There's a healthy amount of new work aborning across America in the upcoming theatrical season, much of it from names not yet widely known. But among the more recognizable writers who have new (or still developing) plays or American premieres are Alan Ayckbourn, Jeff Daniels, Christopher Durang, Richard Greenberg, Jeffrey Hatcher, Beth Henley, Jon Jory, Neil LaBute, Arthur Laurents, Ken Ludwig, Jon Marans, William Mastrosimone, Terrence McNally, Sara Ruhl, Robert Schenkkan, and Alfred Uhry.
There's no shortage of new musicals, either. The ubiquity of new jukebox musicals seems to have waned a bit, but there are a variety of interesting shows soon to sing out. Wendy Wasserstein, David Zippel, and the late Cy Coleman's adaptation of Wasserstein's children's book "Pamela's First Musical" is at California's TheatreWorks; Leslie Bricusse's stage adaptation of his film musical "Doctor Dolittle" is on a major regional theatre tour; Kathy Lee Gifford's second musical effort, in collaboration with composers David Pomeranz and David Friedman, "Hurricane Aimee," will debut in White Plains, N.Y.; "Nevermore" is adapted from the works of Edgar Allan Poe by composer Matt Conner and directed by Eric Schaffer at his Signature Theatre in Washington, D.C.; Kent Gash directs "Love Jerry," a musical by Megan Gogerty about child abuse, at Atlanta's Actor's Express; Stephen Flaherty and Frank Galati have adapted Gertrude Stein's work into "Loving Repeating" at About Face in Chicago; Mary Bracken Phillips and composer Craig Bohmler have taken the woman who built the famous Winchester House as inspiration in "The Haunting of Winchester" at San Jose Rep; and Tony Kushner has two one-act operas in "Brundibar/Comedy on the Bridge," with sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak. But the biggest event of all is undoubtedly the musical version of "The Lord of the Rings" in Toronto.
The combined power of the Pulitzer and the purse is evident in the amazing number of productions of Doug Wright's one-person play "I Am My Own Wife," which is even getting seen in Salt Lake City. Other shows with multiple productions include "Anna in the Tropics," "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?," "Metamorphoses," "A Number," "Intimate Apparel," "Brooklyn Boy," "Bug," and "Caroline, or Change." And the classics remain well-represented across the ages, from the Greeks to Tennessee Williams. There are even multiple productions of Lillian Hellman's adaptation of Jean Anouilh's "The Lark," about Joan of Arc, which must in some way be related to the current political climate.
Note that the theatres described include members of the League of Resident Theatres as well as theatres operating under an Equity Letter of Agreement, SPT (Small Professional Theatre) contract, and other Equity contracts.
Keep an eye out for our regular Regional Roundup column to find out how it all plays out across the nation's stages in 2005-06.
The East
Upstate New York/Berkshires
Major renovations at Schenectady's Proctor's Theater have resulted in a state-of-the-art stage with room enough for the biggest touring productions. This means Proctor's will host a 32-performance run of "The Phantom of the Opera" (Feb. 1-26) as the crown jewel of its new season. "Chicago" (Dec. 6-11), "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (May 8-9), and "Doctor Dolittle" (June 1-4) are also on its calendar.
Two of the region's primary Equity employers are celebrating major anniversaries in the 2005-06 season:
Albany's Capital Repertory Theatre marked the start of its 25th anniversary season with the world premiere of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: The Neil Sedaka Musical" and the troupe moves forward with a slate heavy on regional premieres, including Roger Kirby's "Medea in Jerusalem" (Sept. 7-17), Allan Knee's "Syncopation" (Sept. 30-Oct. 30), Rick Seeber's "8-Track" (Jan. 1-Feb. 12), James Still's "Looking Over the President's Shoulder" (March 3-April 2), and Mary Zimmerman's "Metamorphoses" (April 28-May 28).
Across the Hudson River in Troy, the New York State Theatre Institute celebrates its 30th anniversary season with a schedule that includes the musicals "1776" (Jan. 27-Feb. 11) and "King Island Christmas" (Dec. 2-16) alongside two adaptations: Dr. Douglas W. Larche's stage version of Lois Lowry's novel "Number the Stars" (March 10-25) and Lillian Hellman's 1955 Broadway adaptation of Jean Anouilh's play about Joan of Arc, "The Lark" (April 30-May 13). Will the last use Leonard Bernstein's original incidental music? We'll have to wait and see.
-- Michael Eck
Toronto
This coming season, Toronto theatres bring Christ back to life, stage a Las Vegas wedding, pull the strings of an orphan dealing with a major life change, and take audiences to a classic Tolkien realm.
One of last year's best shows, Rick Miller and Daniel Brooks' award-winning "Bigger Than Jesus," returns to Factory Theatre (Sept. 17-Oct. 9). Presented by Wyrd Production with Necessary Angel, the show combines historic analysis, Bible thumping, and entertainment as Miller approaches the Big Guy from a variety of angles, including the spiritual.
In "The Optimists," Morwyn Brebner takes a look at Las Vegas chapel weddings, as couples have last-minute doubts and learn of past betrayals. Eda Holmes directs the Tarragon Theatre premiere (Sept. 13-Oct. 23).
At CanStage, puppeteer and showman Ronnie Burkett's "10 Days on Earth" is about a mentally challenged man who is forced to deal with the world when his protective mother dies (April 1-June 24).
The most eagerly awaited premiere is the musical version of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," with book and lyrics by Shaun McKenna and director Matthew Warchus, and music by A.R. Rahman, Värttinä, and Christopher Nightingale. Presented by Kevin Wallace and Saul Zaentz in association with David and Ed Mirvish and Michael Cohl, the show stars Tony Award winner Brent Carver as Gandalf, Michael Therriault as Gollum, Richard McMillan as Saruman, and a largely Canadian cast. It begins previews at the Princess of Wales Theatre on Feb. 2 for an open run.
