Season 2016-2017
Much Ado About Nothing - October 5 - 8, 2016
Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, pays a visit to Leonata, the governor of Messina, while returning from a victorious campaign against his rebellious brother, Don John. Accompanying him are two of his officers, Benedick and Claudio. While in Messina, Claudio falls for Leonato's daughter, Hero; Benedick verbally spars with Beatrice, the governor's niece. The budding love between Claudio and Hero prompts Don Pedro to arrange with Leonato for the marriage. Meanwhile, the trickery begins as Don Pedro (with the help of Leonato and Claudio) attempts to sport with Benedick and Beatrice in an effort to make the two of them fall in love. Likewise, Hero and her waiting woman help to set up Beatrice. Both Benedick and Beatrice will think that the other has professed a great love for them.
The Cripple of Inishmaan - November 16 - 19, 2016
Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland in 1934, THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN is a strange comic tale in the great tradition of Irish storytelling. As word arrives on Inishmaan that the Hollywood director Robert Flaherty is coming to the neighboring island of Inishmore to film MAN OF ARAN, the one person who wants to be in the film more than anybody is young Cripple Billy, if only to break away from the bitter tedium of his daily life.
“Mr. McDonagh has again created characters for whom the line between cruelty and kindness is slender…the script features some unsettlingly surprising demonstrations of both affection and aggression. —NY Times. "McDonagh's…comic talent appears unlimited, and he also has a way…of mixing up his humor with a touch of the poet and a profound sense of tragedy always dangerously lurking on comedy's untidy fringe.
A Christmas Carol (Christmas Show) - November 30 & December 1 - 3, 2016
As miserly old Ebenezer Scrooge falls asleep in his dingy quarters on Christmas Eve, three ghosts appear, each revealing to Scrooge the wrong doings of his life and what will happen if he continues in his evil ways. He is racked with fear and remorse and sets out on Christmas Day to bless with his newfound generosity all those whom he has neglected and abused.
Big Fish (Musical) - February 23 - 25 & March 2 - 4, 2017
The story shifts between two timelines. In the present-day real world, sixty-year-old Edward Bloom faces his mortality while Will prepares to become a father himself. In the storybook past, Edward ages from a teenager, encountering a Witch, a Giant, a Mermaid, and the love of his life, Sandra. The stories meet as Will discovers the secret his father never revealed.
James and the Giant Peach - April 12 - 15, 2017
The story of Roald Dahl’s classic tale is faithfully told by James himself and the insect characters – Miss Spider, Old-Green-Grasshopper, Centipede, Ladybird, and Earthworm. The play begins at the end of the story, when James and his friends are living in the giant peach stone in Central Park, New York.
A tour guide brings a party of tourists (the audience) to see this major attraction, and James and his friends tell the story of how they came to live in New York. The insects play the other roles, like James’s cruel Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker, and the epic journey across the Atlantic is acted out with live action, puppetry and storytelling in David Wood's masterful adaptation.