New Repertory Theatre
Announces 2003-2004 Season
New Repertory Theatre in Newton Highlands
has announced a 2003-2004 lineup scheduled to include two world premieres,
one New England premiere and two classics.
Producing Artistic Director, Rick Lombardo
commented, "These are five exceptional projects. Each is a diamond
in its own way."
The season will include:
"A Girl's War" by Joyce Van
Dyke
September 17 - October 19, 2003
World Premiere Production
(First workshop production performed at Boston
Playwright's Theatre)
After the fall of the Soviet Union, a border dispute erupted between
two former Soviet States -- Armenia and Azerbaijan. This dispute, which
continues to this day as a focus of ongoing international concern, is
centered on the mountainous territory of Nagorny Karabakh.
Returning to the bombed out ruin of her childhood home
with her mother, now a sniper in the Karabakh army, Anna Sarkisian,
an Armenian fashion model who has found success in America, defiantly
refuses to identify herself with the Armenian cause. She falls for a
young Azerbaijani deserter, Hussein, who claims to be a former neighbor.
As bombs begin to explode the question of Hussein's identity becomes
an issue of survival for Anna, her mother, and their town. The competing
desires of love and vengeance are fueled by the current crisis, age-old
ethnic-strife, and the clash between the modern world and traditional
customs of retribution.
Nudity and violence. Mature audiences only.
"Blanche and Her Joy Boys"
by Mark St. Germain
November 12 - December 14, 2003
World Premiere Production
Chris Calloway, daughter of famed big band leader Cab
Calloway,
performs this exceptional and emotional one-woman show about her Aunt
Blanche. This intimate production features a jazz combo and Chris Calloway
singing the songs that made Blanche popular, including "I'm
Just Wild About Harry" and "I Need Lovin'."
The early days of Jazz were an inhospitable time for an African-American
woman with a desire for a band of her own. On top of the burden of racism
Blanche Calloway had to overcome the overbearing sexism of the male
dominated Jazz world. "Blanche and Her Joy Boys" is the story
of Blanche's journey through the turbulent early days of Jazz in America
to become the very first
female, black or white, to lead an all male Big Band; and the story
of her attempt to find love in a world where even respect was hard to
come by.
A co-production with Barrington Stage Co.
"The Threepenny Opera"
Book and Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, Music by Kurt Weill
January 7 - February 8, 2004
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill came
of age in post-World War One
Germany, where the struggle to build a democracy in the face of devastating
economic privation created a world in which rising to the top was less
about law and more about power. Brecht and Weill's brilliant, groundbreaking
musical, based on John Gay's 1728 play, "The
Beggar's Opera," satirizes the Bourgeois society that
arose during that difficult period by setting the play in a Victorian
London peopled with unscrupulous members of the underclass and the underworld.
The score and lyrics are at once compelling and harsh, echoing the realities
of a world in which the lower classes must mix cruelty and love just
to survive.
"Yellowman"
by Dael Orlandersmith
March 5 - April 4, 2004
New England Premiere
One of the most original and important Black playwrights of today,
Dael Orlandersmith explores and exposes the emotional
destructiveness of racism in the African-American community. "Yellowman"
tells the tale of Alma, a dark-skinned African-American woman, and her
childhood friend, Eugene, a
light-skinned African-American man, growing up together, yearning to
escape the South. They dream about reinventing their lives and their
friendship blossoms into love. However, there are painful lessons to
be learned about the harsh reality that skin tone divides even the closest
of friends, families and communities,
and that the racism from within can be almost as destructive as the
racism from without. Mature subject matter.
"Scapin" by Moliere
Starring John Kuntz
April 28 - May 30, 2004
In seventeenth century France, comedies about tyranny required a safe
target. Moliere, a brilliant comic playwright, poked
fun at doctors, lawyers and the hypocritically pious, but knew better
than to bite the royal hand that fed him. In "Scapin," the
Renaissance world is defined by the tyranny of avaricious fathers over
their children's futures and the tyranny of foolish masters over clever
servants. New Rep's "Scapin" will feature rich with music,
color, and movement. Boston's own John Kuntz will return
to New Rep on the heels of his acclaimed performance in "Waiting
for Godot."
New Rep's 2002-2003 season drew the largest audience in
its history. According to the theater officials, subscriptions were
up 10% and single ticket sales were up 50%, giving the company a 24%
overall ticket sales increase. The company will finish with an operating
surplus for the fifth straight season. Corporate giving also saw a significant
63% increase during the 2002-2003 season.
Programming at New Repertory Theatre is supported in part
by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
--
OnStage Boston
6/24/03