-- Jon Kaplan
Boston
The first highlight of the 2005-06 theatre season in Boston can claim that title less for what it is -- "Romeo and Juliet," one of at least two upcoming productions by local companies -- than for where it is. New Repertory Theatre, hitherto housed in part of a church in Newton, Mass., opens its 20th season with Shakespeare's masterpiece in its new theatre at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in neighboring Watertown. Producing Artistic Director Rick Lombardo promises a sprawling production that will use every inch of the new space. It runs Sept. 18-Oct. 9.
Tony winner Andrea Martin makes her third appearance at the Huntington Theatre in Wendy Wasserstein's "The Sisters Rosensweig" (Nov. 4-Dec. 4), in a production directed by Nicholas Martin (no relation).
The American Repertory Theatre has a rare outing of Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit" scheduled for Jan. 7-29, directed by Jason Mouawad, one of the founders of Seattle's Imago Theatre.
Boston Theatre Works offers more Shakespeare -- "Othello" -- in a production directed by Jason Slavick and starring local favorite Jonathan Epstein (Feb. 16-March 11).
SpeakEasy Stage Company has a typically intriguing season coming up, with local premieres by Donald Margulies, Richard Kramer, and even Tennessee Williams, but my bet is on the season closer: the New England premiere of Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner's Tony-nominated "Caroline, or Change," presented in association with North Shore Music Theatre and running May 5-June 3.
-- David Frieze
Providence
There's one word for Providence-area theatre this season: change.
Acting Artistic Director Amanda Dehnert has cast almost every role for the entire season at Trinity Repertory Company from the resident company. It begins with "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" (Sept. 9-Oct. 9); continues with a world premiere, "Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers" by William S. Yellow Robe Jr. (Dec. 2-Jan. 8), and "Hamlet" (Jan. 27-Feb. 26), with Stephen Throne as the prince; and strides on with a new show, "Rhode Island: Untitled" (April 14-May 21), about contemporary Rhode Island mores and morale that will be made up as rehearsals go along.
At Perishable Theater, new artistic director Jason Nodler, just in from Houston, wants to "see us open every night." He'll begin with Mickey Birnbaum's "Big Death and Little Death" (Sept. 21-Oct. 15). The annual Women's Playwriting Festival adds full-length plays. Ticket prices will drop.
The Gamm Theatre is going Equity. Artistic Director Tony Estrella says there will be an average of two union actors in each play, beginning with "Crime and Punishment" (Sept. 8-Oct. 9).
At 2nd Story, Ed Shea continues a different regime, recruiting many actors from his acting school. Shea's theatre now owns its own building and runs a restaurant, too. Sam Shepard's "Curse of the Starving Class" begins the season (Sept. 30-Oct. 30).
The Providence Black Repertory Company now also has its own home. The season begins with Lonnie Elder's "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men" (October, actual dates to be announced), concerning a black family in the 1950s.
-- Bill Gale
Connecticut
For three years running, Yale Repertory Theatre has won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for outstanding production of a play. The New Haven regional might be set for another go with its 40th anniversary season. Among the highlights are Amy Freed's "Safe in Hell," a satire on Cotton Mather and the Salem witch trials, and Henry Adam's "The People Next Door," a black comedy about post-Sept. 11 terrorism (dates to be announced).
Families in disarray is the theme of Marcus Gardley's "Dance of the Holy Ghosts" (dates to be announced), being given its world premiere at Yale, and Connecticut playwright A.R. Gurney's "Children" (Sept. 21-Oct. 9) at Stamford Theatre Works.
Yale and another New Haven venue, Long Wharf Theatre, will co-present the Mabou Mines production of "Dollhouse" for only three performances (March 31 and April 1). Director-adaptor Lee Breuer's comic take on Ibsen was seen in Brooklyn in 2003. Otherwise, Long Wharf is betting on audience favorites like Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's "The Front Page" (April 5-30) and Noël Coward's "Private Lives" (Jan. 11-Feb. 5).
Hartford Stage also turns to famous playwrights with Tennessee Williams' "A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur" (April 6-May 7), a Jazz Age version of Molière titled "The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue" (Sept. 1-Oct. 2), and Eugene O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten" (Jan. 5-Feb. 5). It will premiere the David Cale-Jonathan Kreisberg musical "Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky" (Oct. 13-Nov. 13), which was developed at its Brand: New Festival.
-- David A. Rosenberg
Westchester/Rockland
The new season means many new works, including some highly anticipated world premieres. Nyack's Helen Hayes Theatre Company presents Olympia Dukakis, Veanne Cox, and George S. Irving in Barra Grant's "A Mother, a Daughter, and a Gun" (Sept. 23-Oct. 9). The dark family comedy, directed by Hollywood veteran Jonathan Lynn ("My Cousin Vinny"), is slated to transfer to Off-Broadway's Dodger Stages on Oct. 14. HHTC follows with "La Guardia" (Oct. 14-16), a one-man show written by and starring Tony Lo Bianco as "the little flower." The theatre next finds Neverland with Ronald Gabriel Paolillo's "The Lost Boy/The Birth of Peter Pan" (Oct. 28-Nov. 6), which examines the life of James M. Barrie.
Penguin Rep in Stony Point premieres Jon Marans' "A Strange and Separate People" (Oct. 6-30), a look at the modern Orthodox in this play about a young Jewish wife and mother unexpectedly caught up in a love triangle.
The White Plains Performing Arts Center's big deal this season is "Hurricane Aimee" (Oct. 14-23), written by David Pomeranz (music), Kathie Lee Gifford (book, lyrics, and additional music), and David Friedman (additional music). Carolee Carmello stars as controversial evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944).
Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford presents "Are We There Yet?" (Dec. 28-Jan. 21). Written by James Hindman, Ray Roderick, and Cheryl Stern, with music by John Glaudini, the musical revue makes comic hay out of family life.
-- E. Kyle Minor
The Hamptons
The theatre scene cools a bit for six months as local venues work on next summer's schedules, but the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall, East Hampton, has a busy September. A revival of the Orson Welles adaptation of Melville's "Moby Dick" just opened. "Moby Dick Rehearsed," directed by Tony Walton, stars Peter Boyle and runs through Sept. 11. Playwrights Theatre of East Hampton co-produces an evening tribute to Arthur Miller on Sept. 4. Actors Joan Copeland, Hal Robinson, and Paul Hecht present a staged reading of two Miller one-acts, "I Can't Remember Anything" and "Elegy for a Lady." Miller biographer and theatre historian Martin Gottfried moderates a discussion after the performance. Quinn Lemley does her Rita Hayworth show, "The Heat Is On," on Sept. 17, and Opera of the Hamptons presents "La Bohème" on Sept. 24.
Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre has readings of new plays in midafternoon Sept. 10, Oct. 1, and Nov. 5 (schedule to be announced). Bay Street's mentored playwriting program at local high schools has performances of selected works on stage Nov. 18 and 19. The Picture Show at Bay Street, screenings of movie classics on fall weekends, will return (schedule to be announced).
Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center's fall highlights: Barbara Cook on Sept. 3, comedian Steve Solomon on Oct. 15. Bellport's Gateway Playhouse presents "Some Like It Hot" Sept. 7-24. The Hamptons International Film Festival, a well-known venue for independent films, is Oct. 19-23 in East Hampton, Southampton, and Sag Harbor.
-- Jan Silver
New Jersey
McCarter Theatre has commissioned two interesting world premieres: Christopher Durang's New York-bound "Miss Witherspoon" (Sept. 9-Oct. 16), directed by Emily Mann, concerns a woman forced to reincarnate against her better judgment. Beth Henley's "Ridiculous Fraud" (May 5-June 11), directed by Lisa Peterson, centers on a disastrous wedding rehearsal and three grown brothers.
McCarter (March 21-April 9) and Paper Mill Playhouse (April 19-May 21) are co-producing a show for the first time: "A Midsummer Night's Dream," with original music by pop-rock group GrooveLily. Tina Landau directs.
Arthur Laurents' longtime relationship with George Street Playhouse and director David Saint results in the season opener, "2 Lives" (Oct. 18-Nov. 13). The semiautobiographical work concerns a 70-something gay playwright reading the newest pages of his latest script to his longtime partner as family and friends gather to celebrate the partner's 65th birthday. But a shocking event upends everything.
Also at George Street, New Jersey native William Mastrosimone's new play "The Afghan Women" (Feb. 21-March 19) tackles timely women's issues in that war-torn country. And Saint directs "Gunmetal Blues" (April 4-30), a jazzy musical detective story featuring two-time Tony winner Alison Fraser as The Blonde.
Two River Theatre Company hosts a Samuel Beckett Festival: A Centennial Celebration (March 16-April 8), with "Waiting for Godot," eight one-acts, a live radio play, a Beckett & Buster Festival, and Morton Feldman's "Words and Music."
Tamara Harvey directs Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" (Sept. 6-Oct. 2) at the Shakespeare Festival of New Jersey.
-- Gretchen C. Van Benthuysen
Philadelphia
Typically, the Pig Iron Theatre Company spends the majority of the year touring the world with its unique brand of physical theatre. For its 10th anniversary season, though, the company will stay close to home. Following the world premiere of "Pay Up" at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival (Sept. 2-17), Pig Iron will present five shows while in residence at Drexel University. This is an unparalleled opportunity for theatregoers to see Philadelphia's most exciting company.
The company brings "Gentleman Volunteers" to Drexel for a three-week run (Jan. 4-22). The melodrama about misplaced idealism is followed by a revamped version of the musical "Mission to Mercury." Inspired by the music of the rock band Queen, "Mercury" brings to life specters of rock 'n' roll past (Feb. 16-March 4).
Drawing on the life and works of Federico GarcÃa Lorca, the trilogy "The Lorca Cycle" remains perhaps the company's most mature work to date. In the second installment, "Poet in New York" (March 22-April 1), company member Dito Van Reigersberg portrays 11 characters ranging from the eccentric artist Salvador Dali to the ghost of Walt Whitman.
If you missed Pig Iron's Obie Award-winning collaboration with playwright Adriano Shaplin at last year's Live Arts Festival, the company remounts the darkly amusing and provocative "Hell Meets Henry Halfway" (April 12-16). June 1-11 is the world premiere of the new ensemble-created escapade "Love Unpunished." Currently in development, "Unpunished" is described as a joyous and visually enticing exploration of adoration and anguish.
-- J. Cooper Robb
The South
Washington, D.C.
Washington's season lineup includes scores of theatres and hundreds of productions. Arena Stage offers "Passion Play, a Cycle" by Sarah Ruhl, Sept. 23-Oct. 16. Ruhl has become a Washington favorite recently with her production of "The Clean House" at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
An up-and-coming young theatre, Rorschach Theatre Company, opens the area premiere of Amy Freed's "The Beard of Avon" on Oct. 22 for a four-week run.
Nov. 14-Dec. 18, Woolly Mammoth presents "Starving" by S.M. Shephard-Massat, the first of several season world premieres.
Signature Theatre's world-premiere musical "Nevermore," with music by Matt Conner and lyrics adapted from the works of Edgar Allen Poe, runs Jan. 10-Feb. 22 and is directed by Eric Schaffer.
