The Theatre Group at SBCC Announces 2017-18 Season

The Theatre Group at SBCC is excited to announce the 2017-2018 season of plays. We open the season July 14-29, 2017 in the Garvin Theatre with the sparkling musical, HIGH SOCIETY , music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Arthur Kopit, based on the play The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry.

Imagine that Philip Barry had written The Philadelphia Story, his classic 1939 romantic comedy, not as a play but a musical, with Cole Porter as his collaborator, and you have ... HIGH SOCIETY! It's not only the show's title but the show's first song, in which the Lord Family's amazing staff sets the scene (the Lord family lives on a waterfront estate in Oyster Bay now, not Philadelphia). Come join the Lords for a weekend of fun and games!

Next up, October 13-28, 2017 in the Garvin Theatre will be the Tony-nominated, hilarious comedy, ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS by Richard Bean, based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, with songs by Grant Olding.

From London to New York, both critics and audiences alike have laughed and cheered over this super smash hit. Set in the swinging '60s in Brighton, England, the story is pure fun from start to finish, complete with live music and even audience participation!

Francis, a failed musician with an insatiable appetite, finds himself in the employ of both the murderous Stanley Stubbers and the mysterious Roscoe Crabbe. But Roscoe is really Rachel Crabbe, posing as her own dead brother, herself in love with Stanley, her brother's killer. And that's just the beginning!! Throw in an old man with an unpredictable pacemaker, an arrogant actor, a host of other loony characters and a live band and you have an evening that will leave you laughing all the way home.

March 2-17, 2018 in the Garvin Theatre will be the comedy thriller COMMUNICATING DOORS by Alan Ayckbourn. This intricate, time traveling comic thriller by the British master of farcical comedy delighted London and New York audiences.

A London sex specialist from the future stumbles into a murder plot that sends her, compliments of a unique set of hotel doors, traveling back in time. She and two women who were murdered in 1998 and 1978 race back and forth in time trying to rewrite history and prevent their own violent ends. The frantic race begins when Poopay is hired for an evening at the Regal Hotel by an old man who eschews a fling in favor of confessing his role in the demise of his wives. Now a target, Poopay flees into the vestibule and somehow triggers the time machine.

"A real knockout...A vastly entertaining blend of the West End drawing room thriller with one of Priestley's old time plays, where characters go whirling throughout time. Of course, Ayckbourn has added innumerable piquant and bizarre details of his own...This is a show to see." - The New York Post

Our final production will be the winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, CRIMES OF THE HEART by Beth Henley. April 13-28, 2018 in the intimate Jurkowitz Theatre.

The scene is Hazlehurst, Mississippi, where the three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of the family patriarch, their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital. Lenny, the oldest sister, is unmarried at thirty and facing diminishing marital prospects; Meg, the middle sister, who quickly outgrew Hazlehurst, is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast; while Babe, the youngest, is out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach. The play is the story of how its young characters escape the past to seize the future-but the telling is so true and touching and consistently hilarious that it will linger in the mind long after the curtain has descended.

The SBCC Theatre Arts Department will present the Student Showcase IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, a live radio play, adapted by Joe Landry, November 8-18, 2017 in the Jurkowitz Theatre.

This beloved American holiday classic comes to captivating life as a live 1940's radio broadcast. With the help of an ensemble that brings a few dozen characters to the stage, the story of idealistic George Bailey unfolds as he considers ending his life one fateful Christmas Eve. Join our talented student actors for this showcase production.

Last year's subscribers have until May 22, 2017 to renew their subscriptions and get their same seats as last year. Subscribers get a substantial discount over single ticket prices and the best value of any Theatre company in the area. Single tickets will go on sale in June. Call 805-965-5935 for a free season brochure and information.

Pamela Lasker
Theatre ManagerThe Theatre Group at SBCClasker@sbcc.edu965-0581 ext. 2375