Hartford Stage Announces 2011-2012 MainStage Season, Runs 9/1-6/3/12

Classic plays, compelling voices, and delightful comedies will transport audiences this season as they experience the 48th season of the Tony Award-winning Hartford Stage. Managing Director Michael Stotts and outgoing Artistic Director Michael Wilson announced the season today. The 2011-2012 subscription season runs from September 1, 2011 to June 3, 2012.

The MainStage season will open next fall with Arthur Miller's Tony Award-winning drama The Crucible, directed by Long Wharf Theatre Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein. The Crucible will be followed by the world premiere of Water by the Spoonful by Tony Award nominee Quiara Alegria Hudes (In the Heights), originally commissioned and developed during her 2008-2009 Aetna New Voices Residency at Hartford Stage. The production will be directed by Davis McCallum in his MainStage debut. 2012 gets off to a high-flying start with the Tony Award-winning comedy Boeing Boeing directed by Maxwell Williams (The 39 Steps), followed by a production to be announced later this spring. John Van Druten's bewitching romantic comedy, Bell, Book, and Candle continues the season. Directed by Darko Tresnjak, the production is based on his highly-acclaimed staging of the play at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre. The season will conclude with a production that will be selected by our new artistic director.

Managing Director Michael Stotts states, "Our 2011-2012 season celebrates classic stories and fresh voices, from Arthur Miller's timeless The Crucible, to the exciting young talent of Quiara Hudes' engrossing Water by the Spoonful, to the charm of John Van Druten's Bell, Book, and Candle. I am particularly excited to look back and celebrate Michael Wilson's tenure and talents with this final season he has selected; I'm equally excited to be partnering with a new Artistic Director to take Hartford Stage into its second half-century of artistic accomplishment."

In addition to the MainStage season subscription series, Hartford Stage offers a refreshing SummerStage line-up of musical enjoyment that includes Doug Elkins' jubilant Fraulein Maria, and, direct from the Kennedy Center, the Penumbra Theatre Company's production of the Nat King Cole musical event I Wish You Love. The holiday season brings the 14th annual production of a Connecticut's favorite yuletide tradition, the crowd-pleasing A Christmas Carol, seen by more than a quarter million people during its unprecedented run at Hartford Stage. Tickets for A Christmas Carol are on sale now to subscribers and will be available to the general public this summer.

Subscription packages to Hartford Stage's 2011-2012 season are on sale now. Single tickets to individual productions will go on sale to the general public this summer and start at just $72 for a three-play package. To purchase a subscription or to receive more information, call the Hartford Stage Box Office at 860-527-5151, or visit our website at www.hartfordstage.org. Groups of 10 or more may receive discounts; call the box office for further information.

SummerStage 2011

Doug Elkins' and Friends'
FRAULEIN MARIA
Conceived and choreographed by Doug Elkins
Directed by Barbara Karger and Michael Preston
June 15 - 26, 2011
Press night: June 15 at 7:30

Fräulein Maria is Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music as re-imagined by the playful spirit of acclaimed choreographer Doug Elkins. Fräulein Maria began as a love letter to Elkins' children and is now a bona fide family tradition as well as a gender bending, tour-de-force comedy. Set to the 1965 movie soundtrack, Elkins' affectionate humor shines through his idiomatic tips of the hat to such dance legends as Martha Graham, Paul Taylor and Merce Cunningham. He seamlessly merges modern and popular dance forms including hip-hop and "vogueing," reinventing this beloved classic into an edgy and fun cabaret romp. The New York Times calls Fräulein Maria "A mini-masterpiece, melding every kind of dance technique you can think of. Makes breakdancing and ballet look like obvious bedfellows." The New Yorker raves, "Each dance is a jewel of choreographic invention and comic subtlety."

Penumbra Theatre Company's production of
I WISH YOU LOVE
By Dominic Taylor
Directed by Lou Bellamy
July 6 - 24, 2011
Press night: July 6 at 7:30

On television and radio, 1957 America was entertained by the sweet sounds and warm personality of Nat "King" Cole. His carefully manicured image distracted an entire generation of white viewers from the reality of racial violence raging in the streets. Still, he believed that with enough talent and persistence he could be valued for the strength of his character as opposed to the color of his skin. But as storm clouds gathered on the horizon, trouble brewed in the studio where Nat "King" Cole was trying to live his dream. Originally produced with the assistance of the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays.

