Announcing the New Season

It's been a few weeks since my last blog post, I know. But the fact is, Parkville is over, the air-conditioning is fixed and the fire alarm hasn't gone off recently. If you walk into the theatre, there will be no actors chomping down A.C.P's and no lighting guys getting strangled with wire. You will see interns on their Macs, Hillary on the phone, and (if you're lucky) Tracy in a meeting. You will think the theatre is a dying place. You will, however, be dead wrong.

These few weeks of calm actually disguised a very crazy time for PoP's directors: finalizing the line-up for next season! They shoot frantic emails, text urgent messages, engage in loud phone conversations and sometimes even talk face-to-face! They get a new idea, whip out the calendar, and cradle their heads in their hands, realizing they cannot squeeze yet another event into the already packed season. But finally, (finally!) after a summer of waiting and Bated Breath, the new season has been decided. Here are the winners!

Mainstage Productions:

Side by Side by Sondheim, music by Stephen Sondheim, Julie Styne, Richard Rodgers and Mary Rodgers

Brighton Beach Memoirs, by Neil Simon

Art, by Yasmina Reza

The Scarlet Letter, based on the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Comedy of Errors, by Christopher Marlowe (just kidding, I'm just making sure you're paying attention)

Around the World in 80 Days, based on the novel by Jules Verne

A La Carte Series (a little more edgy):

Equus, by Peter Schaffer

Holiday Cabaret

You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, based on the comic strip "Peanuts"

Chicago (yes, the really famous Broadway musical)

Theatre for Young Audiences:

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, based on the book by Laura Joffe Numeroff

Homeroom, by Andrea Green and Selma Tolins Kaufman

I Think I Can, by Bruce Bowden, Barry Miller and Kathryn Schultz Miller

Full descriptions of the shows are available on Playhouse on Park's website, but I'll give you the scoop on a few things that the website won't tell you.

1. PoP's very own Sean Harris will play one of the three main roles in January's production of Art. It will be hilarious. You will come see it.

2. Not to brag or anything, but having Homeroom as part of the Young Audience series might not have happened if PoP had not hired a literary intern for the summer. In all

seriousness, though, seeing Homeroom on the roster is a testament to all the work I've been doing at PoP. Homeroom fell into our laps here at the Playhouse. I read it, visited the playwright's website, listened to the songs, and got an official copy and written reviews from the playwright herself. I talked with the artistic directors about it, had them read it, and next thing you know, we were calling up Andrea Green all the way in Philadelphia and talking with her about putting on her show. I have a feeling that Andrea is pretty thrilled - and so are we. We have found a great musical for middle and high school kids that touches on a lot of important issues and has a ton of really catchy music. It doesn't get much better than that. :)

3. Be on the lookout for staged readings and workshop productions of new work by Connecticut playwrights. Another product of my labors this summer, these low-key productions will run over a two-day period, with the purpose of introducing a new piece to the Connecticut theatre community. The playwrights we are featuring are really excited about their pieces, and my hope is that audiences can get over the fact that they "haven't heard of it before" and come out to see some great new work.

So that's the scoop from this literary blogger. Enjoy the next season!