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Curtain Times
On Fridays and Saturdays, curtain times are at 7:30 p.m.
For special Sunday showings (Musicals only) curtain times are at 2:30 p.m.
2010 -- 2011 Season
Crumbs from the Table of Joy
By Lynn Nottage
September 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25
In 1950, Godfrey Crump, widowed father of two teenage girls, moves his family from
Pensacola, Florida to Brooklyn, NY after the passing of his wife, Sandra. Swallowed by
depression and surrounded by hate, Godfrey seeks solace in Father Divine, religious figure
of the Peace Mission Movement. Unexpectedly, his sister-in-law, Lily, moves in. Her
proactive lifestyle, from partying to anti-racism protests, leads to many clashes between
Lily and Godfrey, especially after he comes home with a very new, and very white German
immigrant wife, Gerte. This play explores the unraveling fabric of a family that does its
best to piece and patch their relationships. A collage of anger, oppression, and hope.
Directed by Crystal C. Mercer.
Chicago
Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. Music by John Kander. Lyrics by Fred Ebb, based on the
play by Maurine Dallas Watkins.
October 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24
In roaring twenties Chicago, chorine Roxie Hart murders a faithless lover and convinces her hapless husband Amos to take the rap...until he finds out he’s been duped and turns on Roxie. Fighting for her life and the headlines, Roxie vies with double murderess Velma Kelly for celebrity attorney Billy Flynn, ultimately joining forces in search of the “American Dream”: fame, fortune and acquittal. Premiering in 1975 and the revival hit of the 1996 Broadway season, Chicago won six Tony Awards including Best Revival and the 2003 Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year. Featuring a scintillating score, this sharp edged satire is a superbly crafted razzle-dazzle of musical theater. Directed by John Thompson, Music Direction by Jeannie Smith.
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead
By Bert V. Royal
November 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20
Dog Sees God doesn’t feel like the same old high-school-warfare schlock. The
characters—teenage and reckless—are both genuinely sympathetic and
unquestionably cruel. Growing more hysterical— and more harrowing—as it flows to
an inevitable, uncomfortable end, this taut comedy manages to make tired clichés about
stoners and popular homecoming airheads funny and endearing. When CB’s dog dies from
rabies, CB begins to question the existence of an afterlife. His best friend is too burnt
out to provide any coherent speculation; his sister has gone goth; his ex-girlfriend has
recently been institutionalized; and his other friends are too inebriated to give him any
sort of solace. But a chance meeting with an artistic kid, the target of this group’s
bullying, offers CB a peace of mind and sets in motion a friendship that will push teen
angst to the very limits. Drug use, suicide, eating disorders, teen violence, rebellion
and sexual identity collide and careen toward an ending that’s both haunting and
hopeful. Directed by Frank Butler.
The Controversy of Valladolid
Jean-Claude Carrière, English version by Richard Nelson
December 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18
Jean-Claude Carrière’s fierce attack on the Catholic Church for its policies on
human slavery makes for a refreshing change. Although based on a Spanish debate of 1550,
Carrière’s stern historical drama hits a resounding contemporary note with its
revelations of how the church agonized over its ultimate conclusion that indigenous
American natives were children of God after all—after invading their land, destroying
their culture, plundering their natural resources and subjecting thousands of people to
servitude, torture and death. Imagine a time when the Catholic Church had the right to
determine whether or not you were human. In a sixteenth-century Spanish monastery, the
fate of millions of American natives from an ocean away hangs precariously in the balance.
The Controversy of Valladolid, an exciting new masterwork by French playwright and
screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, brings to light the shocking real-life debates whose
outcomes are still felt today. Directed by Ralph Hyman.
