Rep Stage Offers Dickens, 'HAMLET' & More in 2009-10 Season Lineup

Charles Dickens, Hamlet, Sigmund Freud, Salvador Dali and three time-traveling Victorian ladies will be brought to life during Rep Stage's 2009-10 season lineup, announced today by Producing Artistic Director Michael Stebbins. 

Opening with David Davalos' "Wittenberg," Rep Stage's 17th season will feature Tennesse Williams' classic "The Glass Menagerie"; an Edward Albee play directed by Helen Hayes Award-winning director Kasi Campbell; a unique Dickens-esque holiday offering at Belmont Manor and much more.  In additional to regular season extras like pay-what-you-can Wednesdays, pre-show lectures, post-show discussions and the Rep Stage Reading Series, Rep Stage will offer a 15 percent discount on single ticket prices when patrons subscribe to three or more shows. For more information on the 2009-10 season, as well as "God's Ear," the closing production of Rep Stage's 2008-09 season - now playing through April 26 - visit www.repstage.org or call the Box Office at 410-772-4900.

"The 2009-10 season highlights works of literary and historical imagination marked by both humor and intelligence," says Michael Stebbins.

Lisa Wilde, Rep Stage's dramaturg and literary manager, adds, "the playwrights use wit and poetic language to explore the far reaches of Terra Incognita, whether in the Himalayas, medievAl Wittenberg,  or in the complex and sometimes uncharted intricacies of the human psyche and heart. Along the way, audiences are reacquainted with the familiar characters of Faustus, Hamlet, Martin Luther, Sigmund Freud, Charles Dickens, and Salvador Dali in unexpected combinations and settings."

Rep Stage's 2009-10 season includes:

"Wittenberg"
August 26, 2009 - September 13, 2009
By David Davalos
Directed by Tony Tsendeas
Smith Theatre
 
The story behind the story of Hamlet is an entertaining exploration of reason versus faith, featuring Dr. Faustus in a hilarious battle of wits with Martin Luther as they struggle for the soul of the Prince of Denmark - a youth wrestling with his beliefs as well as his tennis game! "Wittenberg" features Producing Artistic Director Michael Stebbins as Martin Luther and Michael Feldsher as Hamlet.
 
Mr. Tsendeas makes his Rep Stage directing debut.  Previous directing credits include "Macbeth," "Othello," "Julius Caesar" and the parody "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" (Baltimore Shakespeare Festival). An accomplished actor and voice over artist, Mr. Tsendeas is a member of the theater faculty of The Baltimore School for the Arts.
 
"Hysteria"
October 7, 2009 - November 1, 2009
By Terry Johnson
Directed by Steven Carpenter
Studio Theatre
 
In this regional premiere, all hell breaks loose when Sigmund Freud's final days battling cancer are interrupted by Salvador Dali and an attractive young student in this rollicking farce that bares Freud's own troubled psyche. The cast includes Helen Hayes award-winning actor Bruce Nelson as Salvador Dali, as well as Jeff Baker, Conrad Feininger and Sunshine Cappelletti.
 
Steven Carpenter directed Rep Stage's critically acclaimed productions of "Mrs. Farnsworth" and "Trumbo: Red, White and Blacklisted."

"A Dickens of a Carol" *
December 1 - 20, 2009
By Kimberley Lynne
Directed by Michael Stebbins
 
With a twist on Charles Dickens' classic, "A Christmas Carol," Rep Stage presents a three-act combination theatrical/dining experience in the historic Belmont Manor-an 18th century colonial mansion in Elkridge, Maryland built by the Dorsey family.
 
The audience is transported back to 1843 as "Dickens" entertains with live period music and storytelling over drinks and appetizers in the ballroom, before moving to the dining room to enjoy Act Two - a candlelit dinner of holiday fare prepared by Belmont's award-winning chef.
 
* "A Dickens of a Carol" is considered an "add-on" and is not part of the regular Rep Stage season.
 
"The Glass Menagerie"
February 3, 2010 - February 28, 2010
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Michael Stebbins
Studio Theatre
 
This delicate yet profound story of love, loss, yearning, illusion and escape continues to fascinate audiences six decades after its premiere. You will remember the Wingfields and The Gentleman Caller long after the lights have come down. Mr. Stebbins' Rep Stage directing credits include "A Moon for the Misbegotten" and "The Santaland Diaries."
 
"On the Verge or The Geography of Yearning"
April 14, 2010 - May 2, 2010
By Eric Overmyer
Directed by Jackson Phippin
Smith Theatre
 
Three Victorian ladies time-travel through the Terra Incognita of man's recent recognizable universe in Overmyer's comedic adventure filled with cultural references, wordplay, and looming possibilities. As one traveler says, "I have seen the future and it is slang."
 
Jackson Phippin's regional directing highlights include productions at Baltimore's Center Stage, Dallas Theatre Center and Cincinnati Playhouse. At Rep Stage, Phippin has directed "T-Bone n' Weasel" and "Fool for Love."
 
"The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?"
June 2, 2010 - June 27, 2010
By Edward Albee
Directed by Kasi Campbell
Studio Theatre
 
As Martin turns 50, his libido takes a confounding turn in Pulitizer Prize-winner Edward Albee's outrageously funny confrontation between irrational rapture and the status quo, and the boundaries of passion and appetite.
 
Kasi Campbell is a Helen Hayes Award-winning director, whose recent Rep Stage directing credits include "God's Ear," "In the Heart of America," "Bach at Leipzig" and "Hamlet."