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THEATER NEWS FOR SAN FRANCISCO BAY

Posted by:	Richard Connema 01:54 pm EDT 03/29/15

BAY AREA CABARET PRESENTS TONY-NOMINATED BROADWAY AND TV STAR ANNALEIGH ASHFORD in LOST IN THE STARS 5:00pm, Sunday, April 19, 2015 Also: Master Class for Vocal Students & Auditors 12pm-4pm, with American Idol Musical Director Michael Orland – Bay Area Cabaret, the organization dedicated to presenting world renowned artists who expand the definition of cabaret, presents the versatile Tony-nominated Broadway and television star Annaleigh Ashford in her West Coast cabaret debut. Of her star turn in Lost in the Stars, which comes to San Francisco from an acclaimed encore appearance at New York’s Below 54, The New York Times said “A glittery comedic showgirl who is nobody’s fool. Ashford is in a lineage of fearlessly saucy entertainers who seem born to conquer … Jean Harlow, Judy Holliday, Cyndi Lauper and countless other wised-up kooks whose antics camouflage hearts of tarnished gold." An accomplished actress as well as singer, Ashford currently stars as the helpful hooker “Betty Dimelo” in the hit Showtime series, The Masters Of Sex, and received a Tony nomination for her role in “Kinky Boots.” Bay Area Cabaret will present Annaleigh Ashford in Lost in the Stars, 5pm, Sunday, April 19 in the historic Venetian Room of the Fairmont San Francisco. Tickets ($50) and information are available at www.bayareacabaret.org or by phone at (415) 392-4400. That afternoon, from noon to 4pm, Bay Area Cabaret will also host a master class featuring American Idol’s Musical Director Michael Orland with an appearance and Q&A with Ms. Ashford. Mr. Orland will offer a lecture on vocal, performance, and audition techniques, critique individual performances, and lead a question and answer session for both singers and auditors. For tickets ($25 auditors, $100 21&under, $125 general) please visit www.bayareacabaret.org. ######################## ################################ San Francisco Playhouse Announces 2015-2016 Season — San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English and Producing Director Susi Damilano announced selections today for the 2015-2016 Mainstage season. Three additional world premieres will be announced soon as part of their Sandbox Series of new plays. “Announcing a new season is always an exhilarating and terrifying experience,” said Bill English, Artistic Director. “As I looked over the explosive and thought-provoking titles we will present, I thought to paraphrase the famous game ‘Truth or Dare’ into ‘Truth AND Dare.’ Each one of these plays presents us with a difficult truth, a fresh truth, a complicated truth, and dares us to change and to change the world around us. They dare us to reconsider our world view. This has always been the job of playwrights–prophetic voices who relentlessly distill fresh truths that challenge us to transform ourselves and our community for the better.” Mainstage San Francisco Playhouse 2015-2016 Season includes two west coast premieres, two musical revivals, and one Bay Area premiere—as well as one play which will be announced soon. Kicking off the mainstage season is Dogfight, a musical comedy sensation and San Francisco premiere. Sarah Ruhl’s Stage Kiss follows, examining what happens when former lovers share a stage. The New Year will usher in Colossal, Andrew Hinderaker’s genre-defying play about football and dance. Our exploration of difficult truths will continue with another daring play in March, to be announced soon. Springtime will bring with it Red Velvet, a play that won the Most Promising Playwright London Critics Circle Award for playwright Lolita Chakrabarti, followed by the crime noir musical City of Angels, winner of six Tony Awards. Sandbox Series Continuing to build on the momentum of our Award-Winning Sandbox Series, we will add a third show to the lineup, soon to be announced. San Francisco Playhouse Founded in 2003 and boasting 2500 subscribers, the only mid-sized professional venue in downtown San Francisco, San Francisco Playhouse has quickly filled the need for a broad-based intimate, professional presenter of edgy premieres and re-invigorated classics. Ticket Information Season Subscriptions are available immediately online at www.sfplayhouse.org, or by calling the box office at 415-677-9596. Packages range from $130 to $360 with savings averaging over 40% off single ticket rates which range from $30 to $125 each. Single Tickets will go on sale to the public on June 1, 2014. The 2015-2016 Mainstage Season: Truth and Dare Dogfight – A Love Story San Francisco Premiere Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul; book by Peter Duchan based on the Warner Brothers film and screenplay by Bob Comfort Directed by Bill English, Choreography by Keith Pinto, Music Director Ben Johnson September 22rd to November 7th, opens September 26th. Eddie and Rose: What happens when trouble meets tender? Three young marines are going to war. But before they go they’ve got one last night. One night to party and play, to tease and taunt. Eddie takes on a cruel bet with his buddies, and Rose is his victim. But she’s more than he bargained for. What’s Eddie going to do when Rose rewrites the rules and his last night turns into a lesson on the power of compassion? Stage Kiss – One part life, two parts art. Shake well. Regional Premiere Written by Sarah Ruhl, Directed by Susi Damilano November 17th to January 9th, opens November 21, 2015 Art imitates Life imitates Art. And the dance continues. Prepare yourself for a frothy farce mixing stage drama and backstage lives into an intoxicating delight. This semi-romantic comedy delivers the laughs, tripping lightly through a playground of desire and sexual fantasy. Is this kiss for real? Colossal – When football and dance collide West Coast Premiere Written by Andrew Hinderaker, Directed by Jon Tracy January 19th to March 5th, opens January 23, 2016. When football and dance collide, you get more than you bargained for. Start with four full quarters and a half-time show, complete with a dance company, a drum corps, and a fully-padded cast: what have you got? Grace and violence, victory and defeat. Is football a metaphor for life, or just the bread and circuses of our time? Colossal is an epic event that impossibly merges the worlds of football and dance, loss and recovery, and the toughest act of all: being yourself. TBA – something wonderful to be discovered soon! March 15th to April 30th, opens March 19, 2016 The stage is empty. The lights are out. Is this a mistake? Or a newly discovered play by Beckett? Will anything ever happen? How long will you wait to find out? How much did you pay for those tickets, anyway, and will your date ever forgive you? Red Velvet – The Truth Changes Everything West Coast Premiere Written by Lolita Chakrabarti, Directed by Margo Hall May 10th to June 25th, opens May 14, 2016 True story. London, 1833. No black man has ever starred on a British stage—not even as Othello—until tonight. Ira Aldridge, a young black American, breaks more than the color barrier as he battles the entrenched social and theatrical norms of his day, going on to become a living legend, lauded from the footlights of Stratford to the halls of Saint Petersburg. City of Angels – Two, Two, Two Shows in One Musical Revival Book by Larry Gelbart, Music by Cy Coleman, Lyrics by David Zippel Vocal arrangements by Cy Coleman and Yaron Gershovsky Directed by Bill English July 5th to September 17th, opens July 9. 