Playmakers 2009-2010 Season
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Directed by Mark Leonard
Sept. 11-27
Winner of the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play. The Broadway production of this play was a shattering and memorable experience and proclaimed the author as a major American playwright.
In the play, George and Martha invite a new professor and his wife to their house after a party. Martha is the daughter of the president of the university (believed to be based on Trinity College) where George is an associate history professor. Nick (who is never addressed or introduced by name) is a biology professor (who Martha thinks teaches math), and Honey is his mousy, brandy-abusing wife. Once at home, Martha and George continue drinking and engage in relentless, scathing verbal and sometimes physical abuse in front of Nick and Honey. The younger couple are simultaneously fascinated and embarrassed. They stay even though the abuse turns periodically towards them as well.
On Golden Pond
Directed by Frank Levy
Nov. 6-22
Auditions Sept. 13 & 14
Presented to great critical and popular acclaim first off then on Broadway, this touching, funny and warmly perceptive study of a spirited and lovable elderly couple facing their twilight years introduced a significant playwright to our theatre.
The loons are back again on Golden Pond and so are Norman Thayer, a retired professor, and Ethel who have had a summer cottage there since early in their marriage. This summer their daughter Chelsea -- whom they haven't seen for years -- feels she must be there for Norman's birthday. She and her fiance are on their way to Europe the next day but will be back in a couple of weeks to pick up the fiance's son. When she returns Chelsea is married and her stepson has the relationship with her father that she always wanted. Will father and daughter be able to communicate at last?
T'was the Night Before Christmas
By Kathryn Schultz Miller
Directed by Renee Sibley
School
performances will be on December 9-11.
Public performances:
Dec. 11 & 12 @ 8 p.m. & Sunday. Dec. 13 @ 2 p.m
Sylvia
By A.R. Gurney
Directed by Kay Files
March 5-21
Auditions are Jan. 4 & 5 at 7pm
An adult comedy about a dog, the man that loves her, the woman that loves him, and the zany acquaintances they meet along the way." The action centers upon a stray dog, Sylvia, who disturbs the marriage of Greg and Kate, a couple married for 22 years who have recently become empty-nesters.
Over the River and Through the Woods
By Joe DiPietro
Directed by Ann Pourciau
May 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23
Auditions are March 7 & 8
At the heart of the plot is a tight-knit Italian-American family. Nick Christano is a 29-year old marketing executive who dutifully visits his four grandparents every Sunday for dinners which are governed by "the three F's" - family, faith, and food.The audience is taken on a sweet and sentimental journey to grandparent's house in Hoboken, New Jersey. One Sunday he has an exciting, though devastating announcement: He's being promoted to a new position in Seattle. As Nick is their only relative left in the area, the prospect of losing him calls for some heavy Golden-Ager artillery.
"A hilarious family comedy that is even funnier than his long-running musical revue I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. —BackStage. "Loaded with laughs every step of the way." —Star-Ledger.Nick is a single, Italian-American guy from New Jersey. He sees both sets of his grandparents every Sunday for dinner. This is routine until he has to tell them that he's been offered a dream job. The job he's been waiting for—marketing executive—would take him away from his beloved, but annoying, grandparents. Thus begins a series of schemes to keep Nick around. How could he betray his family's love to move to Seattle, for a job, wonder his grandparents? Well, Frank, Aida, Nunzio and Emma do their level best, and that includes bringing to dinner the lovely—and single—Caitlin O'Hare as bait.
Cats
Directed by Lynn & Randy Perkins
July 9-25
By appointment: Jan. 9
Auditions are tentatively May 9 & 10.
Cats is an award-winning musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and other poems by T. S. Eliot. An all-singing, dancing musical spectacular. Cats has conquered the world with a score which includes the hit song "Memory".
Playmakers 2008-2009 Season
Lost in Yonkers
A Comedy by Neil Simon
Directed by Mark Leonard
September 12-28
Winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Best Play: 1991 Tony Awards. Written by America's great comic playwright, this memory play is set in Yonkers in 1942. It features another battling odd couple, this time an old woman and her 35 year old daughter. Bella, the daughter, is mentally challenged, pathetically affectionate and more than enough for Grandma Kurnitz to manage. As the play opens, son Eddie deposits his two young sons on the old lady's doorstep. He is in debt and needs to go on an extended sales trip to make some money. The boys must contend with Grandma, a stern, tough old lady; with Bella and her secret romance, and with Louie, her brother, who may have mob connections. Gradually, the mood deepens and darkens as the boys endure life with a family of emotionally crippled people. While the children are only temporarily exiled in Yonkers, the rest of their sad, funny family is truly lost.
"The best play Simon ever wrote."- N.Y. Post.
"Broadway desperately needs a comedy, a drama, and a hit. With Lost in Yonkers, Mr. Simon has given us all three."- Wall Street Journal.
"One of Simon's most impressive and funniest plays."- N.Y. Daily News.
"Laughter and tears have come together in a new emotional truth. There are moments in this play when you experience a new kind of laughter for Simon, a silent laughter that doesn't explode into a yuk but implodes straight into your heart." - Newsweek.
