Resident Ensemble Players Reveals New Season Lineup

The Resident Ensemble Players (REP), the professional theatre company in residence at the University of Delaware, has announced its upcoming season of productions - four plays that promise laughter, suspense, and deeply human storytelling.

The Resident Ensemble Players opens its 18th season of plays with Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan MacMillan with Jonny Donahoe, performing September 5th through September 21st. A handwritten list that began as a child's attempt to cheer up their mom who suffers from depression, becomes and unexpectedly funny and emotional tribute to the human spirit. Told with warmth and wit, this one-person show invites the audience to take part in a story about love, loss, and the little things that make life brilliant.

The fall continues with Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, performing October 30th through November 16th. Ten strangers are lured to a remote island. One by one, they begin to die - each death echoing a sinister nursery rhyme. Who is the killer among them? From the Queen of Crime herself comes a thrilling mystery that will keep you guessing until the final breathless moment.

February 12th through March 1st, the REP presents Art by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton - a comedy about art, egos, and everything in between. When one man buys a shockingly expensive piece of abstract art, it sparks a debate among longtime friends that spirals into a hilarious and revealing exploration of personal taste, identity, and what we truly value.

Closing out the season is Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, performing April 9th through April 26th, Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, this outrageous comedy follows three middle-aged siblings in a Pennsylvania farmhouse as they navigate family drama, regret, and a visit from a fading movie star sister with a boy toy in tow. Clever, absurd, and surprisingly moving.

"As we speak, the designers are researching, imagining and drawing," says Producing Artistic Director Steve Tague. "The directors are off dreaming of the actors moving through those spaces, inhabiting those clothes. The lights are coming into focus, metaphorically and the sound is slowly being turned up as we flip through the script. And we are just beginning to see and hear the audience respond in our minds to the unfolding of these stories. You may be surprised, but all of us look through our audience's eyes and ears from the beginning. And then they show up! We can't wait."