® winner, in 1966 and for the revival in 1996, this story speaks to our most intimate hopes and fears.

Recipient of a 2005 Lifetime Achievement Tony Award® and many other awards over the years, Albee has been called America’s greatest living playwright – and the playwright himself has caustically replied that all the others are dead. A Delicate Balance is the first of three Albee plays to win the Pulitzer Prize: A Delicate Balance in 1966, Seascape in 1974 (produced on The Loft stage during the 2001-2002 season), and Three Tall Women in 1991 (produced on The Loft stage in 1996). A revival of A Delicate Balance played Broadway in 1996 and won the Tony Award® for Best Revival that year. Most recently, Albee’s play The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? won the 2002 Tony Award® for Best Play. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, perhaps his best-known work, won the Tony Award® in 1962 and was recently revived to Tony Award® nominations in 2005.

The cast of the Humana Loft Series 1 production features several new faces as well as some familiar ones.

With extensive theatrical, film and television credits, HOLLY BARRON will play Claire. In addition to significant roles on Broadway and off-Broadway (Six Degrees of Separation, Design for Living, Tamara, Mecca, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, Cracks), Barron has performed at some of the most prestigious regional theatres across the country, including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Center Stage, Alley Theatre, and Westport Country Playhouse.

Playing the fearful Edna will be MARY DONAHOE, who was last seen on The Loft stage as E.M. Ashford in Wit. She was Artistic Director of Women Who Laugh Theatre in Oregon before becoming a teacher of acting and movement at Wright State University. Donahoe’s acting credits include Winter Roses at the Old Globe, Josie in Moon for the Misbegotten, Gertrude in Hamlet, and Elinor in Lion in Winter.

HERB DUVAL will play Harry, Edna’s husband. He was most recently seen on The Loft stage in this season’s Humana Loft Series 2 production of The Tempest. A writer and director as well as an actor, DuVal is the new producing director of the Rising Phoenix Theatre in Middletown. No stranger to the area, he has played Cincinnati several times, appearing in national companies of Equus, Children of a Lesser God and Much Ado About Nothing.

Playing Julia the daughter will be ROBIN LEWIS-BEDZ of Chicago in her first performance with The Human Race Theatre Company. She holds an MFA from Ohio University's Professional Actor Training Program and a BFA from the University of Detroit Mercy.

WILLIAM STONE MAHONEY, playing Tobias, brings extensive theatre, television and film credits to the role. Regional theatre credits include Moon of the Caribbees and Powder Keg at the Flea Theater, Show Time at Waco (world premiere) at the Sanford Meisner Theater, The Death of Bessie Smith at Ensemble Studio Theater, The Treatment at the Atlantic Theater, The Buffalo Bill Wild Wild West Show at Euro Disney and Boozy at the Ohio Theatre. His film credits include The Cook Out, The Seige, Swim Test, Rounding First and Thanksgiving. On television, he has appeared on One Life to Live, The Locket, Rescue Me and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Playing Agnes will be SUSAN TABOR. Her Broadway and national tour credits include John Osborne’s Inadmissible Evidence with Nicol Williamson, California Suite, Mary, Mary and Seidman & Son, with Sam Levene. Off Broadway credits include Every Woman Knows, The Constant Wife, The Seagull, The Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, A Woman of No Importance, Candida, An Ideal Husband, and Outward Bound.

Directing this production is RICHARD E. HESS, returning for his 10th production at The Loft Theatre, having most recently directed The Drawer Boy, Proof and A Little Night Music. Hess is associate professor of drama and the A.B., Dolly, Ralph and Julia Cohen chair in drama at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. His other credits include work at the Chautauqua Institute, the Cincinnati Opera, the Cincinnati Fringe Festival and the Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles, where his production of The Catholic Girl’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity is currently enjoying a sold-out run.

The creative team for the production includes MARK HALPIN as Scenic Designer, REBECCA SENSKE as Costume Designer, JOHN RENSEL as Lighting Designer, and JAMES DUNLAP as Sound Engineer. ELIZABETH GRUNENWALD serves as Production Stage Manager.

A Delicate Balance is presented with support from Jim & Enid Goubeaux. Media Sponsor for the Humana Loft Series is WYSO Public Radio/91.3 FM. The Official Host for the Humana Loft Series is DoubleTree Hotel.

A Delicate Balance is on stage at The Loft Theatre March 23 through April 9. Performance times are Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. (Please Note: This is a new curtain time for the 2005-2006 season), Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 p.m.* and Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Immediately following the Sunday, April 2 matinee, The Human Race will hold its “While We’re on the Subject” post-show discussion.

Tickets are just $29 each, and discounts are available for senior citizens, students and groups. Tickets are on sale now via Ticket Center Stage, with box office locations at the Victoria Theatre and Schuster Center in downtown Dayton. To order tickets by phone, call (937) 228-3630 or toll free (888) 228-3630. Ticket Center Stage hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Saturday, noon - 4 p.m. The Loft Theatre box office opens two hours prior to each performance. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.ticketcenterstage.com.

More information about Victoria Theatre Association and the Humana Loft Series 1 is available online at www.victoriatheatre.com. Be sure to also visit www.victoriatheatre.com/orbit.html, to learn how you can easily invite friends to this and other Victoria Theatre Association presentations using the new ORBIT online invitation tool. To learn more about The Human Race Theatre Company, visit www.humanracetheatre.org.

*The Saturday, April 1 performance may be sign interpreted and/or audio described upon request with two weeks advance notice to Ticket Center Stage at 937-228-3630.

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Victoria Theatre Association is one of Dayton’s premier arts organizations, presenting a variety of life-celebrating performances. In addition to the immensely popular Fifth Third Bank Broadway Series, Victoria Theatre Association offers the Bank One Young at Heart Family Series; the Michelob Ultra Cool Films series; Star Attractions; and the Discovery series, curriculum-enhanced live theatre productions for school children. Victoria Theatre Association is proud of its alliances with the Dayton Opera Association and the Arts Center Foundation and its collaboration on the Humana Loft Series 1 with The Human Race Theatre Company. Victoria Theatre Association receives funding from a variety of diverse public, corporate, individual and private sources, including the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District and the Ohio Arts Council. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program or organization with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Founded in 1986, The Human Race Theatre Company moved to the Metropolitan Arts Center in 1991, taking up residence at the 219-seat Loft Theatre. In addition to the Humana Loft Series 1, produced in collaboration with Victoria Theatre Association, The Human Race produces the Humana Loft Series 2, 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 education outreach programs for children six to 16, guest artist and artist residencies in area schools, The Muse Machine In-School Tour, Youth Summer Stock, and The Human Race Conservatory. Human Race organizational support is provided by Culture Works, Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District, Shubert Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program or organization with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.