2015 Double your pleasure with this musical comedy that sports two scores, two plots, and if you’re lucky (“Do you feel lucky, punk?” Oh wait, wrong plot.), you might even get two happy endings. Take a trip to the ‘40s when Film Noir ruled the silver screen, and delight as the tales of a struggling Hollywood writer and the filming of his latest noir oeuvre unspool. Where his leading character keeps speaking back to him and the femme fatales won’t stay on the screen! ########################## New Conservatory Theatre Center announces 2015-16 Season Features U.S. premiere of For the Love of Comrades the regional premiere of Douglas Carter Beane’s The Nance the Bay Area Debut of award-winning playwright Sarah Gubbins, The Kid Thing the Furwell Tour of holiday hit, Avenue Q the world premiere of MJ Kaufman’s poetic and profound Sagittarius Ponderosa fresh from Broadway, the regional premiere of Terrence McNally’s Mothers and Sons the hit off-broadway barbra comedy, Buyer & Cellar the West Coast premiere of a reimagined On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever — At the annual New Conservatory Theater Center (NCTC) Season Announcement Party for subscribers, donors, artists and press, NCTC Founder & Artistic Director Ed Decker announced the line-up for the 2015-16 subscription season. Regarded nationally and internationally as San Francisco’s Premier LGBQI and Allied Theatre Company, NCTC builds on this rich tradition with its 2015-16 Season, featuring exhilarating U.S., regional and world premieres, as well as two extraordinary musicals. “The 2015-16 season offers comedic, dramatic, and musical journeys that invite audiences to connect to our ongoing mission that champions growth, enlightenment and change,” says Decker. “I believe it is important to keep in mind where we have been in order to better appreciate that which brought us to this moment in our lives. All of the plays either consider history, contemporary circumstances, or the evolving nature of our collective humanity within the fluidity of individual identity.” In September, NCTC’s 2015-16 Season begins with the U.S. Premiere of For the Love of Comrades, the impassioned, gritty and inspiring new play by Micheál Kerrigan, with script development by Patricia Byrne and Mary Connors. After a rapturous reception upon its premiere in 2013 and subsequent tour in Ireland, the play uncovers the largely unknown but fascinating alliance between Welsh miners and the lesbian and gay community during the 1984 British Miner’s Strike, what would become the Lesbian and Gays Support the Minors (LGSM) campaign. (The captivating true events also inspired a 2014 film, Pride.) Kerrigan wrote his debut play from his own experiences as an Irish gay activist and a member of the LGSM Group, along with extensive archival research. Mike Jackson, co-founder of LGSM proclaimed For the Love of Comrades a “masterpiece,” hailing its embrace of “so much important detail, so much historical truth, the pain and the joys.” Next, NCTC presents the return of Douglas Carter Beane’s sophisticated wit and thrilling theatrical ambition with the regional premiere of The Nance. After hit productions of Beane’s The Little Dog Laughed and As Bees in Honey Drown, NCTC bring his latest and “finest” (Time Out NY), what The New York Times calls “a heartfelt new play set in the twilight of burlesque,” direct from Lincoln Center Theater on Broadway. This “bold, brave play” (Backstage) – which debuted at Lincoln Center Theater in 2013 – recreates the naughty, raucous world of burlesque's heyday and tells the backstage story of headliner Chauncey Miles, who plays “the nance,” a flamboyantly effeminate stock character – usually played by a straight man. Set amid Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s crackdown on burlesque before the 1939 World’s Fair, a time when it was easy to play gay yet dangerous to be gay, Chauncey's uproarious antics on the stage stand out in marked contrast to his offstage life. In November, award-winning playwright Sarah Gubbins makes her Bay Area debut with the West Coast premiere of The Kid Thing. Hailed by Variety as “a work of significant depth,” The Kid Thing proves good news isn't all it's cracked up to be. When two lesbian couples who have been close friends for years get together for a dinner party, the unexpected news of an impending pregnancy manages to rock both relationships. Emotions run deep in this biting, witty piece about what it means to have a child today. “A compelling conversation stoker of a play" (Time Out Chicago), this winner of the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play 2012 was produced by Chicago Dramatists & About Face Theater and developed by Steppenwolf Theatre. This holiday season, get ready for a “Furwell Tour” like no other, with the return of the NCTC’s sold-out record-breaking hit production of Avenue Q, with music, lyrics and original concept by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty. This “fresh and delightful” (SF Examiner) and “brilliant” (Talkin Broadway) production of the Tony Award-winning musical won over critics and audiences alike in its return engagement during the 2014-15 season. The Bay Area Reporter exclaims, “A big smiley face quickly throws its net over NCTC’s Decker Theatre and keeps the audience happily entrapped” – because it’s not the holidays without naughty puppets! In January, NCTC is proud to present the world premiere of a poetic and profound new play, Sagittarius Ponderosa by MJ Kaufman. Winner of the 2014 Global Age Project at Aurora Theatre Company, the play introduces us to Archer (still Angela to his family), who returns home to eastern Oregon to care for his dying father. At night under the oldest Ponderosa Pine, he meets a young stranger who knows the history of the forests and the secrets to saving endangered things. Sagittarius Ponderosa reveals the enduring ties between the roots beneath our feet, the stars in the sky, and mysteries of the human heart. Sagittarius Ponderosa is a personal exploration for Kaufman, who was encouraged by Yale faculty member and playwright Sarah Ruhl to "find a new plot form to write about gender,” says Kaufman, who received an MFA from Yale School of Drama. “I had been feeling frustrated that most queer narratives are coming-out stories and most transgender narratives are transition stories. I wanted to create art that would acknowledge constant change as an intrinsic part of being a person.” In March, NCTC presents the latest acclaimed play by four-time Tony Award winner and frequent NCTC collaborator Terrence McNally, with the regional premiere of Mothers and Sons. Generations collide when a woman pays a surprise visit to the New York apartment of her late son's partner, who is now married to another man and has a young son. As she revisits the past, she begins to see the life her son might have led. “A resonant elegy for a ravaged generation” (The New York Times) and “eloquent, exceptionally timely and intensely resonant” (Chicago Tribune), Mothers and Sons explores family and forgiveness in a changing society. Next, the hilarious Off-Broadway hit, Buyer and Cellar by Jonathan Tolins comes to NCTC, starring NCTC regular and NCTC Emerging Artist Program alum J. Conrad Frank (Die Mommie Die!). In this uproarious comedy, an unemployed actor is thrust into a close relationship with Barbra Streisand when he is hired to watch over a mall of shoppes she has built in a cellar on her Malibu compound. Soon it begins to take a toll on his patience, his love life, and his view of people (who need people). As Entertainment Weekly declares, “This show will go down like ‘butta'!” Buyer and Cellar will also tour Northern and Central California as part of NCTC’s Pride On Tour, playing Modesto, Fresno, and Grass Valley. NCTC wraps up its 2015-16 Season with the West Coast premiere of the whimsical reimagining of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, with music by Burton Lane, lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, a new book by Peter