AN INSPECTOR CALLS
Jan. 13 to Feb. 4
Written by J.B. Priestly
Directed by Isaac Joyce-Shaw
2023 Season
It’s “as if Priestley was writing about the climate-change crisis about to engulf us all. It feels like he anticipated the march toward political extremes, the rise of smug complacency and the fall of personal moral obligation. Characters in this show have endless trouble seeing how their own biases impedes their readings of facts; there are versions of this occurring right now on our streets right outside this theater.” Chicago Tribune
SPONSORED BY THE FAMILY OF ALICE MARY NORTON
TERRA NOVA
Feb. 9 – 11
Written by Ted Tally
Directed by Scott Ramp
Drawn from the journals and letters found on the frozen body of Captain Scott, the action of the play blends scenes of the explorer and his men at various stages of their ordeal, with flashbacks of Scott and his young wife and with fateful glimpses of his Norwegian rival, Roald Amundsen, whose party beat him to the South Pole. Refusing the use of sled dogs as unsporting, Scott and his team struggle to drag their heavy gear across a frozen wasteland, only to find that Amundsen has preceded them to their goal. The play is also a study of British pride and upper-class resolve—Scott’s aristocratic sense of destiny and command and his young bride’s ability to understand her husband’s compulsive drive while failing to accept his motivations. But it is in the tragic trip back, as the members of the expedition die one by one, that the play reaches its dramatic apogee, capturing with chilling intensity the awesome bravery of men who must accept the bitter knowledge that suffering and death will be the only reward for their heroism.
SPONSORED BY ROUTE 99, BROOKS
SHREK
March 3 to 25
Music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by Robert Salberg
“Shrek, which draws from William Steig’s book about a lovable ogre and the DreamWorks animated movie that it inspired, is nonetheless a triumph of comic imagination with a heart as big and warm as Santa’s. It is the most ingeniously wacky, transcendently tasteless Broadway musical since The Producers, and more family-friendly …” USA Today
SPONSORED BY THE DAVIS FAMILY
RABBIT HOLE
April 21 to May 13
Written by David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by Jo Dodge
Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
This is the kind theater that gives the audience “a chance to feel, empathize and contemplate the limits of a person facing unfair circumstances.” OnStage Blog
SPONSORED BY THE PAUL C. AND ROBIN E. BOWER FAMILY TRUST
EXIT LAUGHING
June 9 to July 1
Written by Paul Elliott
Directed by Karen McCarty
When the biggest highlight in your life for the past 30 years has been your weekly bridge night out with the “girls,” what do you do when one of your foursome inconveniently dies? If you’re Connie, Leona and Millie, three Southern ladies from Birmingham, you “borrow” the ashes from the funeral home for one last card game, and the wildest most exciting night of your lives involves a police raid, a stripper and a whole new way of looking at all the fun you can have when you’re truly living. (Dramatic Publishing)
SPONSORED BY M & D CABINETS
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
Aug. 11 to Sept. 2
Written by Simon Stephens based on the novel by Mark Haddon
Directed by Debbie Neel
“This smartly written and insightful play offers hope and love in the end, even if things aren’t perfect. And how we see and respond to that journey to love and hope and second chances sort of tells us more about ourselves and how we see the world …” MD Theatre Guide
SPONSORED BY DUCHESS AND THE MUNCHKIN
A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER
Sept. 29 to Oct. 21
Book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and the music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak.
Directed by Loriann Schmidt
“Despite the high body count, this delightful show will lift the hearts of all those who’ve been pining for what sometimes seems a lost art form: musicals that match streams of memorable melody with fizzily witty turns of phrase. Bloodlust hasn’t sung so sweetly, or provided so much theatrical fun, since Sweeney Todd first wielded his razor with gusto many a long year ago.” The New York Times
SPONSORED BY DAVID HACKLEMAN AND STEPHANIE SCHOAP
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG
Nov. 17 to Dec. 9
Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields
Directed by Susan Schoaps
“I propose putting your rational mind into sleep mode, the better to savor tickling images of order-inverting bizarreness, straight out of Dada, in which suddenly nothing is in its customary place or being used for its customary purpose. There’s a wild, redeeming poetry in such anarchy.” The Daily Beast
SPONSORED BY FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF LYNDSEY FIELDS HOUSER