Speech & Debate
By Stephen Karam
January 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29
A savvy comedy bristling with vitality, wicked humor, and terrific dialogue, Stephen
Karam’s Speech & Debate creates a direct pipeline into the zeitgeist of
contemporary youth. It has a keen ear for how teens speak, move and think, how they relate
to their peers, and their view of the adult world, all while using the advantages and
perils of cyberspace to make amusing, original points. The play’s true accomplishment
is its picture of the borderland between late adolescence and adulthood, where grown-up
ideas and ambitions coexist with childish will and bravado. Three teenage misfits in
Salem, Oregon discover they are linked by a sex scandal that could rock their town. When
one of them sets out to expose the truth, secrets become currency, the stakes get higher,
and the trio’s connection grows deeper in this searching, fiercely funny dark comedy
with music. Directed by Justin A. Pike.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
By August Wilson
February 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26
Winner of the 1985 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play, Ma
Rainey’s Black Bottom, by Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright August
Wilson, is a searing, funny, salty, carnal and lyrical play, set in Chicago in the 1920s.
Dealing with issues of race, art, religion and the historic exploitation of black
recording artists by white producers, the play is titled with reference to a song of the
same title by Ma Rainey referring to the Black Bottom dance. This glimpse of a moment in
the twentieth century African American experience is a portrayal of rage, racism, self
hate and exploitation. Directed by Danette Scott Perry.
The Hanging of David O. Dodd
By Phillip McMath
March 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26
The Hanging of David O. Dodd is an original two act tragedy written by Phillip H.
McMath concerning an actual incident that occurred during the Civil War in Arkansas. A
military tribunal sentences 17 year-old Dodd to be executed for spying for the Confederacy
and thereby sets in motion a drama concerning two fictional women, Medora Pilgrim, Rebel,
and Philomena Tottenburg, Union, who, despite bonds of family and friendship, are on
opposite sides of our country’s greatest struggle. Yet Medora, in attempting to save
the life of her own son, and Philomena, that of Dodd, find themselves united in a painful
but profound confrontation with duty and mercy, peace and war, and faith and reason. This
story focuses on dilemmas relevant to our own time as, in a different context, we still
face these same eternal questions. Directed by Ralph Hyman.
The Last Night of Ballyhoo
By Alfred Uhry
April 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23
The author of Driving Miss Daisy brings us another charming evening of theater.
Winner of the 1997 Tony Award for Best Play, The Last Night of Ballyhoo takes
place in Atlanta, Georgia, in December of 1939. Gone with the Wind is having its
world premiere, and Hitler is invading Poland, but Atlanta’s elitist German Jews are
much more concerned with who is going to Ballyhoo, the social event of the season.
Especially concerned is the Freitag family: bachelor Adolph; his widowed sister, Beulah
(Boo) Levy; and their widowed sister-in-law, Reba. Boo is determined to have her dreamy,
unpopular daughter, Lala, attend Ballyhoo, believing it will be Lala’s last chance to
find a socially acceptable husband. Boo is directing Lala in pursuit of Peachy Weil,
member of one of the finest Jewish families in the South, as her Ballyhoo escort. Adolph
brings his new assistant, Joe Farkas, home for dinner. Joe is Jewish, Brooklyn born and
bred, and he is puzzled at the family’s assimilation into Southern Christian culture,
symbolized by the Christmas tree in the living room. The family is not without its own
prejudices: Joe is of Eastern European descent and thus, in Boo’s eyes, socially
inferior to the Freitags. Emotions explode when Reba’s daughter, Sunny, comes home
from college and falls for Joe. It’s an evening of romance, comedy and revelations as
members of this memorable family face where they come from and who they really are.
Directed by Helene Rush.
Good Boys and True
By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
May 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21
The hothouse atmosphere of all-male boarding schools has inspired a whole body of
literature and drama exploring themes of friendship, romance, honor and betrayal. Roberto
Aguirre-Sacasa’s Good Boys and True is a solid addition to the canon.
It’s a suspenseful mystery, compassionate character study and moving love story
rolled into one—and a fine showcase for an ensemble of first-rate actors. Prep-school
senior Brandon Hardy is brilliant, athletic, popular and charming— the kind of boy
that St. Joes School is proud to call its own. However, his privileged life threatens to
collapse when a disturbing videotape is found on campus. As the resulting scandal takes
unexpected turns, Brandon’s mother Elizabeth must sort fact from fiction from family
and confront unsettling truths about her son, herself, and their life. Be prepared for an
engrossing drama that heightens suspense as it moves along and wherein not everything is
what it seems. Directed by Ralph Hyman.