Parnell, based on the original book by Alan Jay Lerner. This mesmerizing and enchanting new look at the classic musical is just your typical musical comedy – about hypnosis, gay florists with commitment issues, love triangles with your therapist, and past lives as a 1940s chanteuse. The “bewitching, beguiling” score (World-Telegram & Sun) from 1965 includes the songs “Come Back To Me,” “What Did I Have That I Don't Have Now?,” and the popular title song. Complementing the new book, the musical's beloved score will feature additional songs from the 1970 film version starring Barbra Streisand, as well as tunes from Lerner and Lane's Royal Wedding, a 1951 movie musical with Fred Astaire. In addition, NCTC has commissioned new arrangements by acclaimed musical director Ben Prince. Subscribers get the best seats at the best prices for every show in the season. Eight-show full-season subscriptions are available now, as well as a seven-show package, without Avenue Q, and a 4-show sampler, with a choice of any 4 shows in the season. Brand new this season is the 3-30-50 special package – 3 shows for $50, for audiences 30 years old and under. Subscribers have first access to Avenue Q tickets, save up to 25% off single tickets, have access to the best seats, receive hassle-free ticket exchanges, save 50% on guest tickets, and more. Subscriptions can be purchased at nctcsf.org/subscribe or by calling the Box Office at 415.861.8972. Single tickets for the 2015-16 Season will go on sale to the general public June 1st 2015. Fulfilling its vision of theatre as a community event, NCTC will expand community accessibility by offering a limited number of Pay-What-You-Wish tickets for every preview performance in the new season. New Conservatory Theatre Center is San Francisco’s premier LGBTQI and Allied performing arts institution and progressive arts education conservatory since 1981. NCTC is renowned for its diverse range of innovative ########################### SMUIN BALLET CONCLUDES 21ST SEASON WITH “UNLACED” DANCE SERIES Romeo and Juliet pas de deux by Michael Smuin Petal by Helen Pickett World Premiere by Adam Hougland Hearts Suite by Michael Smuin In San Francisco, Mountain View, Walnut Creek, and Carmel May 8 – June 6, 2015 -- Smuin Ballet closes its 21st Season with the Unlaced Dance Series, featuring Helen Pickett’s Petal, a world premiere by Adam Hougland, and two Michael Smuin classics. A highlight of the program will be the balcony pas de deux from Michael Smuin’s acclaimed Romeo and Juliet. Also on the bill is the highly-anticipated return of Helen Pickett’s Petal, which sets pairs of dancers into sensual, lyrical motion against a backdrop of vivid spring hues. In this program, Smuin Ballet will unveil a world premiere from Adam Hougland, set to music by indie-rock singer-songwriter Joan as Police Woman. Hougland’s ballet Cold Virtues received its lauded West Coast premiere with Smuin Ballet in 2012. In celebration of Edith Piaf’s Centennial, the evening will also include Michael Smuin’s Hearts Suite, set to an Edith Piaf vocal score. Unlaced will kick off its tour at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (May 8-17); continuing at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts (May 21-24); Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts (May 29-30); and concluding at Carmel’s Sunset Center (June 5-6). Tickets ($24-$73) are available by calling the individual venues or visiting www.smuinballet.org The Unlaced Dance Series will feature the balcony pas de deux from Michael Smuin’s widely-acclaimed Romeo and Juliet. The ballet was created in 1976 during Smuin’s tenure as co-artistic director at San Francisco Ballet, where it received rapturous reviews, and became the first full-length ballet - as well as the first performance by a West Coast company - to be shown on the PBS TV series Great Performances: Dance in America. The San Francisco Chronicle said, “Smuin’s Romeo and Juliet for San Francisco Ballet helped raise the company’s national and international profile.” Helen Pickett’s Petal received its West Coast Premiere with Smuin Ballet in 2013. Called “A resonant exploration of emotional discovery” by The New York Times, and “Spellbinding” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Petal is set to an effervescent score by Philip Glass and Thomas Montgomery Newman. The Contra Costa Times called Petal a “visually silken and color-drenched dance.” The Resident Choreographer for Atlanta Ballet, Pickett has set her works on companies around the world including Boston Ballet, Washington Ballet, Louisville Ballet, Ballet X, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Semperoper/Dresden Ballet, Vienna State Opera, and Scottish Ballet, among many others. The Unlaced Dance Series will also include a world premiere from acclaimed choreographer Adam Hougland whose Cold Virtues was lauded by audiences and critics when it was performed by Smuin Ballet in 2012. The San Francisco Chronicle called it “engrossing to the end.” Hougland’s new work will be set to music by indie rock singer-songwriter Joan as Police Woman (born Joan Wasser) whose cross between American soul and punk rock R&B offers a surprisingly uplifting sound, in which Wasser blends her own vocals, violin, and guitar with a variety of collaborators. Hougland is Principal Choreographer for Louisville Ballet and Resident Choreographer for Cincinnati Ballet, whose accomplishments include original works for American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, Introdans in the Netherlands, the Limón Dance Company, The Washington Ballet, and the New York Choreographic Institute at New York City Ballet. He created a World Premiere for Julliard's Centennial Celebration that was broadcast on PBS’s 'Live from Lincoln Center' series. He has won the Princess Grace Award for Choreography, the Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography, and was included in Dance Magazine's 25 to Watch for 2011. The evening will also include vignettes from Michael Smuin’s passionate ballet Hearts Suite, a journey based on the 1945 French Film “Les Enfants de Paradis,” featuring music by Edith Piaf. This gem of a ballet takes audiences to the 1840’s Parisian theatrical world, in which a man loses his heart to a mysterious woman. Of Hearts Suite, which was created in 1986, the Los Angeles Times said, “the events of ‘Les Enfants du Paradis’ are summarized in a feverish dance spectacle. Focusing on only two of the film’s many characters, and on its theme of theater as a metaphor for life, Smuin fills the stage… with bravura ballet technique.” On opening night (May 8), legendary French vocalist Raquel Bitton will perform the music of Edith Piaf live for one special performance. Debuting in San Francisco in March 1994, Smuin Ballet immediately established itself as “one of this country’s most entertaining, original ballet troupes” (Dance Magazine), and as a dance company of international acclaim. Michael Smuin’s singular philosophy to create pieces which merge the diverse vocabularies of classical ballet and contemporary dance has served as the company’s touchstone since its beginning. Now at the helm of Smuin Ballet is Artistic Director Celia Fushille, whose vision includes maintaining and increasing the company’s reputation for presenting compelling and innovative repertoire, attracting new audiences of all ages to the medium. The company has continued to highlight works created by Smuin, both for his own and for other ballet companies. Fushille also enriches its impressive repertoire with newer choreographic voices, bringing the Bay Area its first look at works by exciting choreographers from around the world, as well as developing world premieres by company members. ########################### “SPEECHLESS” SHOWS ATTRACT