MainStage 2011

THE CRUCIBLE
By Arthur Miller
Directed by Gordon Edelstein
September 1 - 25, 2011
Press night: September 7 at 7:30

Presented for the first time at Hartford Stage, Arthur Miller's gripping drama of a community stirred into madness by superstition, paranoia and malice is a savage attack on the evils of mindless persecution and the terrifying power of false accusations. At first, the idea that Goodie Proctor is a witch is only an absurd rumor, but the accusations of mischievous girls gradually take possession of Salem, and good people of pious nature are condemning other good people to the gallows. Winner of the 1953 Tony Award for Best Play.

WATER BY THE SPOONFUL
By Quiara Alegria Hudes
Directed by Davis McCallum
October 20 - November 13, 2011
Press night: October 26 at 7:30

Somewhere in Philadelphia, Elliot has returned from Iraq and is struggling to find his place in the world again and put aside the demons that haunt him. Somewhere in a chat room, recovering addicts forge an unbreakable bond of support and love. The boundaries of love, family and community are stretched across, time, generations and cyberspace as birth families splinter and online families collide in this captivating new drama.
Pulitzer Prize-finalist and Tony Award-nominated author of the book for In the Heights as well as the upcoming adaptation of Like Water for Chocolate, Quiara Alegría Hudes was the 2008-2009 Aetna New Voices Fellow at Hartford Stage.

The 14th Annual Holiday Tradition

A CHRISTMAS CAROL - A GHOST STORY OF CHRISTMAS
By Charles Dickens
Adapted and directed by Michael Wilson
November 25 - December 30, 2011

Since its arrival in 1998, Hartford Stage's A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story of Christmas has delighted over a quarter-million theatregoers ages 8 to 108, establishing it as Connecticut's #1 holiday show. This Victorian holiday classic continues to provide heartwarming family memories and spooky frights over 160 years after Charles Dickens introduced Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Snow falls, carols are sung and flying ghosts once again take to the air, soaring through a London sky, teaching stingy Scrooge a valuable lesson and reminding us all of the true spirit of the holiday season.

MainStage 2012

BOEING BOEING
By Marc Camoletti
Translated by Beverly Cross and Francis Evans
Directed by Maxwell Williams
January 12 - February 5, 2012
Press night: January 18 at 7:30

The high-flying, Tony Award-winning comedy that had London and Broadway audiences airborne with laughter is taking off at Hartford Stage. Bernard, a successful American architect living in a posh Paris apartment, has been deftly juggling three fiancées who are all flight attendants. But, this supersonic lifestyle hits turbulence when his old college friend visits and each of his three fiancées change their flight schedule. Boeing Boeing is called "the funniest play to hit Broadway in ages" (Wall Street Journal), and "pure pleasure and unconditional bliss" (New York Times). Fasten your seat belt for a roaring ride that will take you up, up and away.

TO BE ANNOUNCED
February 23 - March 18, 2012
Press night: February 29 at 7:30
Another exciting title will be announced later this spring as the fourth MainStage production of 2011 - 2012.

BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE
By John Van Druten
Directed by Darko Tresnjak
April 5 - 29, 2012
Press night: April 11 at 7:30

Gillian is a smart and sultry witch who decides to cast a love spell on her upstairs neighbor. Shep is totally bewitched, and falls deeply in love. She finds out that love is potent magic indeed: she, too, falls under its spell-but at the cost of her powers. Needless to say, the course of true love does not run smoothly as Gillian deals with the hilarious consequences of her new situation with the supernatural assistance of her eccentric aunt and beatnik warlock brother.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR'S CHOICE
May 10 - June 3, 2012
Press night: May 16 at 7:30

Who will be the next Artistic Leader of Hartford Stage? The Artistic Director shapes the vision, selects our productions, leads the company and brings inspired, new ideas to our community. Experience the new face, the new vision and new artistic direction for your theatre, when our new Artistic Director makes his/her Hartford Stage debut. The Artistic Director's Choice will be unveiled in the coming months, but you'll want to get your seats now for this highly anticipated production.

Hartford Stage's 50 Church Street theatre has wheelchair accessible seating, assistive listening devices, open captioned performances, and other amenities. For more information, please call the box office at 860-527-5151. Hartford Stage is located at 50 Church Street in downtown Hartford with parking located in the MAT Garage, directly adjacent to the theatre. The theatre is easily accessible from I-84 and I-91.

 

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