The Huntington Theatre Company has
announced five of the seven plays slotted for its 25th Anniversary
Season, featuring artists and writers from some of the company’s
best-remembered productions of the last quarter-century.
The season opens Sept. 8 with August Wilson’s "Radio
Golf," which plays through Oct. 8 at the Boston University
Theatre. Theresa Rebeck’s new play, "Mauritius,"
runs Oct. 6-Nov. 12 at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston
Center for the Arts. A new production of "The Cherry
Orchard" starring Kate Burton and directed
by Nicholas Martin, opens Jan. 5, 2007 at the B.U.
Theatre. "Persephone," a new play by
Noah Haidle, runs March 30-May 6, 2007 at the Calderwood
Pavilion at the BCA. The season will close with David
Rabe’s "Streamers," directed by Scott
Ellis, at the B.U. Theatre May 18-June 17.
Artistic Director Nicholas Martin commented, “With this mix of
classic revivals and exciting new American plays, I think we have created
the Huntington’s strongest season in years. The 25th season reflects
pieces of our long history, and envisions the bold new places that we’re
headed, both as an organization and as a prolific contributor to the
national theatre scene.”
The Shows, At A Glance . . .
• "Radio Golf "
takes place in 1990s Pittsburgh, where Harmond Wilks is a successful
real estate developer and mayoral candidate. On the eve of Wilks’
most ambitious redevelopment project, a stranger emerges to claim ownership
of an historic house scheduled for demolition.
The culmination of August Wilson’s monumental ten-play epic cycle
depicting the African-American experience in the 20th Century, "Radio
Golf" will be directed by the acclaimed Kenny
Leon. Leon led Wilson’s "Gem of the
Ocean" from the Huntington to Broadway in 2004, helmed
the Broadway smash revival of "A Raisin in the Sun"
that same year, and directed Huntington productions of "Blues
for An Alabama Sky" (1997), "A Raisin in
the Sun" (1995) and "From the Mississippi
Delta" (1993).
• Theresa Rebeck, author of the 2004 Huntington
smash, "Bad Dates," returns to Boston for
the Oct. 6 world premiere of her new comedy, "Mauritius,"
about the discovery of priceless stamps that pulls two sisters apart
and gets them into deep trouble with a trio of shady dealers.
"Mauritius" (a South African island where the first postage
stamp was created) enjoyed a lively and well-received reading at the
Huntington’s Breaking Ground Festival of New Play Readings
earlier this month, just days after Rebeck’s "The
Scene" triumphed at the Humana Festival.
Rebecca Bayla Taichman, who directed "The Scene,"
will direct "Mauritius".
• Kate Burton and Nicholas Martin
reunite for a brand-new production of Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece,
"The Cherry Orchard," opening Jan. 5, 2007.
Martin directed the Huntington and Broadway hit revival of "Hedda
Gabler" in 2001, for which Burton received a Tony nomination
for her portrayal of the tragic lead character. In this production,
also directed by Martin, Burton takes the stage as Madame Ranevsky.
• Rising playwright Noah Haidle,
who recently had his first Off-Broadway production with "Mr.
Marmalade," debuts the world premiere of his newest darkly
comic play, "Persephone," directed by Nicholas
Martin. Opening March 30, 2007, "Persephone" (the goddess
of the underworld in Greek mythology), is the tale of an Italian Renaissance
statue burdened by an unrequited love for her sculptor and her inability
to turn a blind eye to five centuries of human misery.
• In David Rabe’s brutal
and brilliant anti-war masterpiece, "Streamers,"
four young soldiers fresh from boot camp wait anxiously in 1965 Virginia,
watching the Vietnam conflict escalate. This new production is
directed by Scott Ellis, Associate Artistic Director
of the Roundabout Theatre Company, who has received
nine Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for his direction of "Twelve
Angry Men," "1776," "Steel Pier" and
others. His recent production of "The Little Dog
Laughed" played to great acclaim.
Two additional plays for the Huntington’s 2006-07 Season will
be named soon.
For information on Huntington subscriptions, call the Huntington Box
Office at 617-266-0800 or visit www.huntingtontheatre.org/subscribe.
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OnStage Boston