HI TECH CROWDS FOR MOCK POWERPOINT THROWDOWNS RETURNS TO PUBLIC WORKS APRIL 16, MAY 21, JUNE 18 – Following the competitive madness of the first ever technology SPEECHLESS tournament, the three best presenters in the history of the show will face off to determine who has mastered the art of PowerPoint karaoke. Comedian Caitlin Gill, comedian Calum Grant, and Nintendo data analyst Edwin Zee will go head-to-head, challenging each other in wits and dexterity, to crown the ultimate SPEECHLESS champion. It is estimated that every second, in offices around the globe, some 350 PowerPoint presentations are given (21,000 per minute, 1.26 million per hour). Hapless workers from Cupertino to Chengdu are pinned to their plastic chairs, fighting sleep, while managers, developers, and sales leaders drone on and on, aided by visual charts, graphs and photos. In response comes SPEECHLESS, Silicon Valley’s hilarious, snarky, irreverent entertainment, in which tech workers, entrepreneurs, and entertainers live out their worst nightmares to the vast amusement of packed houses. Created by Sammy Wegent and produced by Scott Lifton (Mortified SF) and Anthony Veneziale (Freestyle Love Supreme), SPEECHLESS puts players on the spot with nothing more than a stage, a microphone, and a PowerPoint deck of images they’ve never seen. The result is a series of fall-down laugh-riot presentations, often presented by engineers, programmers, and product developers from major tech companies, vying for prizes and bragging rights. SPEECHLESS takes place the third Thursday of each month at Public Works, 161 Erie Street, in San Francisco’s Mission District (off Mission between 13th and 14th Streets). Admission is $12 advance/$20 at the door. A full bar and food are available, doors open at 7pm. Upcoming shows include: 7:30pm Thursdays, April 16, May 21, June 18 at Public Works. Information can be found at www.speechlesslive.com and www.facebook.com/speechlesssf. ################################ New name, new direction and new team for theater and entertainment in the town of Sonoma SONOMA ARTS LIVE ANNOUNCES 2015 SONOMA ARTS LOCAL SEASON Season of six stage productions presented from April to October in downtown Sonoma - Sonoma Theatre Alliance, the consortium of North Bay based theater companies, has announced a new name, new direction and new team for its theatrical and entertainment presentations at the recently remodeled Rotary Stage at Andrews Hall, located at the Sonoma Community Center in downtown Sonoma, CA. Revitalized as Sonoma Arts Live, the theater presentation organization has Jaime Love at the helm as Executive Director and has named Brooke Tansley as Artistic Director. “We wanted a new name to encompass all of our exciting plans. We feel the new name of Sonoma Arts Live does that,” said Executive Director Jaime Love, who has been with Sonoma Theatre Alliance since its inception in 2010. “One part of the mission of the Sonoma Arts Live organization remains fundamentally the same - to support and promote local talent. Under the sub-heading of Sonoma Arts Local, we will be able to provide more support for our member theater companies by creating and implementing marketing and promotion for each company presenting productions on the Rotary Stage in Andrews Hall at the Sonoma Community Center.” Tansley, who comes to Sonoma by way of Transcendence - the professional summer series in Jack London State Park, will provide support to the local theatrical season, add a professional winter season, and work on producing presentations dedicated to a younger audience. "Conceived as an organization of interconnected creative programs - offering local theater, innovative and professional entertainment, as well as arts education for teens and adults - Sonoma Arts Live was formed for the purpose of enriching the community and making Sonoma an arts and cultural destination," said Artistic Director Brooke Tansley, a stage and film producer and actress who has starred in Broadway productions as Penny Pingleton in "Hairspray” and Belle in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." The Sonoma Arts Live - Sonoma Arts Local 2015 season opens April 16 and continues through October featuring the following productions: April 16 to May 3, 2015: “NUNSENSE THE MEGA MUSICAL” By Dan Goggin / Produced by J Love Productions / Directed by Wayne Goodman All the fun of the original musical “Nunsense” has been super-sized in this sequel featuring the original nuns, plus five new male and female characters, including the never-before-seen infamous convent cook. The production is a benefit for Sonoma Arts Live. Performances: April 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30 and May 1, 2, 3. Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays May 14 to May 31, 2015: “NOISES OFF!” By Michael Frayn / Produced by Narrow Way Stage Company / Directed by Nick Christenson Called the funniest farce ever written, “Noises Off!” is a manic menagerie as a cast of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called "Nothing's On." Doors slamming, on and offstage intrigue and an errant herring all figure in the plot of this hilarious comic play. Performances: May 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31. Showtimes: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays June 11 to June 28, 2015: “LITTLE MURDERS” By Jules Feiffer / Produced by M & G Productions / Directed by Gerrett Snedaker and Artistic Director Will Combs Political and social satire at its best “Little Murders” is the story of Patsy, who brings home her boyfriend to meet her severely dysfunctional family amidst a series of random shootings, garbage strikes and electrical outages ravaging the neighborhood. Performances: June 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28. Showtimes: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays July 9 to July 26, 2015: “JAKE'S WOMEN” By Neil Simon / Produced by JoLee Productions / Directed by Joey Hoeber A poignant comedy about Jake, a writer who likes to make up dialogues in his head between himself and the women in his life. As his second marriage crumbles, Jake's women "characters" make uncomfortably astute observations about his life. Performances: July 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26. Showtimes: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Aug. 20 to Sept. 6, 2015: “PROOF” By David Auburn / Produced by Sonoma Stage Works / Directed by Todd Evans A troubled young woman who has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable mathematician father, must recalibrate her life. Following her father’s death, she is forced to decide how much to reveal about herself and whether to take the advice of her high roller sister; how to honor her father’s legacy; and if she can accept romance. Performances: August 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30 and Sept. 3, 4, 5, 6. Showtimes: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays Sept. 17 to Oct. 4, 2015: “ASSASSINS” A musical by Stephen Sondheim / Produced by Narrow Way Stage Company / Directed by Trevor Hoffmann This horrifying, but hilarious musical explores and examines a fraternity of political assassins and would-be assassins across a hundred years of our history and the success, failure and questionable drive for power and celebrity in American society. Performances: Sept. 