ESSENTIAL SEASON
The Book of Will
By Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Sydney Parks Smith
Playing Fall 2023 at the Lincoln Center Magnolia Theatre
When Hamlet was defaced and debased on a stage near the Globe Theatre three years after Shakespeare’s death, his works were in danger of being lost forever. Enter The King’s Men! Henry Condell and John Heminges get the band back together and race to assemble the Bard’s scattered masterpieces. Their epic undertaking results in the creation of the First Folio and the preservation of their dear friend’s theatrical legacy. The Book of Will is a tale of love, laughter, and loss. Joyously sprinkled with Shakespeare’s most beloved writing, it is sure to put a new spin on the man you think you know.
Sweat
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Kenny Moten
Playing Winter 2024 at the Lincoln Center Magnolia Theatre
The 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat is a humorous, heart-wrenching, and honest look at the decline of the working class in modern America. In 2008, in a bar in Reading, Pennsylvania, best friends Cynthia, Tracy, and Jessie have shared their lives—the good, the bad, and many drinks. Suddenly, they find themselves facing the crushing weight of layoffs and picket lines at the local steel mill. As the union loses ground, trust erodes and they find themselves pitted against one another in a harrowing fight to stay afloat. Sweat boldly confronts issues of race, deindustrialization, and the ever-slipping grip on the “American Dream.”
Big Fish - Small Cast Edition
Book by JOHN AUGUST
Music and Lyrics by ANDREW LIPPA
Based on the novel by Daniel Wallace and the Columbia Motion Picture written by John August
Directed by Noah Racey
Playing Spring 2024 at the Lincoln Center Magnolia Theatre
Based on the celebrated novel by Daniel Wallace and the acclaimed film directed by Tim Burton, Big Fish - Small Cast Edition, tells the story of Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman who lives life to the fullest and fantastical! Edward’s incredible, larger-than-life stories thrill everyone around him—most of all, his devoted wife, Sandra. But their son Will, about to have a child of his own, is determined to find the truth behind his father’s epic tales of mermaids and giants. Big Fish is a heartfelt, powerful, and truly magical musical that reminds us why we love going to the theatre—for an experience that’s richer, funnier, and BIGGER than life itself.
Twelfth Night
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Debbie Swann
Playing Summer 2024 in the Park at Columbine Health Systems
In a rambunctious story of hidden identities and misplaced love, the witty, resourceful, and inventive Viola turns tragedy and loss into a life-changing experience for herself and everyone she touches. Shipwrecked in a strange new land, this charming woman proves to be equally charming disguised as a man as she manages to throw the collective romantic life of the island into further disarray. In a place where everyone is in love with someone, but no one is in love with the someone who loves them back, Viola may just be the soul to set them right. Full of humor and hijinks, Twelfth Night showcases a whirlwind of unbridled passion and embraces the insanity of love. Walk in, bike in, or drive in! Featuring nightly food trucks.
etcetera SEASON
Six Years Old
By Daphne Silbiger
Directed by Kiernan Angley
Playing Fall 2023 at the Foothills Unitarian Church
Adalaide knows a few things: her stupid babysitter Kim is stupid, her younger brother Dewey is a naked mole rat, the film Godzilla expresses the paranoid id of the nuclear age, and she does NOT like being treated like a girl. She wants to be a boy—Han Solo from Star Wars, in fact—and she is willing to go to drastic lengths to make her wish come true. A comic and poignant story where everyone is played by adults (“no kids allowed”), Six Years Old reflects on the wild fantasies and serious desires of queer childhood.
Dance Nation
By Clare Barron
Directed by Heather Ostberg Johnson
Playing Spring 2024, location to be determined
Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. But more is at stake than a first-place trophy: puberty, friendship, rivalry, and girls becoming women, to be exact. Fangs come out as the competition heats up, and the blood, sweat, and tears get very real. Portrayed by adult actors of all ages, these adolescent girls (and one boy) struggle with their tween confusion—and their future adult selves. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Dance Nation is a play about ambition, growing up, and how to find our souls in the heat of it all.