WaterTower Theatre Features SPRING AWAKENING, ANNE FRANK, et al. in 2011-12 Season

WaterTower Theatre Producing Artistic Director Terry Martin today announced the Company's 2011-2012 Main Stage season at a special VIP Sneak Preview held at the Addison Theatre Centre. The season opens with the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening (September 30 - October 30, 2011) followed by the return of the popular holiday show Rockin' Christmas Party (November 26 - December 18, 2011, underwritten by Frost Bank). The season continues in early January with The Diary of Anne Frank (January 6 - February 5, 2012), the Tony Award-winning play August: Osage County (March 30 - April 29, 2012), Boeing-Boeing (May 25 - June24, 2012) and Smokey Joe's Café (July 20 - August 19, 2012). The annual Out of the Loop Fringe Festival will be held March 1 - 11, 2012. All productions will be staged at the Addison Theatre Centre at 15650 Addison Road, Addison, Texas 75001.

Terry Martin will direct Spring Awakening, The Diary of Anne Frank and Smokey Joe's Café. René Moreno will direct August: Osage County, Amy Anders Corcoran will direct Rockin' Christmas Party and Robin Armstrong will direct Boeing-Boeing.

Spring Awakening

Music by Duncan Sheik
Book and Lyrics Steven Sater
Based on the play by Frank Wedekind
Directed by Terry Martin

This rock musical adaptation of an 1891 German play is set against the backdrop of a progressive and provincial late 19th century Germany. Spring Awakening tells the timeless story of teenage self-discovery and budding sexuality through the eyes of three teenagers. Haunting and provocative, Spring Awakening celebrates an unforgettable journey from youth to adulthood. The musical won multiple Tony Awards (8 awards including Best Musical).

German playwright Frank Wedekind's 1891 play of the same name was so shocking for its era that when it opened in New York 26 years later, it took a Supreme Court injunction to allow the show to go on, and only then for a single performance before closing.

Spring Awakening has been called "the best musical of a generation" (NY Observer). Adapted from Wedekind's play, with a score by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, book by Steven Sater, the musical depicts how a dozen young people make their way through the thrilling, complicated, confusing and mysterious time of their sexual awakening.

The musical includes mature themes and adult language.

The Diary of Anne Frank

Adapted by Wendy Kesselman
Based on the original play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
Based upon the book Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Directed by Terry Martin

The Wendy Kesselman adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett received two Tony Award nominations in 1999 including Best Play.

More than one million children perished in the World War II Holocaust. Anne Frank was one of those children. The play is based on the classic work of nonfiction Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. The play tells the true story of the remarkable spirit of a young girl who lived and perished during a time when difference was not tolerated by Adolf Hitler, and when some people risked their own lives to help others like Anne Frank and her family.

August: Osage County

Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by René Moreno

August: Osage County is a grand, gripping play which tells the story of the Weston's, a large extended clan that comes together at their rural Oklahoma homestead when the alcoholic patriarch disappears. Forced to confront unspoken truths and astonishing secrets, the family must also contend with Violet, a pill-popping, deeply unsettled woman at the center of this storm. August: Osage County was the winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play.

Tracy Letts is the author of Killer Joe, Bug, and Man from Nebraska, which was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His plays have been performed throughout the country and internationally. A performer as well as a playwright, Letts is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company where August: Osage County premiered.

Boeing-Boeing

Written by Marc Camoletti
Directed by Robin Armstrong

This hilarious 1960's romp, immortalized by Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis on film, has a handsome bachelor juggling three international flight attendant fiancées.
In the comedy, an architect living in Paris has been successfully juggling three flight attendant fiancées with his housekeeper reluctantly playing romantic air-traffic controller as they fly in and out of his swank bachelor pad. But when an old school pal visits, things get rather turbulent. Schedules change, flights are delayed and chaos ensues in this whirl of mayhem and matchmaking.

This classic farce was written in the 1960's by French playwright Marc Camoletti. An English translation became a smash hit in London's West End, and a recent Broadway revival brought it to the attention of an American audience. Boeing-Boeing won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Play Revival and Drama Desk Award for Best Play Revival.

Smokey Joe's Café

Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Directed by Terry Martin

Leiber and Stoller, as much as anyone, virtually invented rock n' roll, and their songs provide the basis for a musical that illuminates the golden age of American culture. In an idealized 50's setting, the classic themes of love won, lost and imagined blend with slices-of-life emotions featuring some of the greatest songs ever recorded. These songs include "Hound Dog," "Love Potion #9," "Jailhouse Rock," and "Yakety Yak." Smokey Joe's Café was conceived by Stephen Helper, Jack Viertel, and Otis Sallid. Presented in a revue format with no unifying theme, it showcases 39 songs, sung by members of the cast in various combinations, with no dialogue.

Smokey Joe's Café is an ensemble musical that won a Grammy Award for Best Musical and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Rockin' Christmas Party
Production undewritten by Frost Bank

Written by Dave Steakley
Directed by Amy Anders Corcoran

Addison's rock-n-soul holiday spectacle, Rockin' Christmas Party, reigns as one of our town's longest-running traditions! Bigger, brighter and merrier than ever, this award-winning production sure knows how to put the Christmas spirit in your heart as the cast shake, rattle and roll down Santa Claus Lane! It's great fun for the whole family.

Current subscribers are able to renew their season subscriptions by mail, fax (972.450.6244) or by calling the box office at 972.450.6232. Current subscribers can receive this year's package prices if they renew by May 30th.

New subscriptions will go on sale in June 2011.

Rockin' Christmas Party is a non-subscription event.

 

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