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ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR by Alan Ayckbourn directed by David Emmes September 7 - October 7, 2012
He's back! England's most prolific and most ingenious playwright—and one of SCR's most popular—outdoes himself this time by setting a party in the living room but keeping the drama in the kitchen. Three kitchens, in fact, on three successive Christmas Eves when relationships change, fortunes soar and then dive and the social kaleidoscope gets all shook up. Add an off-stage couple whose jokes are really bad, some of the most ingenious failed suicide attempts ever devised and lots of gin, and you've got a ferociously funny farce with very sharp teeth. Take a bite!
HOW TO WRITE A NEW BOOK FOR THE BIBLE by Bill Cain directed by Kent Nicholson October 19 - November 18, 2012
"Write about what you know." Bill Cain took that advice, and this is the dazzling result—a play about a family so appealing that you want to find a comfortable chair and settle down in their living room. When Bill comes back home to care for Mary, his often maddening (but always funny) mother, he tells the family story as it unfolds—in evocative flashbacks. The memories are both bitter and sweet, for this is a family with its own set of commandments. They squabble, yes, but even their arguments are beguiling.
CHINGLISH by David Henry Hwang directed by Leigh Silverman January 25 - February 24, 2013
Daniel's sign-making company is in trouble, but he has a great idea: score a fat contract in China, where signs for English-speaking tourists are mangled by hilarious mis-translations. But he forgets the first rule: always bring your own translator because business deals involve much more than wining and dining. And when Daniel falls in love with a beautiful bureaucrat, even feelings take on different meanings. The repartee is fast and funny, and the timing is spot-on in this East-West comedy that embraces both sides of the cultural divide. (A co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre.)
SMOKEFALL by Noah Haidle directed by Anne Kauffman March 29 - April 28, 2013
This family is full of surprises. Violet’s twins will soon be born, but her husband can’t cope with life, her father can’t remember yesterday, and her daughter stopped talking when she had nothing left to say. The dog is silent, too, but wait until you hear what he’s thinking! Magical and tragic, funny and fascinating, Smokefall is Our Town for a new generation. (A world premiere co-production with Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Illinois.)
There's something deliciously different about what the Los Angeles Times calls the off-kilter universe of Noah Haidle plays. And SCR audiences have been the first to sample that difference—in two world premieres (Mr. Marmalade, Princess Marjorie) and one West Coast premiere (Saturn Returns). Now he's off to Hollywood, as screenwriter of the upcoming Stand Up Guys starring Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin. But he'll be back, and SCR will be waiting!
THE FANTASTICKS music by Harvey Schmidt book and lyrics by Tom Jones directed by Amanda Dehnert May 10 - June 9, 2013
A carnival midway of magic, mischief and theatrical thrills! Amanda Dehnert, celebrated throughout the American theatre for re-imagining classics, has added a multitude of visual delights and fantastical illusions to the original charm and beautiful ballads (like the haunting “Try to Remember”) of The Fantasticks. When two scheming fathers conspire with the mysterious El Gallo to keep their daughter and son apart (to be sure they’ll fall in love!) the dewy-eyed lovers venture into the real world. But as fantasy turns to reality, El Gallo is there to remind them that “without the hurt, the heart is hollow” in one of the most popular musicals of all time, which the Washington Post calls, “Fresh and alive again.”
EURYDICE by Sarah Ruhl directed by Marc Masterson September 23 - October 14, 2012
It's one of the greatest love stories of all time. And in this lushly inventive reimagining of the classic myth, Eurydice and her musician-lover, Orpheus, are a modern couple—playful, charming and rapturously happy. On their wedding day, Eurydice wanders off, enticed by a letter from her deceased father, only to find herself reunited with him in the underworld. But Eurydice must re-learn human language in order to remember all she left behind and, ultimately, choose between two worlds in this whimsical and breathtaking story of the power and fragility of love.
