The Weekend Theater has announced its 2011-2012 Season, which will feature shows like PIPPIN, YELLOWMAN and THE MIRACLE WORKER.
On Fridays and Saturdays, curtain times are at 7:30 p.m.
For special Sunday showings (Musicals only) curtain times are at 2:30 p.m.
The Guys
By Anne Nelson
September 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24
In commemoration of the tenth year anniversary of "9/11," The Weekend Theater presents this tribute to the firefighters and other heroes who lost their lives trying to rescue others. In this drama, less than two weeks after the September 11th attacks, New Yorkers are still in shock. One of them, an editor named Joan, receives an unexpected phone call on behalf of Nick, a fire captain who has lost most of his men in the attack. He's looking for a writer to help him with the eulogies he must present at their memorial services. Nick and Joan spend a long afternoon together, recalling the fallen men through recounting their virtues and their foibles, and fashioning the stories into memorials of words. In the process, Nick and Joan discover the possibilities of friendship in each other and their shared love for the unconquerable spirit of the city. As they make their way through the emotional landscape of grief, they draw on humor, tango, the appreciation of craft in all its forms-and the enduring bonds of common humanity. The Guys is based on a true story.
Directed by Frank O. Butler.
Pippin
Book by Roger O. Hirson
Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
October 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23
Nominated in 1972 for 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and winning five of those coveted Awards, this hip, tongue-in-cheek, anachronistic fairy tale is based upon the life of Prince Pippin the Hunchback, the firstborn son of eighth century, Frankish king Charlemagne or Charles the Great, and invites audiences to join the fantastical journey of the rosy-cheeked prince famously looking for his "corner of the sky". But his dad is a tyrannical bore, his step-mom is a Lady Macbeth in a mini skirt, and his half-brother Lewis is a twit. Returning home from school, Prince Pippin, sure of his superior qualities but lacking a purpose to which he can apply them, becomes a soldier for his father's army, but he gets upset by the killing and murders his father to stop the war. Finding he does not want to become the "puppet king" of discontented nobles in the Carolingian Empire, Pippin longs to discover the secret of true happiness and fulfillment. He is led by a mischievous Leading Player as he tries to find his place in life in the glories of the battlefield, The Temptations of the flesh and the intrigues of political power. The youth's violent journey to fulfillment sets Pippin's quest into a tradition of psychological darkness, bringing an unusually creepy seriousness to Pippin's temptations and sinister machinations to the Leading Player. In the end, he finds the simple pleasures and domestic contentment of love, home and family is something to be quietly achieved. A rock opera filled with sex, S&M, and amputated limbs, this perky musical is meant to be at times unnerving and dark. Pippin is full of light pop music, magic, and soft-shoe dances, but it has one of the darkest and most complex themes in musical theater history.
Directed by John Thompson, Music Direction by Jeannie Cross.
The Quality of Life
By Jane Anderson
November 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19
In this magnetic work of theater, filled with compassion, honesty and humor, Dinah and Bill, a devout, church-going couple from the Midwest are struggling to keep their lives intact after the loss of their daughter. Dinah is compelled to reconnect with her left-leaning cousins in Northern California who're going through their own trials. Jeannette and Neil have lost their home to a wildfire and Neil has cancer. However they seem to have accepted their situation with astounding good humor, living in a yurt on their burn site and celebrating life with hits of pot and glasses of good red wine. Bill and Dinah are both moved and perplexed by their cousins' remarkable equanimity. But that's just where the real drama begins! The Quality of Life explores a myriad of ethical, religious, and moral beliefs, as well as personal rights issues concerning life and death.
Directed by Allison Pace.