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27 and Oct. 1, 2, 3, 4. Showtimes: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays Performances are presented at the Rotary Stage at Andrews Hall, a historic Greek Revival landmark theater located at the Sonoma Community Center, 276 East Napa Street, Sonoma, CA. The theater is conveniently located within walking distance from Sonoma Plaza with its acclaimed restaurants, wine shops and boutiques and offers ample free parking. Season tickets are available for $99 per person for all six productions. Individual ticket prices are $12 to $26 per person, depending on play or musical and seating availability. For tickets or more information call 707-974-1932 or visit www.sonomaartslive.org ############################ Lucky Penny’s unveils 2015-16 season Lucky Penny Productions hosted the “Start of Something Big” Party on March 21 to celebrate the opening of the new Community Arts Center and announce the Napa-based theatre company’s 2015-16 season. The 2015–16 season will include: THE SECRET GARDEN Book and lyrics by Marsha Norman, music by Lucy Simon September 17 – October 4, 2015 Orphaned in India, 11 year-old Mary Lennox returns to Yorkshire to live with her embittered, reclusive uncle Archibald and his invalid son Colin. The estate’s many wonders include a magic garden which beckons the children with haunting melodies and the “Dreamers,” spirits from Mary’s past who guide her through her new life, dramatizing The Secret Garden’s compelling tale of forgiveness and renewal. Based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES By Rajiv Joseph October 15 – 25, 2015 Pulitzer finalist Rajiv Joseph’s two-person play charts the intersection of two lives using scars, wounds, and calamity as the mile markers to explore why people hurt themselves to gain another’s love and the cumulative effect of such damage. BEYOND THERAPY By Christopher Durang November 5 – 22, 2015 Bruce and Prudence are deeply into therapy. When they meet as the result of a personal ad, Bruce doesn’t know how to handle poor nervous Prudence and Prudence doesn’t know what to make of her unpredictable and somewhat insane new boyfriend. THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK CHRISTMAS MUSICAL Music and lyrics by David Nehls, book by Betsy Kelso December 3 – 20, 2015 It’s holiday time in Armadillo Acres, North Florida’s premier mobile-living community, and everyone’s filled with warmth and beer. But when a freak bout of amnesia strikes the trailer park Scrooge, neighborly love is put to the test. Be on hand as Betty, Lin, and Pickles jingle all the way with some new neighbors in an all-new, all-trailer-park musical! This companion to the original GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL is just as much of a cat-fightin’, sun-worshippin’, chair-throwin’ good time-—but with tinsel and Keg Nog. IN LOVE WITH THE 8 X 10: TEN MINUTE PLAY FESTIVALJanuary 21 – February 14, 2016 Our annual 10 Minute Play Festival is back with a selection of eight new, original, unproduced short plays, and created around the idea of “love” in its many manifestations. THE ANDREWS BROTHERS By Roger Bean April 14 – May 1, 2016 A World War II USO show is threatened with cancellation when a certain famous trio of singing sisters fails to show, and it’s up to three earnest and determined stagehands to go on with the show. Featuring 25 songs by the Andrews Sisters! I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE Book and lyrics by Joe Pietro, music by Jimmy Roberts May 12-29, 2016 “Everything you have ever secretly thought about dating, romance, marriage, lovers, husbands, wives and in-laws, but were afraid to admit.” A cast of four portrays a variety of characters in relationships that run the gamut. REVENGE OF THE SPACE PANDAS (OR BINKY RUDICH AND THE TWO SPEED CLOCK) By David Mamet Youth Academy Summer Production 2016 From the renowned author of “Glengarry Glen Ross” and many more great works come the story of Binky Rudich, his friend Viv, and his almost human sheep Bob, who tinker with a two-speed clock and end up on Crestview, Fourth World in the Goolagong System, ruled by George Topax and guarded by the Great Space Pandas. The excitement begins when Topax commands that Bob the sheep can never again leave Goolagong, and he steals the two-speed clock just to make sure. Only a very serious playwright could produce such an insane comedy for kids! In addition to these productions, Lucky Penny plans a special HALLOWEEN OPEN HOUSE PARTY on Saturday, October 31, 2015, and a HOLIDAY CHRISTMAS FAIRE December 5-6, 12-13, and 19-20 (taking place during the day with The Trailer Park Christmas Musical on the evenings.) All of these productions will be presented at the Lucky Penny Community Arts Center, 1758 Industrial Way in Napa. The monthly LUCKY PENNY PRESENTS Sunday music series will continue at City Winery at the Napa Valley Opera House and will feature a variety of top-notch vocalists and musicians. More information on current and future productions, the Community Arts Center, and all things Lucky Penny can be found at www.luckypennynapa.com. Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/luckypennynapa and follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/luckypennynapa. ############################## Sasha Soprano Presents… The DRAG QUEENS OF COMEDY 2015 Featuring 11 of the Most Outrageous & Uproarious Drag Queens Starring: BIANCA DEL RIO RuPaul’s Drag Race wInner – Season 6 COCO PERU Girls Will Be Girls / Trick ALASKA 5000 RuPaul’s Drag Race SHANGELA RuPaul’s Drag Race WILLAM RuPaul’s Drag Race LADY BUNNY Founder of WIGSTOCK, DJ, Icon JACKIE BEAT Drag Cabaret Superstar HEKLINA & PEACHES CHRIST SF’s Legendary Drag Stars and SASHA SOPRANO Producer, Celebutante & Heiress Hosted by MICHELLE VISAGE RuPaul’s Drag Race Panel Judge & Radio Host Sat., May 23, 2015 7:00 & 10:00 pm - 2 Shows - ONE NIGHT ONLY ! (doors at 6:00 & 9:30 pm) 6:00 pm - Pre Show / Pink Carpet Experience in Front of Theatre The Castro Theatre in San FranciscoProduced in association with Peaches Christ Productions thedragqueensofcomedy.comre Show Tix Sales: thedragqueensofcomedy.com - $45 GENERAL ADMISSION / balcony and rear orchestra - $100 VIP- includes: Early Entrance to Event / Preferred VIP Seating (so close you can see their tuck) / Gift Bag Full of Drag Goodies / Signed Poster by all Performers - $250 VIP DELUXE EXPERIENCE includes: Early Entrance to Event / Front Row Seating / Gift Bag Full of Drag Goodies / Signed Poster by all Performers - Plus…Limited Edition Program / All Access VIP Deluxe Pass / Complimentary Bottle Service with Complimentary Treats / Meet & Greet w/ cast backstage / and Pre Show - Pink Carpet Experience Day Of Show Tix Sales (if available) (Cash Only) - $55 GENERAL ADMISSION (If tix available) - $125 VIP (If tix available) - $300 VIP Deluxe (If tix available) Available only at Castro Box Office: sales begin at NOON - day of the show (Sat. May 23, 2015) @ the Castro Theatre – 429 Castro St. SF 94114 ########################## BERKELEY REP’S GROUND FLOOR AWARDS RESIDENCIES TO SOME OF NATION’S TOP THEATRE ARTISTS R&D facility for theatre picks 14 groundbreaking projects for fourth Summer Residency Lab – Today, The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work announces that it has selected 14 projects for its fourth Summer Residency Lab featuring works from more than 20 talented artists. This June, as part of an extraordinary laboratory for collaboration, some of the nation’s most prominent and promising writers, directors, designers, and composers will unite at the Theatre’s campus in West Berkeley over an intense four-week period to share ideas, break bread, and create new plays. Dozens more local and out-of-town actors and directors will join the Summer Residency Lab, bringing the number of participating artists close to 100. From over 400 applications, residencies have been awarded to César Alvarez (Futurity: The Musical) and Lucas Hnath (The Christians); Christopher Chen (The Hundred Flowers Project) and Mei Ann Teo (19); Julia Cho (The Language Archive); Jackie Sibblies Drury (We Are Proud to Present a Presentation…); Anne Galjour (Alligator Tales); Rinne Groff (Compulsion); Eric Hoff (director of Hit The Wall), Will Davis (director of Sorry Robot), and SK Kerastas (What’s the T); Jamie Hook (Beyond Belief); Naomi Iizuka (Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West) and Ripe Time; Hansol Jung (No More Sad Things); Sean Christopher Lewis (Killadelphia) and Jennifer Fawcett (director of Out of Bounds); musician/songwriter Anaïs Mitchell (Hadestown); Peter Sinn Nachtrieb (BOB) and performer Danny Scheie (last seen at Berkeley Rep in Troublemaker); and Annie Smart (set designer of In the Next Room). “We are incredibly excited about this year’s Summer Residency Lab artists,” says Madeleine Oldham, director of The Ground Floor and resident dramaturg at Berkeley Rep. “From commissioned artists and returning friends to brand new faces, we feel as though we’re living up to our promise to ourselves to build as diverse and rigorous a creative atmosphere as possible. Playwrights, designers, musicians, directors, actors, and solo performers will come together in a rare opportunity to imagine alongside each other. In the world of our incubator, a salsa nightclub act about an assassination attempt on Fidel Castro can grow alongside a multidisciplinary adaptation of a Murakami story, or a play that explores international adoption with puppets. Now in the fourth year of the Summer Residency Lab, we feel as though we’re hitting our stride.” The Ground Floor is a bold initiative designed to raise the bar on the Tony Award–winning nonprofit’s already successful record of artistic innovation. As the umbrella for all new play activity at Berkeley Rep, The Ground Floor seeks to enhance and expand the processes by which Berkeley Rep makes theatre. This includes supporting commissioned artists and developing shows for the season, as well as The Ground Floor’s flagship program, the Summer Residency Lab. By inviting diversely talented artists to work on daring new projects at any stage in the creative process, the Summer Residency Lab promotes vital crosspollination among artists and champions the spirit of innovation inherent to Berkeley and the Bay Area. Since the Lab’s inaugural year in 2012, more than 300 artists working on 45 projects have participated. Three shows that have been developed through the program have already appeared on Berkeley Rep’s main stage: KJ Sanchez and Jenny Mercein’s X’s and O’s (A Football Love Story) (2015), Marcus Gardley’s The House that will not Stand (2014), and Dan LeFranc’s Troublemaker, or The Freakin’ Kick-A Adventures of Bradley Boatright (2013). Known as an incubator for theatrical start-ups or a top-notch R&D facility for artists, The Ground Floor became possible when Berkeley Rep united all its preproduction activities at its Harrison Street campus in West Berkeley. And now as part of Berkeley Rep’s three-year Create Campaign — a $50 million comprehensive fundraising effort to support the development of new work — the Theatre is transforming a vacant warehouse on that site into a vibrant new creative center to house The Ground Floor. The expansion will build out the Harrison Street campus to create an artists-in-residence community that will include rehearsal halls and housing for visiting artists. The result will be a dynamic home for play creation — an organic and energetic environment for artists to develop work in a flexible setting, challenge each other to expand the boundaries of theatre, and intersect with the public to create community. The Ground Floor is made possible by a $1 million grant from the James Irvine Foundation’s Artistic Innovation Fund, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts: ArtWorks, Bank of America, and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. ########################### Playwrights Foundation Announces Partnership with Tides Theatre for the 38th Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival July 17-27, 2015 – Playwrights Foundation is thrilled to announce a partnership with Tides Theatre as the new home for our annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF), now in its 38th year, which will run July 17-27, 2015 at the 90-seat theater in the heart of San Francisco’s Theater District. Centrally located in the heart of downtown, Tides Theatre offers the festival an accessible, nicely appointed, intimate theater, with an abundant lobby for mingling between plays during the intensive weekend of six new works. Tides recently inherited the space from the SF Playhouse after making their recent move to the Post St. address. Building on a growing relationship between organizations, Tides has been home to Playwrights Foundation’s Biennial Des Voix Festival, a celebration of new French plays in translation, and the 2014/15 Rough Readings Series. “Extending this partnership to include our cornerstone annual event is a brilliant next step and makes perfect sense,” explains Amy Mueller, Artistic Director of Playwrights Foundation. “Moving from the Thick House (in Potrero Hill) to Tides allows us to bring the Festival to a wider audience, and will serve our playwrights beautifully by providing such a central and vibrant location.” The BAPF is the oldest and most successful new play festivals in the U.S. Established in 1976, the festival has continuously discovered original and distinctive new voices in the theater, and invested in the development of their work. Playwrights Sam Shepard, Nilo Cruz, Bill Irwin, David Henry Hwang, Anna Deavere Smith, Maria Irene Fornes, Naomi Iizuka; and more recently, Marcus Gardley, Annie Baker, Sam Hunter, Katori Hall, Lauren Yee, Aaron Loeb, Lauren Gunderson, Kimber Lee and Dan Dietz are just a few of the hundreds of writers who were recognized early in their careers through the BAPF, and who are today some of the most prominent names in contemporary theater. “Amy and her team are integral to the fabric of the Bay Area theater scene,” enthuses Jennifer Welch, the Producing Artistic Director of Tides. “They are one of the primary champions of new play development on the West Coast and have always served to bind our many playwrights, theaters, directors and actors together. In perfect complement to their vision, Tides is committed to developing new work that speaks to our greatest contemporary challenges. We’re so excited to be forging and deepening this partnership through the BAPF.” The lineup of plays and playwrights for the 38th Annual BAPF is set to be announced on May 1st, and tickets will go on sale starting on June 1st. ABOUT THE BAY AREA PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL For almost forty years, The Bay Area Playwrights Festival has served as a forum and a showcase for vanguard playwrights to experiment with new ideas, develop and nurture creative collaborative relationships, and push the boundaries of the form. BAPF was conceived in 1976 by founder Robert Woodruff, who thought that by supporting the work of emerging writers, we could continuously infuse the field with new voices and new genres. Among the first crop of writers at the inaugural BAPF was the young Sam Shepard – little did Woodruff know at that time how Shepard’s work would shape the landscape of American theatre. Ten years later Nilo Cruz would get his first developmental workshops at the BAPF – long before he won the Pulitzer Prize. In 2002 young Marcus Gardley, still a student, was chosen for the BAPF; he is now one of the most sought-after writers in the U.S. Whoever you see at this year’s BAPF, you’re guaranteed to discover a playwright whose career is about to launch. ################################### The Bay Area Children’s Theatre to Perform in Shanghai Actors, artists and educators from the Bay Area Children’s Theatre (BACT) will travel to Shanghai this summer to perform the new musical version of James and the Giant Peach