Central Square Theater Announces 2010-2011 Season, Opens 10/7

Crossing cultures and performance styles, Central Square Theater unveils its third and most dynamic season yet, featuring a World Premiere musical, a Haitian folktale by Derek Walcott, a beautiful trilogy about the Israel-Palestine conflict, and a classic by Eugene O'Neill.

In addition, Central Square Theater is offering two special presentations prior to the launch of its 2010-2011 season-the return of a hit one-woman show and a three-man farce based on a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

The Nora Theatre Company opens the season with a revival of Eugene O'Neill's enduring masterpiece, A Moon for the Misbegotten (October 7 - November 7, 2010). This poignant and uniquely funny play brings together two of O'Neill's most memorable characters-Josie Hogan, a tough-talking Irish immigrant, and Jim Tyrone, first introduced in the autobiographical Long Day's Journey Into Night-as their search for redemption weaves an unlikely and magnificent love story. The press performance is Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 2 PM.

Naomi Wallace offers a unique combination of lyrical theatricality and political passion in her new triptych, The Fever Chart: Three Visions of the Middle East (November 18 - December 19, 2010). An Israeli soldier encounters a mysterious Palestinian woman in the Rafah Zoo. A Palestinian father reveals to a young Israeli woman their shared history. A bookish Iraqi bird collector tells of his conscription into Saddam's army. Through magic realism and surprising humor, Underground Railway Theater's production reaches out like a prophecy, challenging us to envision peace during the holiday season. The press performance is Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 2 PM.

It's a battle between brain and brush in Terry Johnson's wild comedy Hysteria, or Fragments of an Analysis of an Obsessional Neurosis (January 6 - 30, 2011). Inspired by their real life meeting, intriguing questions arise when Salvador Dali arrives at Sigmund Freud's house for tea: What's with the morphine drip? Why is Freud haunted by one of his earliest cases? Will Dali ever get to paint Freud? And who is that naked woman??? All will be revealed in The Nora Theatre Company's production, under the direction of Associate Director Daniel Gidron. The press performance is Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 2 PM.

Underground Railway Theater and Boston Playwrights' Theatre bring Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott's powerful folk parable, Ti-Jean & His Brothers (February 10 - March 13, 2011), to Cambridge. A first time collaboration between the two companies, the production will be a celebration of Haitian art, music, and spirit. A Caribbean family is in crisis - three brothers are pulled into a dangerous game with the Devil in this fanciful, dark, and ultimately hopeful story of battling despair through fierce humor and love. The press performance is Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 2 PM.

Breaking the Code (April 7 - May 8, 2011), Hugh Whitemore's elegant and deeply moving play about brilliant British mathematician Alan Turing, reveals connections between his cracking of the Nazi's "unbreakable" Enigma Code and his refusal to live a closeted life. Turin embraced seeming contradiction: gay man and war hero, marathon runner and Disney film fan; he envisioned a "universal" machince" and set the stage for modern computer technology. Catalyst Collaborative@MIT, a science theater collaboration between Underground Railway Theater and MIT, enhances their production with post-show conversations with renowned scientists. The press performance is Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 2 PM.

The season will end in song as The Nora Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of Silver Spoon (May 19 - June 19, 2011), a new musical with book by Cambridge playwright Amy Merrill, and music and lyrics by popular songwriter and activist Si Kahn. Through toe-tapping folk numbers and rousing ballads, working-class Brooklyn and upper-crust Manhattan collide as two young lovers fight for justice and search for acceptance from their families, society, and each other. The press performance is Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 2 PM.

Special Mainstage Presentations:
Before the 2010-2011 season begins, audiences are invited to Central Square Theater for two very special preseason productions:

The game is afoot! Master sleuth Sherlock Holmes and trusty Dr. Watson will unlock the mystery of The Hound of the Baskervilles (July 22 - August 22, 2010) this summer at Central Square Theater, directed by Thomas Derrah of the American Repertory Theater. Featuring three actors taking on more than a dozen roles, this laugh-out-loud farce, by Steven Canny and John Nicholson, was a hit in both London and Lenox (Shakespeare & Company). Tickets are available to subscribers only for $25 through May 31; tickets go on sale to the general public for $40 on June 1. The press performance is Sunday, July 25, 2010 at 2 PM.

Following sold-out runs in New York and San Francisco as well as a critically acclaimed run at Central Square Theater last year, Catalyst Collaborative@MIT welcomes back Gioia De Cari's one-woman tour-de-force Truth Values: One Girl's Romp Through MIT's Male Math Maze (September 8 - 26, 2010). Nominated for Best Solo Performance of 2009 by the Independent Reviewers of New England and Outstanding Solo Show at the New York International Fringe Festival, Truth Values has been hailed by critics and audiences alike. Tickets are available to subscribers only for $25 through May 31; tickets go on sale to the general public for $40 on June 1. Press night is Thursday, September 9 at 7:30 PM.

This season, Central Square Theater offers two subscription packages with discounted tickets, parking, and other bonuses. In addition to being guaranteed a seat to the hottest tickets in town, subscribers enjoy free and easy exchanges, a complimentary beverage at each show and parking perks at the nearby University Garage. Prices are as follows: four-show subscription: $99 (regular $160); six-show subscription: $149 (regular $240).

Regularly priced single tickets for all 2010-2011 season performances are: $40 for adults, $30 for seniors, $25 for students, and $20 student rush, when available. The regular schedule for all performances is Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 PM, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, with matinees on Sundays at 2 PM. There will be a special schedule for The Fever Chart during Thanksgiving week; there will be no performances on Wednesday and Thursday, November 24 & 25, and there will be additional 2 PM matinees on Friday and Saturday, November 26 & 27. There will be no Wednesday evening performances on the following dates: November 3 (A Moon for the Misbegotten), December 8 (The Fever Chart), February 16, March 2 (Ti Jean & His Brothers) and April 13 (Breaking the Code).

Subscriptions are available now and single tickets go on sale June 1, 2010. Ordering can be done over the phone by calling 866-811-4111 or online through www.centralsquaretheater.org

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