HAIRSPRAY, VIBRATOR PLAY et al. Play San Diego Rep in '10-'11

SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE is thrilled to announce the 2010 -2011 Season, an exciting lineup of multicultural works that exemplify the REP's mission to produce intimate, exotic, provocative theatre.

"For the first time in over a decade, our new season begins with a big, fun summer musical extravaganza - the California regional premier of HAIRSPRAY," said San Diego REP Aristic Director, SAM WOODHOUSE. "With over 40 performers onstage, we plan on raising the roof of the Lyceum. The season continues with two recent Broadway hits from two of America's most lauded contemporary playwrights - Sarah Ruhl and Tracey Letts. For the holidays we are thrilled to put onstage the soul and fire of the New Orleans jazz world of 1917. In the spring of 2011 we will bring back to San Diego one of the most lauded plays by the great South African playwright Athol Fugard."

San Diego REP's 35th Anniversary Season will open July 2010 with the big fat gorgeous musical comedy HAIRSPRAY, winner of 33 Tony®, Olivier and Drama Desk Awards. Next, the REP serves up SUPERIOR DONUTS, Broadway's unforgettable comedy about a failing doughnut shop owner and his high-spirited employee. After that, The Lyceum Theatre will be transformed into the red light district of New Orleans during the early days of Jazz in the musical STORYVILLE. Undiscovered beauty is revealed during THE ROAD TO MECCA, the inspirational story of a lonely artist living in South Africa. Sarah Ruhl's new play IN THE NEXT ROOM (Or The Vibrator Play) takes audiences on an invigorating journey to the Victorian era, when women were treated for hysteria with electronically operated vibrators. The sixth and final play of the season will be announced later.

HAIRSPRAY

July 17, 2010 - August 5, 2010

Opening Night: Friday, July 23, 2010 at 8pm

The Lyceum Stage

You can't stop the beat! This summer, SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE will be partnering with SAN DIEGO SCHOOL OF CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS to present Southern California's first regional production of the hit musical comedy HAIRSPRAY. Directed by San Diego REP Artistic Director SAM WOODHOUSE with assistance from SCPA's Artistic Director RICHARD TRUJILLO, the REP's presentation of HAIRSPRAY will mark the first time the musical has been produced as a regional theatre production in Sothern California. SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE's partnership with SCPA also marks the first local collaboration of its kind that teams up a local professional theatre with a performing arts high school. HAIRSPRAY features music by MARC SHAIMAN, with lyrics by SCOTT WITTMAN and a book by MARK O'DONNELL and THOMAS MEEHAN.

The Story

It's 1962 in Baltimore. The 50's are gone and change is in the air. Tracy Turnblad is a spunky young teenager who has one goal-to win the hearts of millions with her big hair and larger-than-life dance moves. She comes one step closer to becoming a big star when she wins a spot on the local TV dance program, "The Corny Collins Show." Overnight, Tracy is transformed from outsider to teen celebrity. But can a trendsetter in dance and fashion vanquish the TV show's reigning princess, win over heartthrob Link Larkin, and integrate a television show without denting her spectacular 'do? Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, Tracy Turnblad's campaign for integration embraces the significant themes of equality, personal image, and learning to love the person you are.

Based on John Waters' cult film of 1988, HAIRSPRAY is clearly a stage triumph-winner of an astonishing 33 Tony®, Olivier and Drama Desk Awards, including those for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score and Best Lyrics.

SUPERIOR DONUTS

September - October, 2010

The Lyceum Space

Hot off the Broadway stage, SUPERIOR DONUTS is a hilarious and touching new comedy from TRACEY LETTS, the Pultizer Prize and Tony Award® -winning author of August: Osage County. In a delightful departure from his often dark and searing dramas, Letts has written a love letter to his hometown of Chicago - a comedy that celebrates the diversity of the contemporary American city and a hopeful story of a young African-American man getting his first taste of what is possible in America. SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE's production of SUPERIOR DONUTS will be directed by REP Artistic Director SAM WOODHOUSE.

The Story

Pony-tailed, ex 60's radical and former draft dodger, Arthur Przybyszewski is the owner of a run-down doughnut shop "on the wrong side of the tracks" in urban Chicago. His florescent-lit shop features charming but greasy tables and a long counter begging for someone to sit and buy a doughnut. The shop gets vandalized and the local beat cops have no idea who would mess with Arthur's domain. Worn out, Arthur fears Superior Donuts will be destined to close its doors forever, when a live wire bursts onto the scene. He is the young black teen, Franco Wicks, with his Great American novel tucked under his arm. Franco convinces Arthur to hire him as an assistant, promising to transform the funky environs into a must-visit stop for hipsters seeking coffee, sweets, live music and poetry slams. The growing bond between them is the heart of a tale about two very different men with extraordinary potential whose choices in life will cost them big time. Their story is full of big laughs and even bigger emotional stakes when a shocking turn of events threatens to destroy their unique bond.