The world premiere of Neil LaBute's "Autobahn," a collection of seven vignettes set in the front seat of an automobile, plays the Studio Theatre Secondstage Jan. 11-Feb. 5.
One of the hottest new theatres in town, the Theatre Alliance, offers the Washington premiere of Salman Rushdie's "Haroun and the Sea of Stories," directed and choreographed by Kelly Parsley, running March 2-April 2.
Finally, the Round House Theatre, co-producing with Delaware Theatre Company, will present the world premiere "A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama," May 31-July 2. Based on a recently discovered Twain short story, book and lyrics are by director Aaron Posner, with music by James Sugg.
-- Michael Willis
Virginia
Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke will open its season with the much-anticipated "Man of Constant Sorrow -- The Story of the Stanley Brothers" (Oct. 5-23), developed by Douglas Pote during the Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights at Barter Theatre in Abingdon. Currently in its world-premiere production at Barter Stage II (through Oct. 2), the show features the story and music of the legendary bluegrass duo Ralph and Carter Stanley. Following the Mill Mountain production, the show will tour southwestern Virginia, with performances in Tennessee and North Carolina. Preparations are also underway for a national tour. Barter artistic director Rick Rose expects the show to fare even better than Pote's "Keep on the Sunny Side," which played to over 100,000 people.
In Richmond next spring, top actors Erin Thomas and Jill Bari Steinberg will headline productions at Barksdale Theatre. Thomas will play Joan of Arc, the passionate martyr who inspired men to follow her into battle, in Jean Anouilh's "The Lark," adapted by Lillian Hellman (Feb. 10-April 2).
Steinberg will reprise her award-winning performance in "The Syringa Tree" (April 21-May 28), a poignant play by Pamela Gien about South African families touched by apartheid in the '60s. Last year, Steinberg wowed audiences in the one-woman show, playing 24 roles on the tiny TheatreGym stage. Thanks to Artistic Director Bruce Miller's decision to move the production to the Barksdale stage, a much wider audience will have the opportunity to see a stellar performance.
-- Wendy Mathis Parker
North Carolina
There's interesting theatre coming to North Carolina in 2005-06. PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill has scheduled Edmond Rostand's romantic classic "Cyrano de Bergerac" (April 15-May 17). John Haj will direct, and the fellow with the quick wit, deadly sword, and elongated schnoz will be played by Ray Dooley.
In Greensboro, Triad Stage turns to one of the great ghost stories with Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation of Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw." A Halloween treat, it plays Oct. 16-Nov. 6.
Temple Theatre is embarking on its first season under the guidance of new artistic director David Matthews. "Callback," a new work by Bill Svanoe, an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, will be given its premiere professional production Jan. 26-Feb. 12. Joan Darling will direct.
In Raleigh, Burning Coal Theatre Company will stage the North Carolina premiere of David Hare's "A Map of the World" in February. In Africa, a right-wing Third World novelist falls in love with a white movie star from the United States who is already in love with a young British journalist. The play's American debut was in 1985 in an Off-Broadway production at the Public Theater starring Alfre Woodard.
-- William Hardy
Atlanta
Two fall shows critique our imbroglio in Iraq. The world premiere of "Women and War" at Synchronicity Theatre (Sept. 17-Oct. 9) spins the sagas of local women as they grieve loved ones in Iraq and experience hostilities first-hand in Bosnia, Vietnam, and the like. The play was developed with local museums and the National Endowment for the Arts, and Synchronicity tells intensely intimate stories well.
The attack on Iraq is implicit in Theater Emory/Out of Hand Theater's "Alcestis" (Oct. 6-16), adapted from Euripides by poet Ted Hughes. Rising young director Ariel de Man directs her father, Theater Emory artistic director Vincent Murphy, while de Man continues her exciting collaboration with actor Maia Knispel, who will play Alcestis.
Caryl Churchill will be celebrated at Seven Stages with regional premieres of "A Number" (Oct. 13-Nov. 9) and "Far Away" (Oct. 27-Nov. 23). NEA scourge Karen Finley stars in her "George and Martha" (Jan. 12-22), about a home-economics queen and her coupling with a cowboy demagogue.
Moonlighting at Actor's Express is Alliance Theatre associate artistic director Kent Gash, birthing the world premiere of Megan Gogerty's "Love Jerry," a musical about child abuse (Jan. 19-Feb. 25). Gash will also direct the Alliance Theatre's "Jelly's Last Jam" (March 15-April 9).
Some Atlantans still love homegirl Margaret Mitchell and will relish "Moonlight and Magnolias" at the Alliance, about the scripting of the film version of "Gone With the Wind" (Sept. 14-Oct. 9). And its world premiere of Kenneth Lin's "...,' said Said" (April 7-30) sounds like an intriguing hybrid of "The Twilight Zone" and geopolitics.
-- Dave Hayward
South Florida
With over 150 offerings, there is plenty to choose from in theatres around the state of Florida. In Miami-Dade County, the Coconut Grove Playhouse celebrates its 50th anniversary with a diversified lineup including the Florida premieres of Doug Wright's "I Am My Own Wife" (Jan. 10-29) and Kathleen Clark's "Southern Comforts" (Feb. 7-26), starring Dixie Carter and Hal Holbrook.
The first Miami World Theater Festival will be held Oct. 7-16 at several venues, featuring over 100 artists from Spain, Venezuela, France, Australia, Canada, and the United States.
The fifth season of Fort Lauderdale's Mosaic Theatre serves up the Florida premieres of Steven Belber's "Match" (Dec. 1-18); "The Left Hand Singing" by Barbara Lebow, author of "A Shayna Maidel" (Jan. 12-29); and Patrick Marber's "Dealer's Choice" (March 23-April 9).
