2011 - 2012 Season

Off we go! And this new season is a rare one! Three comedies, an Agatha Christie mystery, two plays wherein mothers contemplate murdering their sons (who hasn’t, but these gals really mean it!) and two musicals! If we had followed exactly the suggestions of most of our patrons when we selected the shows, we couldn’t have mapped a season more closely in line with their wishes.

In September, we open with The Unexpected Guest, an English murder mystery crafted as only Christie can do it. In November, we open Little Women, a musical for the whole family about Jo March (Louisa May Alcott) and how her beloved books came to be written. In January, we will brighten the winter blahs with the zany comedy, Cinderella Waltz by Don Nigro where the fairy tale runs aground on King Lear and Beauty and the Beast and our heroine opts off the princess track. In February, Neil Simon lifts our spirits with the touching and laughter-filled Chapter Two and in March, we will fill the theater with the bluegrass music and uplifting story of The Spitfire Grill. In May, Lee Blessing leaves us moved and affected by the two remarkable women in Going to St. Ives, and in June, we close the season with a third exhilarating comedy, Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson - a madcap recreation of the story behind the writing of the Gone With the Wind screenplay.

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The Unexpected Guest

Written by Agatha Christie
Directed by Richard Atha-Nicholls
Performance dates: September 16 - October 8, 2011
Running time: Approx. 2.5 hours, including one 10 minute intermission

Set on a foggy night near the sea, this spooky mystery begins with the discovery of a dead man slumped in his accustomed chair with his shocked wife holding a pistol near by. The discovery is made by a stranger coming through the French doors seeking help after his car has run off the road in the roiling mist. A complicated plot is devised to deflect blame from the wife, and a houseful of alternate suspects become involved in the ensuing police investigation. This classic whodunit by England’s mystery queen promises a happy immersion in all the fun of untangling the intrigue for audiences and actors alike.

For more information about The Unexpected Guest, including information about the author, director, cast, and staff, click here:

Book by Allan Knee
Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein
Music by Jason Howland
Directed by Beverly Hill van Joolen
Performace dates: November 4 - December 3, 2011
Running time: Approx. 3 hours, including one 10 minute intermission

Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic is now a delightful musical for the whole family and showcases all of the highlights from her famous novel about Jo, Meg, Beth, Amy, and their adoring Marmee. Managing on their own while their father is away at war, the March women deftly handle challenges, disappointments, and fight for their dreams as they deal with issues still relevant today. The daring re-enactments of Jo’s swashbuckling stories lend an air of adventure and excitement to the story, while the girl’s trials with feisty Mr. Laurence, his charming grandson, Laurie, the dashing tutor, Mr. Brooke, the quiet Professor Bhaer, and curmudgeonly Aunt March make for a evening full of color and fun! The powerful music carries the show as Jo and her family discover what it is that they really want, and who they want to share their lives with.

For more information about Little Women, including information about the author, director, cast, and staff, click here:

Written by Don Nigro
Directed by Jennifer Parris
Performance dates: January 6 - 21, 2012
Running time: Approx. 2 hours, including one 10 minute intermission

This flippant telling of the classic fairy tale begins conventionally enough but soon veers off into the thoughts and explorations of a playwright who has read too much Shakespeare and Freud! King Lear and Beauty and the Beast are there for the taking and while being enormously amused and entertained, audiences may find themselves pondering all the sociological implications of the choice that our heroine finally makes when the slipper is in her hand. At least that’s what the author hopes! But if you’re not in the mood for philosophy, come just for the laughs. Cinderella Waltz provides them in loopy abundance.

NOTICE: Cinderella Waltz contains adult themes and language and is not suitable for children.

For more information about Cinderella Waltz, including information about the author, director, cast, and staff, click here:

Written by Neil Simon
Directed by Gwen Morton
Performance dates: February 10 - March 3, 2012

In a comedy that is full of one liners and quick repartee, Simon tenderly tells the story of his second marriage after the loss of his first wife to cancer. In a courtship that is too quick and marriage that is too sudden, between a grounded and beautiful young woman, and a man who still loves and mourns his dead wife, the playwright tells the story of how the passionate and intelligent partners feel their way through the new relationship they have created. Moving and funny, Chapter Two blends humor and poignancy into a memorable evening of theatre.

For more information about Chapter Two, including information about the author, director, cast, and staff, click here:

Music and Book by James Valcq
Lyrics and Book by Fred Alley
Based on the Film by Lee David Zlotoff
Directed by Joan Townshend
Music Director: Anita O'Conner

Performance dates: March 23 - April 21, 2012

Our second musical for the season has a distinctive bluegrass, country music flavor. It is set in the tiny town of Gilead, Wisconsin, a town that with the closing of its granite quarry and the loss of its young people is slowly disappearing. Enter Percy Talbott, a battered young Appalachian woman newly out of prison. She comes to work at the run down grill, the only restaurant in town, peopled with the other characters from town: the sheriff, postmistress, a young woman dominated by her bitter husband and the grill owner, an old woman with a secret. Gradually as she becomes part of the community, Percy’s love of Gilead and her unstoppable spirit resurrect the optimism and self-respect the town once had.

Going to St. Ives

Written by Lee Blessing
Directed by Edd Miller
Performance dates: May 4 - 19, 2012

In this interesting drama, two women meet and their lives become indelibly intertwined because of the request that one, the mother of a despot in Africa, makes of the other, a world-renowned eye surgeon. Blessing probes the nature of emotional responsibility as the women deal with the consequences of their actions in this provocative play. You may be thinking about May and Cora for months!

Moonlight and Magnolias

By Ron Hutchinson
Directed by Ron Giddings
Performance dates: June 8 - 30, 2012

It is 1939 and David O. Selznick, the legendary producer, has stopped production on his movie, Gone With The Wind. He has fired the director and scrapped the screenplay because the story is not being told the way he wants it to be. He pulls legendary director Victor Fleming off The Wizard of Oz and calls in legendary screenwriter Ben Hecht to rewrite the screenplay. They have just five days and there is just one little problem: Ben Hecht is the only person in America who has not read Gone With The Wind. Locked into Selznick’s office with only brain food (bananas and peanuts) to live on, the three men hilariously manage to pull it off. With Selznick and Fleming acting out the scenes page-by-page, Hecht fashions the new screenplay despite constant wrangling with Fleming and artistic differences with Selznick and Margaret Mitchell. You’ll love this rollicking comedy and you’ll never see the movie the same way again!