THE MOTHERF**KER WITH THE HAT by Stephen Adly Guirgis directed by Michael John Garcés January 6-27, 2013
Set smack in the middle of New York's mean streets, this Broadway hit is exhilarating, hilarious—and totally irreverent. Recently sprung from prison, Jackie has an AA sponsor and is back with Veronica, the love of his life since eighth grade. The problem is, Veronica can't shake her drug habit, and she refuses to answer when he asks about "the man hat that-ain't-my-hat" on their bedside table. But Jackie is a survivor, and if he sometimes loses sight of his goal, he never loses his decency, in this surprising examination of acceptance, loyalty and love.
THE WHALE by Samuel D. Hunter directed by Martin Benson March 10-31, 2013
Charlie is different from most of us. First, he's an online writing teacher with one friend, a nurse who nearly kills him with kindness, and one acquaintance, a troubled young missionary who's determined to rescue his soul. Second, he's in bad health but refuses to be hospitalized. And third, he weighs in at 600 pounds. When his estranged daughter turns up suddenly, Charlie makes a deal to buy her time, if not her affections. He hopes their connection will give her life—and his—meaning at last.
THE PARISIAN WOMAN by Beau Willimon inspired by Henri Becque's La Parisienne directed by Pam MacKinnon April 14 - May 5, 2013
Beau Willimon is the writer-producer of the Netflix mega-hit “House of Cards,” and his play Farragut North won rave reviews before hitting the screen as the Oscar-nominated The Ides of March. Willimon sets his new play in the Capitol Hill section of Washington, D.C., where powerful friends are the only kind worth having. This contemporary slant on a scandalous French comedy about bad conduct in high places is swift, savvy and impossible to resist. Tom is a lawyer in the private sector, with his sights on a government job. Chloe is beautiful, bright and bored. But she has a passionate side, and it has nothing to do with her love affairs. How far will they go to achieve political stardom?
Plays SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
ROBIN HOOD by Greg Banks directed by Jeremy Aluma November 2-18, 2012
He's the legendary Robin Hood of yore, who leads a band of Merry Men, stands up for what is right, wields a bow and arrow, defeats the Sheriff (often!) and loves Maid Marian. But in this re-imagining by Ivey Award winner Greg Banks, Robin and his yeomen are full of tricks and full of fun—and they'll include the audience in the action. Don't be surprised if you're asked to yell out, "They went that way!" or cheer, "Long live Robin Hood!" in this contemporary twist on a medieval world—with live music.
ANASTASIA KRUPNIK adapted by Meryl Friedman from the book by Lois Lowry directed by Casey Stangl February 8-24, 2013
Ten-year-old Anastasia is opinionated, sassy and funny. Really funny. Of course, she also has a funny name, but she'll make up for it in this offbeat story taken right from the pages of her diary. It's about all the things she loves—and hates—and what she plans to do about them. This memorable story from the Newbery Medal-winning author of The Giver is a wonderful portrait of childhood and family life, complete with all its ups and downs.
THE NIGHT FAIRY a new adaptation by John Glore from the book by Laura Amy Schlitz directed by Oanh Nguyen May 24 - June 9, 2013
Flory is a fairy no taller than an acorn, who loses her exquisite wings in a fight with a bat, falls into the garden of a "Giantess" and takes up residence in a birdhouse. This magical story from a Newbery Medal winner is as visually bewitching as the night fairy herself. But Flory is as fierce and ferocious as she is elegant, and she's about to discover that she needs every drop of bravery—and equal amounts of understanding and compassion—in her new life among the daylight creatures.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL 33rd Annual Production by Charles Dickens adapted by Jerry Patch directed by John-David Keller November 24 - December 24, 2012
Recapture the spirit of an old-fashioned Christmas with this cherished Dickens classic and all your favorite characters—Tiny Tim and the Cratchit family, the Fezziwigs, the Ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet-to-come—and, of course, Ebenezer Scrooge himself.
*Not included in subscription packages.