In Palm Beach County, Florida Stage's 19th season has two world premieres: David Wiltse's "The Marriage of Minuet" (Oct. 21-27), a comedy about the joys and temptations of sex among those who are old enough to know better, and Melanie Marnich's "Cradle of Man" (Jan. 27-March 5), a drama about two American couples who travel to Africa, one on a relief mission and the other on an anthropological academic assignment.
Sarasota's Asolo Theatre is in its 47th season, which includes the award-winning Off-Broadway hit "Trying" by Joanna McClelland Glass (Jan. 6-April 8) and the rambunctious French sex farce "Anything to Declare" by Pierre Veber and Maurice Hennequin (Jan. 20-April 27).
-- George Capewell
The Midwest
Pittsburgh/Columbus/Dayton
New works will generate the most excitement in Pittsburgh and Columbus.
Pittsburgh Public Theater will present the American premieres of Alan Ayckbourn's dinner-party comedy "RolePlay" (Sept. 22-Oct. 23), directed by Artistic Director Ted Pappas, and the Reduced Shakespeare Company's "Completely Hollywood (abridged)" (March 2-April 2).
Also set: "I Am My Own Wife" (April 13-May 14), the 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner, and August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean" (May 25-June 25).
Pittsburgh's City Theatre will present "Hearts Are Wild" (Jan. 26-Feb. 19), George Griggs and Darrah Cloud's new pop-rock-country musical about a regular guy, directed by Artistic Director Tracy Brigden, and "Opus" (March 17-April 9), a co-production with Philadelphia's Arden Theatre Company of Michael Hollinger's new psychological drama about five passionate musicians.
Also set: John Belluso's romance "Pyretown" (Feb. 16-April 2) and Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" (April 13-May 28).
Columbus' Contemporary American Theatre Company will launch its season with "You're My Boy" (Sept. 30-Oct. 23), a new political drama by novelist Herbert Brown (a former Ohio Supreme Court justice) about the relationship between President Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon and what that reveals about Nixon's later paranoia.
Columbus' Red Herring Theatre Ensemble will end its 12th season in May with "You Are Here or There Goes the Neighborhood," Mandy Fox's new ensemble portrait of Columbus based on oral histories.
Dayton's Human Race Theatre Company will offer "Copenhagen" (Oct. 20-Nov. 6), "Seussical" (Dec. 1-18), "The Tempest" (Feb. 2-19), and "A Delicate Balance" (March 23-April 9).
-- Michael Grossberg
Cincinnati/Louisville
Stephen Sondheim's 75th birthday is over, but celebrations continue at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park during 2005-06, starting with "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (Sept. 8-Oct. 7). But that's only a warm-up for the season's anticipated blockbuster: a reworking of Sondheim's 1970 hit "Company" (March 16-April 14), directed by John Doyle, the Britisher who will turn heads on Broadway this fall with his scaled-down "Sweeney Todd." Pending rights, Doyle will come to Cincinnati and apply his actors-playing-musical-instruments approach to Sondheim's exploration of relationships. It's hoped the composer-lyricist might come to Cincinnati to work with Doyle.
The Cincinnati Playhouse and Actors Theatre of Louisville will co-produce "Love, Janis," Randal Myler's portrait of boozy rock singer Janis Joplin; the show is currently running in Louisville through Sept. 10 and then moves upstream to Cincinnati Sept. 22-Nov. 6. Actors will offer a strong month of January when Lynn Nottage's "Intimate Apparel" (Jan. 3-28) is in the Pamela Brown Auditorium while Doug Wright's "I Am My Own Wife" (Jan. 19-Feb. 5) runs in the arena-style Bingham Theatre. The annual Humana Festival of New American Plays is set for Feb. 26-April 8.
Cincinnati audiences will get an earlier look at "Intimate Apparel" in its regional premiere at the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati (Sept. 7-25). ETC and the Cincinnati Playhouse join forces on two world-premiere scripts by local playwright Joseph McDonough: "Stone My Heart" (April 6-30) and "Wayfarer's Rest" (April 19-May 7).
-- Rick Pender
Cleveland
The Cleveland Play House's 90th season is the first chosen by Artistic Director Michael Bloom and includes Doug Wright's 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, "I Am My Own Wife" (Nov. 4-27). Mark Nelson stars as the East Berlin transvestite (and 40 other characters) who outwits both the Nazi and Communist Staasi regimes.
A Play House coup may be the world premiere of Anthony Giardina's timely play "Custody of the Eyes" (April 28-May 21), about temptation in the priesthood, to be directed by Tony Award-winning director Doug Hughes ("Doubt").
Karamu Performing Arts Theatre is also celebrating its 90th and a strong renaissance as the nation's oldest African-American theatre, under Artistic Director Terrence Spivey, whose roster includes Nobel laureate Derek Walcott's "Dream on Monkey Mountain" (April 28-May 21), an allegory about racial identity.
Ensemble Theatre leads with "Anna in the Tropics" (Sept. 12-Oct. 2), Nilo Cruz's 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama that brings Russian literature to a Cuban cigar factory, in an ambitious season including "Fat Pig" (Jan. 7-22), Neil LaBute's hard-hitting play about body image and societal values.
Cleveland Public Theatre opens with "The Designated Mourner" (Sept. 29-Oct. 22), Wallace Shawn's abstract on political tyranny and cultural decline, while Dobama Theatre features "A Number" (Jan. 13-Feb. 5), Caryl Churchill's minimalist drama about the devastating effects of cloning on a family.
The Beck Center for the Arts presents the world premiere of "T.I.D.Y." (Nov. 18-Dec. 18), a dark comedy by award-winning local playwright Eric Coble about global conspiracies and our hunger for simplicity in an increasingly complex world.
