Palo Alto Players Unveil New Logo & 85th Anniversary Season

Palo Alto Players held its third annual Season Announcement party on January 31, unveiling the shows for its 2015-16 season - as well as a new logo! Managing Director Diana Lynn Wiley and Artistic Director Patrick Klein worked with Joey McDaniel to create the new public face of Palo Alto Players. "Joey is a great friend of Palo Alto Players," said Wiley. "Audience members would recognize him from his role as Igor in last season's Young Frankenstein, and he's also playing Uncle Fester in our upcoming production of The Addams Family. We're happy to share another dimension of his wonderful artistry, and are so excited to be able to keep our logo redesign in the family."

During meetings with Wiley and Klein, as well as the Board of Directors, McDaniel wanted to showcase the fresh and energetic buzz building at Palo Alto Players. "We really wanted to bring a feeling of renewal and excitement to the new public face of Palo Alto Players," McDaniel explains. "The journey to the final design was filled with many meetings, dozens of different styles and color schemes, as well as some laughs and a bit of soul searching. The final design is intended to be modern and fresh, along with classic theatrical elements that are instantly recognizable. I mean, who doesn't love their name in lights? The star (located center stage, of course!) represents the company members who passionately dedicate their time and talents, and the new focus on the word 'players' emphasizes the bright and shining example that the Players continue to set for theatre in the Bay Area."

For Palo Alto Players' 85th season, we are proud to bring you a new season of first-rate theatre - Our Tony-est Season Yet! For our 2015-16 season, we have chosen a collection of shows highlighting the very best that Broadway has to offer, boasting a rare combination of unparalleled pedigree and audience adoration. Each of the five plays and musicals has won the Tony Award for Best Play or Musical - as well as numerous Drama Desk Awards, Olivier Awards, and Pulitzer Prizes! But beyond their many awards and accolades, these shows are beloved because they speak to the very heart of why we go to the theatre. These are comedies to make you laugh and think, dramas to make you cry and give you hope, and musicals brimming with show-stopping dance numbers to whimsical lyrics and heart-wrenching music. Whether you come to the theatre for tragic American heroes or giants in the sky, you'll find yourself at home this season with Palo Alto Players.

The five main stage productions are:

He had it coming...

CHICAGO

Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse

Music by John Kander

Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins

It's the roaring twenties, and everybody in Chicago is talking about the Merry Murderesses - a string of femme fatales on trial for murder, including vaudevillian Velma Kelly. Velma is scheming to parlay her newfound publicity into celebrity stardom, and hires the slickest lawyer in town to influence the tabloids and win an acquittal from a corrupt justice system that bows to trial-by-media. But when housewife and ambitious chorus girl Roxie Hart is arrested for murdering her lover, the press turns its flashbulbs on Roxie, who gets her first taste of fame and will do anything to keep herself on the front page. CHICAGO is a brilliant musical satire that dives headfirst into America's voyeuristic obsession with scandals and celebrity. Winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical (1997), CHICAGO brings you the razzle-dazzle music of vaudeville, show-stopping dance numbers - and all that jazz!

September 12 - 27, 2015 (preview September 11)

"A pulse racing [show] that flies us right into musical heaven." -The New York Times

A razor-sharp look at the pitfalls of race and real estate...

CLYBOURNE PARK

by Bruce Norris

Bruce Norris takes a feisty jab at race relations in this satirical spin-off of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. Through its two acts, CLYBOURNE PARK shows a Chicago neighborhood's evolution as two families move in, fifty years apart. Act One begins in 1959, as a black family moves into the all-white neighborhood, igniting fierce discussions about race and real estate. Act Two returns to the same house in 2009, but this time the neighborhood is becoming gentrified and the roles are reversed. Winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play, CLYBOURNE PARK is razor-sharp in its hilarity, full of smart writing about relatable characters who are just trying to navigate the housing market and survive the tricky waters of social politics.

November 7 - 22, 2015 (preview November 6)

"A savagely funny and insightful time bomb." -Hollywood Reporter

Attention must be paid...

DEATH OF A SALESMAN

by Arthur Miller

The landscape of American theater was forever changed in 1949, with the premiere of Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, 9 Drama Desk Awards, and a total of 13 Tony Awards, including Best Play, this masterpiece exposes the secrets, shattered dreams, and unfulfilled promises that lurk behind the white picket fence. Traveling salesman Willy Loman chases a phantom American dream, and struggles with the dashed hopes of his family's once-promising future. DEATH OF A SALESMAN is a poignant story of love, pride, disappointment, and friendship - attention must be paid.

January 16 - 31, 2016 (preview January 15)

"The current moment could hardly be more opportune for another wrenching rendezvous with Willy Loman, the American dreamer..." -The New York Times

Happily ever after sometimes isn't...

INTO THE WOODS

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by James Lapine

What do you do when the one thing you want is the only thing out of your reach? Go to the woods! INTO THE WOODS, the everlasting musical from Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, brings your favorite fairytales together in a Brothers Grimm mash-up that looks past "happily ever after", revealing the messy complications of life in an avalanche of bad deeds, disappointment, adultery, and death. Winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Book of a Musical (1988), Best Original Score (1988), and Best Revival of a Musical (2002), INTO THE WOODS builds on the magic of these classic fairytales, creating a beautiful story of what's right, what's good, and the tales we tell our children.

April 23 - May 8, 2016 (preview April 22)

"A wonderful muddle of Grimm fairy tales...extraordinary music and lyrics, subtle yet enormously complex." -L.A. Times

When Chekhov gets thrown into a blender...

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

by Christopher Durang

Comedy master Christopher Durang blends classic Chekhov themes with a modern flair for indulgent melancholy into comic mayhem in VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE. Vanya and his step-sister Sonia have their quiet country life upended with a surprise weekend visit from their movie star sister, Masha - who brings along her twenty-something (and frequently shirtless!) boy-toy, Spike. Insecurity and resentment set in as sibling rivalry takes over, and the entire household is thrown into uproarious chaos. Winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play, VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE is a rare comedy force, full of absurdist twists and pure hilarity.

June 11 - 26, 2016 (preview June 10)

"A ton of fun even if you can't tell your Seagull from your Uncle Vanya...This is the kind of full-on comedy that's sadly rare on Broadway." -NY Post

For information or to purchase season tickets, please call Palo Alto Players' Box Office at 650.329.0891 or visit www.paplayers.org. Season subscriptions are as little as $130 through May 10, 2015, and include all five productions. Starting May 11, 2015, season subscription prices increase slightly. Subscribers save significantly over regular ticket prices and enjoy subscriber benefits including priority seating, free ticket exchanges, show reminders, and the ability to purchase extra tickets to shows at a discount.

All performances in Palo Alto Players' 85th Season (2015-16) are produced at the Lucie Stern Theater in cooperation with the City of Palo Alto. The Lucie Stern Theater is located at 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto, CA. Use of this facility is made possible through support from The City of Palo Alto, Community Services Department, Division of Arts and Sciences, and from our patrons.

About Palo Alto Players:

Founded in 1931, Palo Alto Players is the San Francisco Peninsula's first theatre company. Based at the Lucie Stern Theater, built explicitly for the Players in 1933, Palo Alto Players produces a season of comedies, dramas, classics, and musicals from September to June. Audiences and participants come from all over the Bay Area to be a part of Palo Alto Players' productions. Palo Alto Players is committed to providing a meaningful theatre experience for both audience and production participants. Intrinsic in this is the belief that theatre benefits the community-at-large and enhances the quality of life of those who are touched by it through education, enlightenment, and enrichment. Palo Alto Players is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established for public benefit.

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