GROUNDED, A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, BAD JEWS and More Set for Season 21 at Mad Cow Theatre

Voyages of discovery - of places and people, of others and of self - will captivate, entertain and transform audiences in Mad Cow Theatre's Season 21, which downtown Orlando's resident professional theatre company will open Sept. 22, 2017 in Mad Cow's home at 54 W. Church St., Orlando.

From contemporary writers such as Lauren Gunderson and George Brant to classic playwrights such as Arthur Miller and Lillian Hellman, Season 21 will be bursting at the seams with America's most dynamic and diverse voices, all celebrating theatre, the actor and the word.

Mad Cow Theatre will open Season 21 in the Harriett with the beloved musical Big River, based on Mark Twain's classic American novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. With music and lyrics by Roger Miller and a book by William Hauptman, Big River follows the boy ne'er-do-well Huck and the runaway slave Jim down the Mississippi and through a splendid musical celebration of pure Americana.

Starting Season 21 in the Zehngebot-Stonerock Black Box will be award-winning playwright George Brant's Grounded, a drama about an ace pilot who fights by day and serves as wife and mother by night. First produced at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 and at New York's Public Theatre two years later, Grounded has been called "as close to perfection as is possible to imagine" and "an essential story for our times."

Next up in the Harriett will be a 1940s change of pace: Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday, the screwball comedy with a biting commentary on politics and the power of female persuasion. And following Born Yesterday will be another show with a newer but equally funny take on the female psyche: Charles Busch's "window-rattling comedy" The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, about a woman whose midlife crisis spikes when a fascinating childhood friend appears on her doorstep.

Winter in the Zehngebot-Stonerick will see Lauren Gunderson's Silent Sky, a drama about extraordinary women exploring the universe, by the acclaimed writer of I and You (Mad Cow's Season 18). The San Francisco Chronicle described Silent Sky as "sheer magic," while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called it "heavenly."

Soon after, in the Harriett, will be Arthur Miller's classic drama A View From the Bridge, the searing drama in which a love affair set in working-class Brooklyn exposes a dark family secret. And next in the Harriett will be a welcome surprise - a ground-breaking Broadway musical, the winner of five Tony Awards, whose title will be announced just in time for Christmas.

Coming up next summer, Joshua Harmon's savage comedy Bad Jews will take the Zehngebot-Stonerock stage - a biting story about family, faith and legacy. Lillian Hellman's classic drama about secrets and lies in a Southern family, The Little Foxes, will close the season in the Harriett, while Jonathan Tolins' outrageous comedy Buyer & Cellar - in which a man takes the oddest of odd jobs with a certain larger-than-life superstar and learns more than a little about the price of fame - will wind up Season 21 in the Zehngebot-Stonerock.

"Mad Cow Theatre's 2016 - 2017 season will feature productions by some of the most creative theatre artists in the country," said executive director MiTzi Maxwell. "The stories we will tell are fresh and diverse, courageous and inspiring. We look forward to bringing our audiences theatrical adventures right from Mad Cow's heart."

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Here are the full lineup of plays and their dates:

Big River Sept. 22-Oct. 22, 2017
Grounded Oct. 20-Nov. 19, 2017
Born Yesterday Nov. 17-Dec. 17, 2017
The Tale of the Allergist's Wife Jan. 19-Feb. 18, 2018
Silent Sky Feb. 16 -March 18, 2018
A View From the Bridge March 23-April 22, 2018
TBA June 1-July 1, 2018
Bad Jews June 15-July 8, 2018
The Little Foxes Aug. 3-26, 2018
Buyer & Cellar Aug. 10-Sept. 2, 2018

Subscriptions for Season 21 are $150 - $400. They are available online or by calling 407-297-8788 Ext. 1.

Information about annual events such as the Orlando Cabaret Festival, Science Plat Festival, and Teatro Español will be announced at a later date.

The theatre is located on the second floor at 54 West Church Street, Orlando, FL 32801
Our mailing address is P.O. Box 3109, Orlando, FL 32802.

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Mad Cow Theatre is a 501(c)(3) arts organization funded by the State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs; United Arts of Central Florida; the Downtown Development Board; the Florida Theatrical Association; Orange County government through the Arts & Cultural Affairs program, and members of the Central Florida community just like you.

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