-- Fran Heller
Detroit
Detroit theatregoers will get to see a bonanza of recent plays, the musical version of "No Way to Treat a Lady," and a new play by Jeff Daniels, making the 2005-06 season appear unusually stimulating.
Inspired by Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Joan Holden's "Nickel and Dimed" asks the question, can an individual in today's America survive on a minimum-wage job? The answer is no, but the road to that conclusion is full of surprises at Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Nov. 8-Dec. 3.
At the same theatre is Donald Margulies' "Brooklyn Boy" (Feb. 14-March 11), the tale of a best-selling author whose personal life isn't such a smash hit.
"Ice Glen," Joan Ackermann's play about what befalls an obscure poet in the Berkshires when her neighbor Edith Wharton sends her poems off to a Boston publisher, launches the season at Performance Network (Sept. 15-Oct. 30).
A doctor and the mother of a ruthless African dictator strike an unusual bargain in Lee Blessing's "Going to St. Ives," at Detroit Repertory Theatre (Jan. 12-March 19).
BoarsHead Theatre has Douglas J. Cohen's suspense musical "No Way to Treat a Lady" (Oct. 13-30), based on William Goldman's screenplay. A co-production with Meadow Brook Theatre, "No Way" will be restaged there Jan. 4-29.
Billed as Jeff Daniels' most autobiographical work, "Guest Artist," about a young man who meets his hero and what happens after, is at the Purple Rose Theatre (Jan. 19-March 18).
-- Martin F. Kohn
Chicago
Chicago will offer 700-plus shows by 200-plus troupes. The Goodman Theatre mounts "Purlie" (Oct. 17-23); "Pericles," directed by Mary Zimmerman (Jan. 7-Feb. 12); Sarah Ruhl's "The Clean House" (April 29-June 4); and a David Mamet festival (March 4-April 23). Steppenwolf Theatre Company has world premieres by Richard Greenberg and Bruce Norris: "The Well-Appointed Room" (Jan. 12-March 12) and "The Unmentionables" (June 29-Aug. 27), respectively. Victory Gardens Theater premieres Lonnie Carter's "Wheatley" (Oct. 6-Nov. 13), Kristine Thatcher's "A Fair to Middling Woman" (March 24-May 7), and James Sherman's "Half and Half" (May 26-July 9).
Other shows in 2005: Sam Shepard's "God of Hell," Next Theatre (Sept. 15-Oct. 16); Sarah Kane's "4:48 Psychosis," The Hypocrites (Nov. 10-Dec. 23); Frederick Lonsdale's 1923 "Aren't We All?," Remy Bumppo (Nov. 23-Jan. 8); Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's "Dessa Rose," Apple Tree (Dec. 7-31); and Jon Kaplan channeling baseball's Hack Wilson in "Hit Man," Bailiwick Repertory Theatre (Sept. 24-Oct. 30).
In 2006, "Valentine Victorious" caps an original trilogy at House Theatre (Jan. 14-March 11); About Face Theatre and the Museum of Contemporary Art premiere a Stephen Flaherty-Frank Galati musical based on the works of Gertrude Stein, "Loving Repeating" (Feb. 14-March 12); American Theatre Company debuts Brett Neveu's "Heritage" (April 26-May 28); Lookingglass Theatre Company, Natya Dance, and Chicago Children's Choir adapt classical Indian literature with "Sita Ram" (March 16-April 2); Northlight Theatre offers William Nicholson's "The Retreat From Moscow" (May 10-June 18); and Pegasus Players premieres unheard Duke Ellington songs in "Love You Madly," with book and lyrics by Herbert Martin (May 18-June 25).
-- Jonathan Abarbanel
Milwaukee
Milwaukee's 2005-06 theatre season gets an early jolt from Bialystock & Bloom's production of "The Jammer" (Sept. 2-24). Taking place in the 1950s, this coming-of-age play about a boy is set in the sport of roller derby. Written by recent Yale Drama School graduate Rolin Jones, it was seen in last year's New York International Fringe Festival and won a Fringe First writing award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Jones is also the author of the widely produced "The Intelligent Life of Jenny Chow."
Bialystock & Bloom will quickly shift styles and settings to mount the consumer rebellion farce "We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!" by Italian Nobel laureate Dario Fo (Oct. 21-Nov. 13).
Milwaukee Shakespeare, which leaped several quality levels last season, will produce "The Taming of the Shrew" (Nov. 12-27) using an all-male cast. Artistic Director Paula Suozzi says a determination not to shrink from the difficult sexism issues presented by the comedy led her and Susan Finque, the production's director, to cast only men. "It is a choice made to help the audience in its perception of the play and to help us in dealing with the text," says Suozzi.
"Sueño," Jose Rivera's adaptation of Calderon de Barca's "Life Is a Dream," is part of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's mainstage season (Jan. 20-Feb. 19). Forty-two years after Stephen Sondheim's "Anyone Can Whistle" opened (and quickly closed) on Broadway, it will get its first professional production in Milwaukee. Windfall Theatre will stage it May 5-20.
-- Damien Jaques
Minneapolis/St. Paul
The Twin Cities season promises several world or area premieres, as well as some looks back at the recent theatrical past.
The final Guthrie Theater season at its original theatre before moving to new premises on the Mississippi will include a guest "original practices" production of "Measure for Measure" from London's Globe Theatre (Oct. 27-Nov. 6) and Alfred Uhry's "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara" (Jan. 7-Feb. 5), a reworking of his "Edgardo Mine" seen at Hartford Stage in 2002. The house will close with "Hamlet" (March 4-May 7), the same play with which it opened.