for family audiences and to offer educational drama workshops for children. BACT has been invited to China by the Shanghai Children’s Art Theatre as part of a cross-cultural exchange. “The Shanghai Children’s Art Theatre is a dynamic performing arts organization that is bringing cutting edge children’s programming to the families of Shanghai,” said BACT Executive Director Nina Meehan. “We are honored to be included in the theatre’s roster of international visitors for 2015. Our cast and design team are very excited about taking our work abroad for the first time and introducing a vibrant new play in the great tradition of American musical theatre.” BACT presented James and the Giant Peach in its California debut this past winter to sold-out Bay Area audiences. Inspired by Roald Dahl’s classic tale, with music and lyrics by Tony Award-nominated composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the play, written by children’s playwright-educator Timothy Allen McDonald, tells of James’s escape from his awful aunts, when the magical peach in their garden grows so big it falls off the tree, plunges over the cliffs of Dover, and takes off across the ocean, with James and a bevy of astounded insects aboard. The executive director of the Shanghai Children’s Art Theatre attended one of the performances and subsequently invited BACT to present James and the Giant Peach there. BACT will debut the musical in China with four performances on August 1 and 2. The Shanghai Children’s Art Theatre is that city’s largest theater dedicated to professional productions for young audiences, with a seating capacity of more than 1,000. BACT will benefit from the theatre’s highly sophisticated projection system, which makes it possible to use animated images for the production instead of the show’s original sets, which would be difficult to transport. Projection designer Erik Scanlon is working with set designer Martin Flynn to create the enhanced video design for the production. As part of the cross-cultural exchange, BACT will also offer a participatory musical theatre workshop to children in Shanghai. #################################################______________________________________________________________________________ WELLS FARGO CENTER FOR THE ARTS ANNOUNCES NEW SHOW SERIES: TRANSCENDENCE AT WELLS FARGO CENTER FOR THE ARTS Presented by Gary and Marcia Nelson Sonoma’s Highly Acclaimed Transcendence Theatre Company to offerA One-Night-Only Summer Concert and the Company’s First Holiday Show Series Tickets Go On Sale April 3 Today Wells Fargo Center for the Arts announced a new series of stage productions, featuring Sonoma’s highly acclaimed Transcendence Theatre Company: Transcendence at Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, presented by Gary and Marcia Nelson. This new relationship between Wells Fargo Center for the Arts and Transcendence Theatre Company, best known for their successful outdoor summer concert series, “Broadway Under the Stars in Jack London State Historic Park,” represents the teaming up of two dynamic arts organizations that share a commitment to creating a communal experience of the arts through performance and education. Transcendence at Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, sponsored by Gary and Marcia Nelson, will bookend the 2015 performance season with a one-night-only concert on Wednesday, June 24, 2015 and then celebrate the season with the Company’s first ever Holiday show running Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5. All performances will be presented at Wells Fargo Center for the Arts (50 Mark West Springs Road in Santa Rosa). Tickets, ranging in price from $35 to $129, go on sale to the general public on April 3, with a special pre-sale for members of Wells Fargo Center for the Arts and Transcendence Theatre Company beginning March 25. A 15% discount is available when purchasing tickets for both the June 24 show and one of the December shows For the December 5 matinee only, youth under 18 receive a 10% discount. Tickets are available through Wells Fargo Center for the Arts online at wellsfargocenterarts.org, by calling 707-546-3600, or in person at the ticket office at 50 Mark West Springs Road in Santa Rosa (open daily, noon to 6pm). The shows presented as part of the Transcendence at Wells Fargo Center for the Arts series, similar to the “Broadway Under the Stars” musicals, feature a company of over 20 singer/dancers, artists from New York and Hollywood who come to Sonoma County stages directly from recent Broadway appearances. More than a standard musical revue, Transcendence shows weave popular Broadway songs into a spectacular themed performance . The June 24 show, OH, WHAT A NIGHT will take the audiences on a journey of music and dance throughout the ages inspiring people to live life to the fullest. The concert features Broadway showstoppers, nostalgic standards and modern twists on some of the world’s most uplifting and cherished songs. The December holiday show, JOY TO THE WORLD—A Broadway Holiday Extravaganza will kick off the holiday season in Sonoma County with a fresh approach to seasonal concerts. A rousing eclectic mix of holiday favorites and Broadway show tunes that celebrates “the most wonderful time of year,” JOY TO THE WORLD–A Broadway Holiday Extravaganza showcases the distinctive blend of song and dance revue that distinguishes the highly acclaimed Transcendence shows. This series of shows featuring Broadway performers in a limited run promises to become a Bay Area holiday tradition. ######################## ############################ OREGON SHAKESPEARE NEWS ####################### Bill Rauch Announces OSF's 2016 Season Five Shakespeare, four world premieres and two musicals to take stages in Ashland —The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) Artistic Director Bill Rauch announced the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 2016 playbill today. The 2016 season is sponsored by U.S. Bank. Rauch said, “2016 marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death—the last major Shakespearean milestone many of us will experience in our lifetimes. In celebration of our core identity as a Shakespeare theatre, we are proud to be presenting five plays by our namesake author, one from each genre (comedy, tragedy, history and romance) plus our single most overdue Shakespeare title. With TIMON OF ATHENS next season, OSF will have produced the entire 37-play canon a staggering four times, and our current Canon in a Decade project means that we hope to have completed the canon a fifth time by 2024. As I anticipate all five Shakespeare plays in 2016, I am particularly excited about THE WINTER’S TALE in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre, seen through an Asian and Asian-American cultural lens. “At the same time, our commitment to new work remains a vital part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the 21st century. With world-premiere adaptations of Charles Dickens and Gilbert and Sullivan alongside a thrilling new American Revolutions drama and the premiere of a lyrical fable from a rising Latina playwright, we will continue to contribute to the American canon of new plays that will go on to be produced by theaters nationwide. Finally, our 2016 season includes an astonishingly fresh take on the Vietnam War from the perspective of Vietnamese refugees in the U.S., and a rare large-scale revival of the much-beloved musical THE WIZ. “The 2016 season reaffirms our identity as a language-based, classical theater even as it continues to expand the boundaries of the types of artistic adventures that we will offer our ever-curious and passionate audiences.” In addition, OSF is honored and delighted to host the fifth annual National Asian American Theater