image by coxphotography.net THE 2017/18 MAIN STAGE SEASON CLYBOURNE PARK by Bruce Norris Directed by Jay Briggs September 22nd – October 8th, 2017 Clybourne Park spans two generations fifty years apart. In 1959, Russ and Bev are selling their desirable two-bedroom at a bargain price, unknowingly bringing the first black family into the neighborhood (borrowing a plot line from Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun) and creating ripples of discontent among the cozy white residents of Clybourne Park. In 2009, the same property is being bought by a young white couple, whose plan to raze the house and start again is met with equal disapproval by the black residents of the soon-to-be-gentrified area. Are the issues festering beneath the floorboards actually the same, fifty years on? Bruce Norris’s excruciatingly funny and squirm-inducing satire explores the fault line between race and property. THE CAKE by Bekah Brunstetter Directed by Kerrie Seymour December 1st – December 17th, 2017 Jen currently lives in New York, but has always dreamed of having her wedding back home. With the date quickly approaching, she journeys home to North Carolina to see Della, her late mother’s best friend and owner of the local bakery. She wants Della to make her wedding cake for her special day. Della is thrilled to make Jen’s wedding cake until she realizes there isn’t just one bride involved in the wedding, but two. It is a play that drives straight to the heart of asking yourself why do you believe the things you believe. A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN by Eugene O’Neill Directed by Mark Sutch January 26th – February 10th, 2018 James Tyrone, Jr., visits the home of his tenant farmer, Phil Hogan. There he encounters, after years, Hogan’s voluptuous daughter, Josie. During one moonlit night, as the lovestruck Josie seems to claim him as her own, the drunken Jamie drowns in a wave of self-pity and remorse. When dawn comes, the moon is gone and so is the man, leaving Josie with a new challenge to her dauntless spirit. THE FLICK by Annie Baker March 9th – March 24th, 2018 In a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts, three underpaid employees mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35-millimeter film projectors in the state. A love song to the movies that is a hilarious and heart-rending cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING by William Shakespeare Directed by Anne Kelly Tromsness April 20th – May 5th, 2018 One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, Much Ado centers on the foibles of two pairs of lovers, Beatrice and Benedick and Claudio and Hero. The main plot of the play revolves around obstacles to the union of the two young lovers Claudio and Hero but the real main event is the hilarious and biting love-hate relationship of Beatrice and Benedick, featuring the “merry war” of the sexes. Benedick thinks he hates Beatrice, but really loves her and Beatrice who thinks she hates Benedick but really loves him. The first act is pure delight as Beatrice and Benedick’s friends and family conspire to get the two together, and the second act finds them united to try and clear the names of Claudio and Hero, who have been slandered by a jealous rival. BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON – Book by Alex Timbers & Lyrics by Michael Friedman June 8th – June 30th, 2018 This musical starts off as a broad satire of America’s seventh president, Andrew Jackson. It follows him as the first president to capture the nation as a born and bred American who resonated with the people as opposed to the ruling class that preceded him. Ascending from his Tennessee upbringing, he eventually finds himself in the Oval Office and discovers that campaigning is easy, but governing is hard. This musical helps our audience ask how America’s great experiment of democracy works and how the more things change, the more they stay the same. SUMMER SHOW: OTHELLO by William Shakespeare Directed by Maegan Azar & Anne Kelly Tromsness Like last season, our educational touring show will open on our main stage in July and run for three weeks before the performers begin their tour around the region.