The Children's Theatre Company will complement its mainstage programming with a second performance space focusing on teen audiences; the 10 productions will include three world premieres. Park Square has the area premieres of James Sherman's "From Door to Door" (Oct. 21-Nov. 13), Nilo Cruz's "Anna in the Tropics" (March 3-26), and Tazewell Thompson's "Constant Star" (April 14-May 7); Great American History has the regional premiere of "Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men From the Rural Midwest" (April 29-May 28); Mixed Blood has "Point of Revue" (March 17-April 9), a snapshot of African America in 2006 written by 16 playwrights, including Don Cheadle, Kia Corthron, Regina Taylor, and Lynn Nottage; and Starting Gate will look back at the '60s in a season that includes "Butterflies Are Free" (Jan. 13-28) and "The Boys in the Band" (May 19-June 10). Space and scheduling preclude filling out the rest of the rich menu.
-- Michael Sander
St. Louis
In 2005-06, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis will stage work in its two suburban Webster Groves venues, the MainStage and the Studio Theatre, but will also move into its new home in the midtown Grand Center area, the Grandel Theatre, half-year home of the St. Louis Black Repertory, where it will offer edgier and more-contemporary work.
Despite dozens of promises, studies, meetings, and PowerPoint presentations, it has been more than 30 years since a real, well-equipped new theatre was built in St. Louis. There have been remodelings, rehabs, multipurpose spaces, and conversions, but no true theatres.
The converted midtown space, built as a church more than a century ago, will be a neighbor to the Fox Theatre, the Sheldon Auditorium, and Powell Symphony Hall for the Rep's three-play Off-Ramp Series, opening in September with "Take Me Out" (Sept. 21-Oct. 9) and continuing with "Bug" (Oct. 19-Nov. 6) and "This Is Our Youth" (Nov. 16-Dec. 4). The MainStage season will open with "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (Sept. 7-Oct. 7), directed by Marshall Mason; the Studio begins in October.
When the St. Louis Black Repertory Company stages Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner's "Caroline, or Change" for two weeks at the Grandel beginning Jan. 6, it will be a local first. The same musical, with the same cast, will be at the ArtLoft Theatre, about a mile away, Nov. 17-Dec. 10. Ron Himes, producing artistic director for the Black Rep, will direct at both venues.
-- Joe Pollack
The West
Texas
Let's begin with a world premiere: Ken Ludwig's latest, "Be My Baby," takes its very first steps at Houston's Alley Theatre (Sept. 30-Oct. 23) in the wake of last year's sendoff of "Leading Ladies." John Rando, local boy made good ("Urinetown," "The Dinner Party"), directs Dixie Carter and Hal Holbrook as an unlikely couple transporting an adopted newborn across the Atlantic.
Neighboring Stages Repertory Theatre has a different "Baby," the acclaimed Sybille Pearson-David Shire-Richard Maltby Jr. musical (Dec. 7-Jan. 15), although Eric Coble's "The Dead Guy" (April 5-23) is also intriguing, a parody of a reality TV show in which the audience chooses a homicide.
Houston's Theatre Under the Stars has a stage version of the musical film "Doctor Dolittle" (Jan. 17-29), with book, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, starring Tom Hewitt under the direction of Glenn Casale.
Austin's Zachary Scott Theatre Center features the return of perennial "The Santaland Diaries" (Nov. 25-Jan. 8), but the performance to watch may be former "Santaland" star Martin Burke as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in Doug Wright's "I Am My Own Wife" (May 25-July 2), which won both a Tony and a Pulitzer in 2004.
The Dallas Theater Center will also be staging a spring production of "I Am My Own Wife" (March 1-26), but its season kicks off with Regina Taylor's "Crowns" (Oct. 5-30), her gospel musical adaptation of the photography-oral history book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry on the hats (and lives) of African-American women.
-- Michael King
Utah
Salt Lake's Pioneer Theatre Company has chosen a diverse season this year as usual. Beginning with the somewhat challenging "Metamorphoses" (Sept. 14-Oct. 1), Mary Zimmerman's lyrical adaptation of Ovid's myths, the PTC season includes something for everyone with "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" (Nov. 30-Dec. 24), "Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror" (Oct. 19-Nov. 5), "Julius Caesar" (Feb. 15-March 4), "Enchanted April" (March 22-April 8), and "Five Guys Named Moe" (May 3-20).
Considering this lineup, Charlotte Jones' "Humble Boy" (Jan. 11-28) stands out. Can the astrophysicist Felix unearth in his mother's Cotswold garden the Theory of Everything, including the reasons for his father's death? Jones, an Oxford-educated Englishwoman, is playing with "Hamlet" in the guise of Tom Stoppard, which hopefully will delight Salt Lake audiences.
The Salt Lake Acting Company's 2005-06 season will not disappoint audiences wanting more confrontational theatre. Adam Bock's "Swimming in the Shallows" (Sept. 20-Oct. 13) and SLAC's original topical revue, "Saturday's Voyeur 2006" (June 6-Aug. 20), serve as bookends to a selection of plays that promise to cause thinkers to wonder. Included with Tracy Letts' "Man From Nebraska" (Nov. 15-Dec. 11), Julia Jordan's "Boy" (Jan. 31-Feb. 26), and "Water Project," an evening of short plays (April 4-30), is Doug Wright's "I Am My Own Wife" (Jan. 3-29), an unusual but welcome choice for the community.
-- Claudia Harris
Arizona
The latest suburban arts center is the Valley of the Sun's crown jewel, the $94.5 million, 212,775-square-foot Mesa Arts Center, featuring four impressive theatres of various sizes. It is the new home of Southwest Shakespeare Company, which is increasing from a three- to a five-show season, including a remounting of Shakespeare Sedona's hit summer production of G.B. Shaw's "Arms and the Man" (Nov. 10-26) in the 550-seat Piper Theatre.