conference and Festival from Sept. 29-Oct. 9, 2016. The conference will be presented by the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA), and 200-300 Asian American and Pacific Islander theater makers will meet, share performance pieces and attend OSF productions. Rauch and Associate Artistic Director Christopher Acebo extend an invitation for everyone to join CAATA and OSF. Angus Bowmer Theatre The season will open with one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays, TWELFTH NIGHT, directed by Christopher Liam Moore (LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and others). Among the most produced plays at OSF—this will be the 17th production— TWELFTH NIGHT or WHAT YOU WILL also launched the Festival’s inaugural year in 1935. Moore will be setting this delightful tale of disguise and mistaken identities in 1930s Hollywood, the perfect location for an Illyria where all order seems turned on its head and WHAT YOU WILL is possible. Running all season alongside TWELFTH NIGHT is a world-premiere adaptation of Charles Dickens’ GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Penny Metropulos and Linda Alper. Metropulos, a 20-year veteran with OSF and former Associate Artistic Director under Libby Appel, will also direct. Alper was a member of the OSF acting company for 24 seasons and co-adapted TRACY’S TIGER and THE THREE MUSKETEERS with Metropulos. The team has created a crackling, smart, funny and wonderfully true adaptation of Dickens’ story of the orphan Pip, who journeys from country boy to gentleman, learning difficult lessons about friendship, loyalty, generosity, forgiveness and love. Also opening at the top of the season and playing through early July will be the world premiere of THE RIVER BRIDE by Marisela Treviño Orta and directed by Laurie Woolery (THE TENTH MUSE, THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE). The play was developed within AlterTheater Ensemble’s (San Rafael, CA) inaugural playwright residency program and was the co-winner of the National Latino Playwriting Award. Inspired by a Brazilian folk tale, the play is set in a small village along the Amazon River. This lyrical story about two sisters is filled with atmosphere, mystery, love and regret. In April, the world premiere of ROE by Lisa Loomer, directed by Bill Rauch, will open. This American Revolutions commission looks at the highly controversial 1973 Roe v. Wade case, and Loomer tells a riveting story of the compelling and fascinating individuals behind that legislative battle with humor, compassion and revelations that will surprise—even those who think they know the history. Loomer’s plays include THE WAITING ROOM, LIVING OUT, BOCÓN!, CAFÉ VIDA and DISTRACTED, which was produced at OSF in 2007. The final show to open in the Bowmer is Shakespeare’s TIMON OF ATHENS. Amanda Dehnert, known for her groundbreaking productions at OSF (JULIUS CAESAR, ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, MY FAIR LADY, INTO THE WOODS), will direct. As Rauch noted, with this production OSF will have completed the canon four times. The play was last produced on the outdoor stage in 1997. This rarely staged tragedy might be called Shakespeare’s study of the idea that money can’t buy happiness. Timon is wealthy and generous, but his indiscriminate liberality and his unwillingness or inability to distinguish friend from flatterer becomes his undoing. From boom to bust, he falls out of favor, and alone, he withdraws from humanity. Thomas Theatre The first show to open in the Thomas Theatre and running the entire season will be a world-premiere adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD, directed by Sean Graney, artistic director of The Hypocrites (Chicago). This humorous, pun-laden satire involving a wrongfully incarcerated man and set outside a prison takes audiences into a richer emotional world than the duo's other comic operettas and is often cited as their attempt at Shakespearean character. Graney will adapt this piece for contemporary audiences with re-imagined orchestrations inspired by classic country and western music. Graney has directed more than 30 productions for The Hypocrites since he founded the theatre in 1997, including a number of wildly popular Gilbert and Sullivan adaptations. This YEOMAN will be a rousing musical event for the entire family. Opening in March and running throughout the rest of the season is a new play, VIETGONE by Qui Nguyen. This fresh, youthful and humorous play looks at the Vietnam War from a Vietnamese perspective. VIETGONE is based on the true life story of the playwright’s parents’ exodus from Vietnam in 1975 and their subsequent meeting and romance in an Arkansas refugee camp. The play will be directed by May Adrales, who has collaborated on the project since it was commissioned as part of South Coast Repertory’s CrossRoads Initiative; Adrales will direct the world premiere production at SCR in the fall of 2015. In July OSF will open RICHARD II, directed by Bill Rauch. Last produced in 2003 on the outdoor stage, this Shakespearean masterpiece of medieval intrigue is the first play in a series of four that chronicle the rise of the house of Lancaster (HENRY IV, PARTS I, II; HENRY V). Richard II is wasteful in his spending, unwise in his choice of counselors, surrounded by ambitious men and distant from his countrymen. When Richard departs to Ireland, Henry Bolingbroke assembles an army to invade the north, and by the time Richard returns, his previous allies have defected to Bolingbroke. Richard loses his crown and is imprisoned, and in contemplating his downfall, he discovers something more important than any kingdom. Allen Elizabethan Theatre HAMLET, arguably Shakespeare’s most popular play, will open the outdoor theatre in June. OSF’s most recent production was staged in the Angus Bowmer Theatre in 2010. This disturbing and psychologically rich masterpiece digs into the enigma of a man’s mind. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, has been charged by the ghost of his dead father to avenge his death, and Hamlet, fixated on his uncle as murderer, strains under the weight of his task. This tragedy, a play from which an amazing number of Shakespeare’s words and phrases have entered common usage, is always a must-see. Director TBA. It’s not all tragedy in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre. The 1974 super soul musical THE WIZ, with book by William F. Brown, music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls, from the story “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, opens the following night and runs through mid-October. The Broadway production won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Acclaimed director Robert O’Hara (NAACP Best Director Award, Helen Hayes Award, OBIE Award) will stage this exuberant production. The third show to open outside is Shakespeare’s THE WINTER’S TALE, directed by Desdemona Chiang. Shakespeare’s beautiful romance about a glorious harvest of reunion and forgiveness will be looked at through an Asian and Asian-American cultural lens and set in Dynastic China and the American Old West. Chiang, a stage director based in Seattle and San Francisco, was previously at OSF in 2011 as a FAIR Assistant Dramaturg on MEASURE FOR MEASURE, and in 2013 as the Sir John Gielgud Directing Fellow and assistant director of KING LEAR. The 2016 season will begin previews on February 19 and open the weekend of February 26. The opening performances in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre will be the weekend of June 17-19. The season will run through October 30. Tickets for the 2016 season will go on sale in November 2015 for members, and general sales will begin in early December.

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