Arsenic and Old Lace
A Dark Comedy by Joseph Kesserling
Directed by Weston Twardowski
November 7-23
The famous comedy success produced a smash hit in New York and on the road. Mortimer Brewster hates his job, but otherwise life is perfect—he’s got a smart, beautiful fiancée and two doting aunts. The only catch? These two sweet spinsters have a secret mission and a recipe for elderberry wine that really packs a punch. As Mortimer tries to navigate his family’s eccentricities while keeping his fiancée none the wiser, his sociopathic brother shows up with a taste for vengeance and a sidekick named Einstein. Will Mortimer make it to his wedding day, or fall victim to the family insanity first?
“Swift, dry, satirical and exciting, Arsenic and Old Lace kept the first-night audience roaring with laughter.”- N.Y Times
The Mousetrap
A Mystery by Agatha Christie
Directed by: Kay Files
March 13-29
The author comes forth with another hit about a group of strangers stranded in a boarding house during a snowstorm, one of which is a murderer. The suspects include the newly married couple who run the house, and the suspicions that are in their minds nearly wreck their perfect marriage. Others are a spinster with a curious background, an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef, a retired Army major, a strange little man who claims his car has overturned in a drift, and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone. Into their midst comes a policeman, traveling on skis. He no sooner arrives, than the jurist is killed. Two down, and one to go. To get to the rationale of the murderer's pattern, the policeman probes the background of everyone present, and rattles a lot of skeletons. Another famous Agatha Christie switch finish! Chalk up another superb intrigue for the foremost mystery writer of her time.
"The Mousetrap" is written so well that even if you have seen it before and remember how it ends, you will take pleasure in watching the way in which Christie develops the real and false clues.” - New York Times
Proof
A Drama by David Auburn
Directed by Larry Gray
May 8-24
Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play. On the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, Catherine, a troubled young woman, has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, a famous mathematician. Now, she must deal with her own volatile emotions; the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire; and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father's who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks handwritten in insanity. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: How much of her father's madness—or genius—will she inherit?
PROOF is the one you won't want to miss this fall." —NY Magazine. "…combines elements of mystery and surprise with old-fashioned storytelling to provide a compelling evening of theatre…[PROOF is a] smart and compassionate play of ideas." NY Daily News. "PROOF surprises us with its aliveness…Mr. Auburn takes pleasure in knowledge…At the same time, he is unshowily fresh and humane, and he has written a lovely play." —NY Observer. "[A] wonderfully funny…ambitiously constructed work…" —Variety.
Pippin
Book by: Roger O. Hirson
Lyrics by: Stephen Schwartz
Music by: Stephen Schwartz
Based on the story of Pippin, son of Charlemagne
Directed by Jennifer Harageones Patterson
July 10-26
Once upon a time, the young prince Pippin longed to discover the secret of true happiness and fulfillment. He sought it in the glories of the battlefield, the temptations of the flesh and the intrigues of political power (after disposing of his father King Charlemagne the Great). In the end, he found it in the simple pleasures of home and family. This hip, tongue-in-cheek, anachronistic fairy tale captivated Broadway audiences and continues to appeal to the young at heart everywhere (the show has become a staple on high school and college campuses). The energetic pop-influenced score by three-time Oscar®-winning composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz (“Godspell,” “Children of Eden” and the animated films “Pocahontas,” “The Hunchback Of Notre Dame” and “The Prince Of Egypt”) bursts with one showstopping number after another, from soaring ballads to infectious dance numbers. Featuring a strong ensemble cast and a show-stealing song-and-dance narrator, “Pippin” is equally effective as an intimate, black-box production (as envisioned by the authors) or as original director/choreographer Bob Fosse’s splashy, dance-driven spectacle, which included some of the most brilliant staging in Broadway history.
“Beguiling, highly original and...just plain wonderful!" - Boston Globe
"Extraordinary music theatre!" - Daily News
"Splendiferous theatricality, the kick of a lighting bolt and a passionate knack for being entertaining." -Time Magazine
Children's Theater (not part of the season)
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
A Holiday Comedy By Barbara Robinson
December 12-14
Hey! Unto you a child in born! The Herdmans are absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie and steal and smoke cigars (even the girls). They talk dirty, hit little kids, cuss their teachers, set fire to Fred Shoemaker's old broken-down tool house, and take the name of the Lord in vain. So no one is prepared when the Herdmans invade church one Sunday-and decide to take over the annual Christmas pageant.
None of them has ever heard the Christmas story before. Their interpretation – the Wise Men are a bunch of dirty spies and Herod needs a good beating – has a lot of people up in arms. But the actual pageant is full of surprises for everyone, starting with the Herdmans themselves.
“One of the best Christmas plays ever.” - Publishers Weekly
Summer Camp
Directed by Frank Levy
June Camp: May 25-June 14
August Camp: July 17-August 9
Frank Levy’s Summer Theater Camp productions gives
children ages 6-16 the opportunity to learn theater and
communication skills. Every child has lines and dances. We
award 10-20 scholarships annually to children who qualify.
Campers also have the opportunity to grow further with our
camp counselor program.
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