2023-24 Season
TBD
Friday Nov. 3 - 8pm
Saturday Nov. 4 - 2pm & 8pm
Thursday Nov. 9 & Friday Nov. 10 - 8pm
Saturday Nov. 11 - 2pm & 8pm
Thursday Nov. 16 & Friday Nov. 17 - 8pm
Saturday Nov. 18 - 2pm & 8pm
Friday Feb. 23 - 8pm
Saturday Feb. 24 - 2pm & 8pm
Thursday Feb. 29 & Friday, March 1 - 8pm
Saturday March 2 - 2pm & 8pm
Thursday March 7 & Friday, March 8 - 8pm
Saturday March 9 - 2pm & 8pm
Friday May 3 - 8pm
Saturday May 4 - 2pm & 8pm
Thursday May 9 & Friday, May 10 - 8pm
Saturday May 11 - 2pm & 8pm
Thursday May 16 & Friday, May 17 - 8pm
Saturday May 18 - 2pm & 8pm
Friday July 19 - 8pm
Saturday July 20 - 2pm & 8pm
Thursday July 25 & Friday, July 26 - 8pm
Saturday July 27 - 2pm & 8pm
Thursday Aug. 1 & Friday, Aug. 2 - 8pm
Saturday Aug. 3 - 2pm & 8pm
November:
The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
Directed by Mike Haddad
Jack Worthing
Algernon Moncrieff
Gwendolen Fairfax
Lady Bracknell
Cecily Cardew
Ms. Prism
Rev Chausuble
Lane / Merriman
Justin Budinoff
James Woodsum
Kristie Norris
Bonnie Gardner
Catherine Haverkampf
Stephanie Cotton-Snell
David Foster
Bill Novakowski
You have to know that it’s going to be a special theater season when you get a chance to re-experience (or, luckily, see for the first time) the enchanting exploits of Mr. Worthing and his cohorts. The Importance of Being Earnest is a touchstone for farcical and witty theater for the past 130 years. To try and say more about this plot would be not only ruinous for someone’s night out at the theater, but it would also be necessarily incomplete, confusing, or even irritating. But, for those who insist: the time is Victorian England. Jack Worthing is in love with Gwendolyn Fairfax. Jack’s friend Algernon falls for Jack’s ward, Cecily Cardew. Algernon is insouciant, Gwendolyn is unflappable, Jack is resolute and Ernest is….Well, we’ve almost said too much already. Throughout, the witticisms and epigrams fly unrelentingly, ranging on truth, morality, art and love. And, despite the glib way love & goodness are discussed by the characters, in the end, any effort to thwart the lovers is eventually quashed. But, in a silly way.
February- March:
TBD
May:
Cabaret
Book by Joe Masteroff
Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Directed by Brain Kelley
Cabaret, the ground-breaking musical by the team of Kander and Ebb, based on a play by John van Druten, cannot be considered an “old chestnut” despite its age. It’s a theatrical experience that re-imagines itself for every time. Sometimes it’s a gawdy glitter ball, other times a dark menacing warning. At its core is an honest, yearning love story of a naïve writer who falls for a young woman who performs at the Kit Kat Klub, a hideaway that exists outside of time (or at least pretends to). It’s 1929 in Germany and people can feel the world changing around them. And at the epicenter is Berlin, which welcomes neophyte Cliff, seeking motivation for his novel. Sally moved to Berlin to run away from her old life. They meet-cute at the Kit Kat Klub, but things get difficult for them rather quickly. The score is filled with a rich variety of music: sweet, ironic, bawdy, fun, and also melancholy and sinister. And in this web of social commentary, high living and music, this play also brings us face-to-face with our fears and the possibility of our better selves.
July-August:
The Outsider
by Paul Slade Smith
Directed by Doug Sanders
As we approach the height of another federal election season, it seems appropriate to share this incisive political farce, The Outsider, on our stage. At once unflinchingly silly and also unapologetically critical, this play rides that edge of satire all the way to the finish line. A governor has left office in disgrace leaving the job to his very qualified, but completely non-political, and socially inept lieutenant governor. Things go wrong almost from the get-go for the incoming governor, as the recording of his swearing-in ceremony quickly becomes a meme on-line. And after a TV interview goes awry, things seem to be going from bad to worse. But amazingly, a high-powered political advisor from DC is mesmerized by the possibilities this unconventional candidate provides. To this, the play mixes in some thoroughly unexpected obstacles and characters, raising the satire to the “Did they just say that?” level of envelope-pushing that good satires go to, and then return from. Not unscathed, but hopefully better for the ride.