Gallery Players Announces Lineup For 2009-2010 Season

Staying true to its commitment to provide Brooklyn with eclectic programming of intimate revivals and ambitious new work, The Gallery Players is proud to announce the lineup for the 2009 - 2010 season: The House of Blue Leaves; Top of the Heap; Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge; Caroline, or Change; The Crucible; and City of Angels. The Gallery Players rounds out its 43rd season with The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival and The Peanut Gallery, Park Slope's musical theatre summer adventure camp for kids.

The Gallery Players' 43rd Season opens in September with John Guare's classic The House of Blue Leaves. Artie Shaugnessy is a songwriter with visions of glory. Toiling by day as a zookeeper, he suffers in seedy lounges by night, plying his wares at piano bars in Queens, New York where he lives with his wife, Bananas (who is). But like many dreams, this promise of glory evaporates amid the chaos of ordinary lives. 1971 Obie Award winner for Best American Play was called, "A brilliant play...beautifully fashioned...Wacky and sometimes sad [with]...combined hilarity, poignancy, outrageous stage aside and tragedy," by the N.Y. Daily News. The House of Blue Leaves runs September 12-27, 2009.

Top of the Heap follows Like You Like It and Yank! A new musical in The Gallery Players' tradition of championing new musicals. This winner of the 2007 National Musical Theater Network Director's Choice Award and the 2006 Global Search for New Musicals makes its Brooklyn premiere with a limited engagement: October 24-November 8, 2009. It's New York City, 1955. The Brooklyn Dodgers are about to square off with the Yankees in a World Series that will net "dem bums" their first title in fifty-five years. So, T.V.'s most popular variety program, ‘Top of the Heap,' is headed to Brooklyn for a live, remote broadcast tied into the Series. A struggling pair of nightclub comics see this as a chance to bluff their way out of the dives where they perform and into television. But, they soon discover just how high a price they'll have to pay. Top of the Heap features Music by Jeffrey Lodin, Book and Lyrics by William Squier, and was called, "A gritty musical that takes a look at the darker side of showbiz," by The Stamford Advocate.

This December, ring in the holidays with The Gallery Players' production of Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge by Christopher Durang! In this departure from Dickens, young Scrooge's exclamations of "Bah, humbug!" are an undiagnosed "kind of seasonal Tourette's Syndrome," and The Ghost of Christmas Past is played by a sassy African-American woman with enough attitude to portray all three spirits (which she does). She tries to show Scrooge his past, present and future in order to change him, but her magic keeps malfunctioning in Durang's version of the beloved holiday classic, and they consistently find themselves transported to the wrong time and place. Mrs. Bob Cratchit, a minor character in the Dickens, takes center stage here. As the Ghost loses more control, the plot morphs into parodies of Oliver Twist, The Gift of the Magi, and It's a Wonderful Life. And to make matters worse, Scrooge and Mrs. Bob seem to be kindred souls falling in love. With a dénouement that is two parts Touched by an Angel and one part The Queen of Mean, Scrooge's tale of redemption and gentle grace is placed squarely on its head. Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge runs December 5-December 20, 2009.

The Gallery Players kicks off 2010 with a production of the modern classic Caroline, or Change, running January 30-February 21, 2010. Playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and composer Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie) have elegantly crafted this bold and uniquely poignant theatrical work. Set in 1963 in sleepy Lake Charles, Louisiana, Caroline, or Change centers its action on the Gellman family and their African-American maid. Caroline is drifting through her life, nearly paralyzed by her circumstances - a single mother of four working in a service job to a white family. The thunder of the civil rights movement and John F. Kennedy's death is distant, yet reverberates deeply through the script, provoking all characters to see their lives in a new light and either embrace or reject the larger social changes that are in motion. Caroline herself ultimately must choose between continuing on as her "implacable" and proud self and her family's welfare. Does she, or doesn't she?

Arthur Miller's The Crucible has been called, "A powerful drama," By NY Times, "Strongly written," by NY Daily News, and comes to The Gallery Players' stage for the first time March 20-April 4th 2010. This exciting drama is both a gripping historical play and a timely parable. Based on historical people and real events, Miller's classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts, is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria. Written in 1953, The Crucible is a mirror that Miller uses to reflect the anti-Communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch-hunts" in the U.S.

The Gallery Players marks the final show of its 43rd season in Black and White and Technicolor with the 6-time Tony Award winner, City of Angels. City of Angels is two shows in one. It is the interweaving of two plots, one dealing with the writing of a screenplay in the legendary Hollywood of the '40's; the other, the enactment of that screenplay. The movie scenes appear in shades of black and white, and the real life scenes are in Technicolor. The show boasts two musical scores. One provides the cast with numbers to help reveal certain emotions or to celebrate particular moments in the way that only music can. The "other" score was written to emulate pure movie soundtrack music, 1940's vintage. It is entirely appropriate, then that the final curtain comes down on two happy endings. City of Angels boasts music by Music by Cy Coleman, Lyrics by David Zippel, and Book by Larry Gelbart and runs May 1-23, 2010.

Where can a playwright find an outlet? Where can an audience see new works? The Gallery Players provides both of these in The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival, June 10-27, 2010. Over the years of producing the Festival, we have developed works by countless playwrights, many of whom continue to work with The Gallery Players each year to incubate their new ideas. More than 300 plays have appeared in the Black Box New Play Festival since its inception and this year will bring even more writing and acting talent to the stage. Who knows what you'll discover in the Box?

In July 2010, The Gallery Players hosts The Peanut Gallery, A Musical Theater Summer Adventure Camp! Your kids can sing and dance on stage! Taught by professional theater artists, kids in Grades 1-6 create and perform an original show with songs from Broadway musicals...all in ONE WEEK! Call (718) 595-0547 x6 to request more information, or visit the "Opportunities" section at www.galleryplayers.com.

And don't forget Freestyle Rep's TheatreSports returns this fall, one Sunday a month at noon. An Improv Battle of Wits for the whole Family!

Tickets to all shows at The Gallery Players are just $18 for adults, $14 for Seniors & Children 12 and under. Individual tickets and subscriptions to The Gallery Players' 43rd season can be purchased by calling TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101, or online at www.galleryplayers.com. The Gallery Players is located at 199 14th St., between 4th and 5th Aves. in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Take the F Train to 4th Ave. or the R Train to 9th Street. By car: BQE to Hamilton Avenue to 14th Street.

A New York institution since 1967, The Gallery Players has served actors and audiences alike for more than 4 decades by showcasing burgeoning new talent and offering a home base for theater professionals. Its eclectic programming of intimate revivals and ambitious new work in inventive productions has earned it the reputation of "New York's Best Kept Secret." The Gallery Players is the recipient of the Off-Off Broadway Review's 2000 Award for Lifetime Achievement and was the recipient of New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical in both 2007 & 2008 for their productions of Urinetown! the musical and Yank! A New Musical. Among its famous alumni are founding member Harvey Fierstein; Broadway regulars Nancy Anderson, Jeffry Denman and Diedre Goodwin; New York theater personality Seth Rudetsky and many others.

www.galleryplayers.com

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