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58th
Season of Mainstage Plays
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ROUNDING
THIRD by
Richard Dresser
May 4-6, 11-13, 18-21
" Little
League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off
the streets." Yogi Berra
This laugh-out-loud comedy is bound to score an
out-of-the-park home run with our audiences. Two dads—let’s call
them the Odd Couple of Little League coaches—comically clash on
winning and losing, raising kids--everything except, perhaps, how to
dress their ballpark franks!
COMMUNICATING DOORS by
Alan Ayckbourn
May 25-27, June 1-4, 8-10
This very funny high-energy thriller lands Poopay,
a dominatrix with a heart of gold, smack dab in the middle of a
dastardly murder plot. Soon she and a couple of intended victims are
racing back and forth in time, through a mysterious pair of hotel
closet doors, to prevent the murders. Throw in a top-secret document
and a perplexed house detective, and this comedy will be a romp that
delights audiences.
BILOXI BLUES by
Neil Simon June 15-17, 22-25, 29-July 1
We have produced Brighten Beach Memoirs
and Broadway Bound, the other two warm-hearted comedies
in Neil Simon’s trilogy—but never this one, and all we have
to say is, "It’s about time!" This story, set at the end
of the Second World War, follows Eugene Morris Jerome as a young
recruit to boot camp where he comes face-to-face with creamed chip
beef on a shingle, Sergeant Merwin J. Toomey and, at a U.S.O. dance,
the intoxicating magic of first love.
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THE HAPPY TIME by
Samuel Taylor based on stories by Robert Fontaine July 6-8,
13-16, 20-22
A light-hearted summer time treat for the whole
family. This is the story of twelve-year-old Bibi Bonnard and the
eccentricities of the 1920’s household in which he is growing up. He
lives with his father, the leader of a vaudeville orchestra; his
mother, a Scot among a household of Frenchmen; and various loving,
whimsical, exuberant relatives who teach young Bibi that to be truly a
man one must know two things: "One must know love, and one must
know truth."
THE LAST OF JANE AUSTEN
by Shirl Hendryx July 27-29, August 3-6, 10-12
Two darling little old ladies, spinster sisters
named Margaret and Sarah, are ignoring their friends in the Jane
Austen book club at the church on Saturday evenings and instead have
developed a passion for watching the fights on their new T.V.
Serendipitously, a young boxer shows up on their doorstep looking for
odd jobs and, in no time, the ladies have jumped into service as his
trainers with plenty of custard pie as part of the regime. Arsenic
and Old Lace meets Cinderella Man! You’ll be
smiling as you leave the theater!
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THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST’S WIFE
by Charles Busch August 17-19, 24-27, 31-September 2
Poor Marjorie. She’s just gone through a midlife
crisis of epic proportions in a Disney store; her beloved therapist is
dead; and her famous doctor-husband is busy treating
"allergy-impaired homeless" at his new clinic. Marjorie is a
wreck—until the sudden and accidental arrival of a mysterious
childhood friend who is brimming over with life and ideas! HILARIOUS…a
recent smash Broadway hit. Some
material not suitable for children.
THE FOURSOME by
Norm Foster September 6, 8, 9, 14-16, 21-23
Ever since we opened our 56th season
with this comedy about four chums who get together for a round of golf
at their college reunion, we have been asked "When will you
repeat that golf play?" This comedy resonates with everyone
who has ever played the game of golf—or has patiently loved a person
who plays! One critic wrote, "An ace of a comedy. The laughter
was immediate, uncontrollable, constant and helpless." Enjoy!
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DINNER WITH FRIENDS by
Donald Margulies September 28-30, October 5-7, 12-14
Gabe and Karen are longtime best friends with
another married couple, Tom and Beth. At dinner one evening, the
announcement that one of the marriages is breaking up catapults all
things familiar and trusted into a tailspin. This isn’t supposed to
happen to people with whom you have agreed to grow old and fat
together. Winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize, this is an engaging drama
that contains, as in life, moments that are both funny and irreverent.
Adult language advisory.
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YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU
by George S. Kaufman and Moss
Hart October 19-21, 26-28 November
2-4
Happy lunacy abounds in this favorite American
classic when Alice Sycamore falls in love and must introduce her
delightfully daffy family to her boyfriend’s conservative family.
What will they make of fireworks in the basement, a hapless ballerina
in the parlor and a Grand Duchess asleep on the chaise? One of the
happiest comedies ever.
THE SYRINGA TREE by
Pamela Gien November
9-11, 16-18, 24 and 25
Over the years, actress Rachel Downie has received
many "Best Actress" mentions for her performances in such
plays as Proof, Comic Potential and Sylvia,
and now we give audiences the opportunity to see her work in this
tour-de-force one-woman play that has been described as "astonishing…affecting…a
virtuoso piece." It is the story of a young girl growing up
in 1960’s South Africa, and of the remarkable and abiding love that
connects two families, one black, one white, through four generations.
By the way, this production was postponed from last season because of
the birth of Rachel’s fourth child, a daughter.
A CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL GUIDE
Conceived and written by James
Hindman and Ray Roderick Musical arrangements by John Glaudini
November 30-December 2, 7-9, 14-16
We pride ourselves in selecting plays that will
cheerfully and painlessly nudge you into the holiday season and this
year we have discovered a gem. This bright and funny MUSICAL
revue, newly released, includes such songs as Everybody’s Waitin’
for the Man with the Bag, The Twelve Steps of Christmas
and The Happy New Year Blues. At the end of the evening, after
listening to I’d Like to Hitch a Ride with Santa Claus, you’ll
be ready to sing, "And when they see me Christmas morning,
what’ll I say with a look of delight? I’m the girl that rode with
Santa Claus last night."
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