Arizona Theatre Company will expand from a two-city tour to three after runs in Tucson and Phoenix when it mounts Jon Jory's adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" in the Piper (Oct. 28-Nov. 6). Three of the six plays in its season will complete their runs in Mesa. Finally, Theatre League will include the Mesa Arts Center as one of its tour stops for four of its six season productions.
Actors Theatre, itself a crown jewel among Arizona companies, will offer four Phoenix premieres, including Joe Penhall's "Blue/Orange" (Oct. 28-Nov. 13), Michael Frayn's "Benefactors" (March 3-19), and Edward Albee's "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?" (April 28-May 14).
Janet Neipris' original script "Natives," which had a staged reading last summer in the Phoenix Theatre New Works Festival, will be produced this season by the Arizona Jewish Theatre Company (March 25-April 19) with Artistic Director Janet Arnold in the lead role.
Phoenix Theatre continues to cater to its traditional musical- and comedy-loving subscriber base, though this season it takes a risk by mounting William Inge's "Picnic" (Nov. 2-20).
-- Mark S.P. Turvin
Southern California
Over 200 theatres are plotting more than 2,000 productions in Southern California for 2005-06 and many are world premieres, American premieres, or West Coast premieres. Still, sometimes it's a reliable classic that most excites, and the Mark Taper Forum's Feb. 12-March 19 production of "The Cherry Orchard," starring Alfred Molina and directed by Sean Mathias, sounds irresistible. Only the world premiere of playwright Robert Schenkkan's highly theatrical "Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates" (Dec. 11-Jan. 22) has the potential to steal the spotlight in new artistic director Michael Ritchie's debut season. Best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Kentucky Cycle," Schenkkan's "fantastical" new play follows the famous explorers as they adventure through time and history.
Not to be outdone, South Coast Repertory's American premiere of Terry Johnson's "Hitchcock Blonde" fantasizes over Alfred Hitchcock's obsession with beautiful blondes in jeopardy. The London hit, dubbed a "big bold adventure" by London's Evening Standard, runs Feb. 3-March 12. Acclaimed director Warner Shook's take on Garson Kanin's comedy "Born Yesterday" (Oct. 14-Nov. 20) could prove the hit of the season, though, as SCR audiences support new plays but adore well-produced classics.
East West Players always captures the Asian-Pacific American experience with panache and Edward Sakamoto's Hawaiian "Stew Rice" opens the season (Sept. 7-Oct. 2). The Laguna Playhouse has a trio of West Coast premieres: Catherine Butterfield's "The Sleeper" (Feb. 14-March 19), Bryony Lavery's "Last Easter" (April 18-May 21), and Mitch Albom's "And the Winner Is" (May 30-July 2).
-- Jim Volz
San Francisco
World premieres by Tony Kushner, Terrence McNally, Wendy Wasserstein, and even the late Cy Coleman are among the standout attractions due on Bay Area stages in the new season.
Kushner's "Brundibar/Comedy on the Bridge" (Nov. 11-Dec. 28) at Berkeley Repertory Theatre will sport sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak. Actually two one-acts, the first is an adaptation of a children's book by Kushner and Sendak based on a pre-World War II opera, and the second adapts a 1930s Czech antiwar operetta.
The gay-oriented New Conservatory Theatre Center commissioned Terrence McNally to create a play; the result is "Crucifixion" (Sept. 9-Nov. 6), a story revolving around the murder of a television producer by a Jesuit priest.
The late composer Cy Coleman had been collaborating with playwright Wendy Wasserstein and lyricist David Zippel on a backstage musical as seen through the eyes of a young girl. "Pamela's First Musical" (April 5-30), based on Wasserstein's children's book, will have its world premiere at TheatreWorks in Mountain View.
San Jose Repertory Theatre has a world-premiere musical about a local oddity to open its season. "The Haunting of Winchester" (Sept. 9-Oct. 2) is inspired by the rifle heiress who spent 38 years building Winchester House, one of the strangest dwellings in the world. Book and lyrics are by Mary Bracken Phillips, music by Craig Bohmler.
And at American Conservatory Theater, Artistic Director Carey Perloff and Paul Walsh have written a new musical adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" (Nov. 26-Dec. 24), with music by Karl Fredrik Lundeberg.
-- Richard Dodds
Seattle
While there's plenty of new work to get excited about in the upcoming year in Seattle theatres, three of the most enticing projects are high-profile productions of established classics.
Intiman Theatre's American Cycle series, now in its second year, has announced a production of "The Grapes of Wrath" (Oct. 7-Nov. 13), the Tony-winning adaptation by Frank Galati of John Steinbeck's epic novel. It's already generating a lot of positive buzz, in part because it's to be directed by Linda Hartzell, artistic director of the Seattle Children's Theatre, whose talent has gone largely unappreciated by the adults in Seattle's theatre community. Hartzell's extensive résumé includes 40 plays at her own theatre in the last 20 years, almost all literary adaptations. Giving her the reins to Steinbeck's masterpiece is an inspired choice and the results could be very exciting.
Interestingly enough, over at Seattle Children's is the world premiere of another literary adaptation, this by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Kentucky Cycle," Seattle's own Robert Schenkkan. It's "The Devil and Daniel Webster," based on Stephen Vincent Benet's superb novella about the legal battle between Old Scratch and the greatest orator in American history, set to run Feb. 17-April 1.
Finally, the midsize Taproot Theatre is tackling "An Inspector Calls" (Feb. 3-March 4), J.B. Priestley's metaphysical detective story, directed by Artistic Director Scott Nolte. This is the sort of show that the company does particularly well: loving revivals of classic texts that joyously blow the dust off the work and let it be seen anew.
-- John Longenbaugh