2020 Season

STAGE KISS

BY SARAH RUHL

DIRECTED BY CARLOS SIGUION-REYNA 

FEBRUARY 7 TO MARCH 1, 2020

Lovers onstage, ex-lovers offstage. Stage Kiss, labelled as the Critic’s Pick in 2014 by The New York Times, begins with the protagonist – an out-of-work stage actress, rusty from a ten- year hiatus – nervously auditioning for a role in a bad 1930s melodrama. She arrives on the first day of rehearsals to find that the actor playing her onstage lover is her real-life ex-lover! From there, they attempt to maneuver around their shared history, foregoing their awkward romantic past to bring to life the love between the characters they portray. Stage Kiss is a play that explores the blurred lines between illusion and reality. When these overlap, which becomes true: art imitating life, or life imitating art? What happens when lovers share a stage kiss? Or when actors share a real one?

ANNA IN THE TROPICS

BY NILO CRUZ 

DIRECTED BY JOEY MENDOZA 

MARCH 13 TO APRIL 5, 2020

Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Anna in the Tropics unfolds in Tampa, Florida during the Prohibition years in one of the last remaining factories that still rolls cigars by hand. Here, the Alcazar family eagerly awaits the arrival of their new lector, Juan Julian. When he starts reading from Tolstoy’s Russian classic, Anna Karenina, the scandalous lives of the characters start to intertwine with the lives of his avid listeners. Conchita, Santiago’s daughter, confronts her husband, Palomo, about marital issues, and Palomo becomes aware of a torrid affair between his wife and Juan Julian. Cheche, Santiago’s half brother, bitter about the loss of his wife, tries to take over the factory, and Santiago faces the reality that he is neck-deep in gambling debt. Each character has something similar to Anna Karenina, and they undergo a profound, undeniable transformation – a testament to the power of literature, for better or worse.

CAROUSEL

MUSIC BY RICHARD RODGERS

BOOK & LYRICS BY OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN  

DIRECTED BY BY TOFF DE VENECIA 

MAY 1 TO 24, 2020

Carousel is a sweeping musical that follows the story of Billy Bigelow, a charismatic earthy anti- hero who works as a barker at a carousel, and Julie Jordan, a quiet, complex New England girl who works at a local cotton mill. Under a dark sky and a tapestry of stars, their momentary encounter sets them off on a whirlwind love affair and emotional rollercoaster that will have to endure the crucible of New England society and Fate itself. Carousel is considered by TIME Magazine as the greatest musical written in the 20th Century and features some of musical theater’s most enduring and beloved hits like “If I Loved You”, “June is Bustin Out All Over”, and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Ultimately, Carousel is a story about love, redemption and the rapture of life told through its most beautiful contradictions.

SNOW WHITE AND THE PRINCE

BOOK, MUSIC, AND LYRICS BY JANET YATES VOGT AND MARK FRIEDMAN 

DIRECTED BY JOY VIRATA 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 TO JANUARY 31, 2021

Snow White, a beautiful princess, looks forward to her birthday ball, but laments that she does not know how to dance. But at the ball, she meets a handsome prince who teaches her how and they fall in love. However, her stepmother, a vain and selfish queen, who is envious of her beauty, interrupts the ball, sends the guests away, and plots to send Snow White to the dungeon. Snow White’s nurse overhears this and helps her to escape to the forest. There, she meets seven unusual miners who care for her until, after a near mishap, she is reunited with her prince. Love, caring, kindness and the pitfalls of selfishness are universal lessons to be learned from this happy musical for children of all ages.