STORYVILLE

November 13 - December 12, 2010

Opening Night: Friday, November 19, 2010 at 8pm

The Lyceum Stage

From the award-winning playwright ED BULLINS, STORYVILLE transports audiences to the red light district of New Orleans in 1917 - right in the middle of Mardi Gras!

From the opening street parade down the aisles of the Lyceum to the soaring climax on the tracks of the infamous Basin Street Railway Station, this soulful jazz musical will have audiences dancing in their seats. SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE's production of STORYVILLE will be revised and directed by Broadway veteran KEN PAGE, an original cast member of the award winning companies of Ain't Misbehavin' and Cats. With music and lyrics by MILDRED KAYDEN, this' musical will feature a cast of 21 electric singers and dancers and a live seven-piece band. Set in the bawdy "Mulligan's Saloon and Cabaret Club." STORYVILLE will ignite the stage with music duels between two kings of the jazz trumpet and sizzling dance numbers.

The Story

Butch Cobra Brown, a former prizefighter with trumpet in hand, arrives in New Orleans to join the musical renaissance. The star of the cabaret scene is torch singer Tigre Savoy, a single mom on the verge of a soaring musical career. Butch and Tigre might become lovers, but the political machine has its own plan for their futures. Butch is forced into a high-stakes boxing match that leads to a street brawl. The Department of the Navy shuts down Storyville forever, forcing the musicians, their culture and their music to roll north up the river, spreading the new sound and energy of jazz music across the heart of American culture.

THE ROAD TO MECCA

January - March, 2011

The Lyceum Space

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder during THE ROAD TO MECCA, a moving play about a secluded artist living in South Africa by Tony Award® winning-playwright ATHOL FUGARD. The New Yorker called Fugard "a rare playwright, who could be a primary candidate for either the Nobel Prize in Literature or the Nobel Peace Prize." Directed by San Diego REP Artistic Director TODD SALOVEY, THE ROAD TO MECCA paints a fascinating portrait of Miss Helen, a widow living in the isolated village of New Bethesda in South Africa. Winner of a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play, this beautiful story about love and friendship was inspired by Helen Martins, the artist who created the immaculately decorated "Owl House."

The Story

Helen, a reclusive widow, has created her own "Mecca"- meticulously decorating her home and front yard with a cacophony of mystical candles, mermaids, wisemen, peacocks and pyramids. The neighbors can't stop wondering ‘Why?'

A young teacher who reveres Helen arrives on a surprise visit with a secret agenda. Helen's clergyman knocks on the door with a plan to get Helen to sign away her home (and her freedom). The trio's clash becomes a drama of stubborn desire, big ideas and even bigger emotion: a battle between the individualistic/eccentric artist, the radical young woman who adores her, and the Afrikaner churchman who both loves and misunderstands the artist in Helen. The stage is flooded with crystalline light as two women learn to trust themselves and each other during this inspirational play.

"Fugard's wisest, most balanced and most nearly universal play."

-Time

IN THE NEXT ROOM (Or The Vibrator Play)

March 19 - April 17, 2011

Opening Night: Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 8pm

The Lyceum Stage

Find out what the buzz is about! SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE proudly presents IN THE NEXT ROOM (Or The Vibrator Play), a provocative play about love, intimacy and electricity by SARAH RUHL, author of the Pulitzer Prize nominee and REP favorite The Clean House. Ruhl's new work is a sex comedy for adults with open hearts and minds. Critics raved when it opened on Broadway at the Lincoln Center Theatre last fall, calling it "inspired and brilliant"(The New Yorker) and "shamelessly entertaining!"(New York Magazine). Directed by SAM WOODHOUSE, San Diego REP's production of IN THE NEXT ROOM lovingly invites audiences to explore the conundrums of intimacy, equality, marriage, motherhood and sensory experience.

The Story

Inspired by historical fact, the play is set in Victorian America when middle-class morality proclaimed women didn't enjoy sex and a wide range of "female problems" were classified as hysteria. In an upstate New York spa town, just after Thomas Edison's discovery of electricity, a gynecologist treats these problems in his home office through the use of a newly designed (and effective!) electric vibrator. But the well-meaning doctor is aware he has much to learn about women, particularly his wife...and he freely admits, "What men do not perceive because their intellect prevents them from seeing would fill a book."

The seven smart characters are each on their own spirited quest for new possibilities and happiness, immersed in the mysteries of gender and the politics of desire. Ruhl's play is about sexuality (most of it happens under a sheet), but it is neither a dirty joke or campy pornography - she is much more concerned with what women want.

"Provocative, funny, sensual and surprisingly romantic." -Associated Press

"She makes sweet and smart comic music out of the most unlikeliest of subjects."

-The New York Times
The REP's box office is open Tuesday through Sunday from 12pm-6pm on non-performance days and 12pm until curtain on performance days. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets at a discounted rate. For more information, please see our website at www.sdrep.org.

Six-Play subscriptions are priced from $129 for seniors and military to $282. The REP offers subscribers an extensive package of benefits, including discount prices, free ticket exchange privileges; discounts on individual tickets; and discounts at local restaurants. Premier seating also offers an additional voucher for a friend and free drink coupons for the season.

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