Arvada Center Closes the 2016-2017 Black Box Season with WAITING FOR GODOT

The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities will finish its 2016 - 2017 Black Box season with Waiting for Godot, directed by Geoffrey Kent, opening Friday, April 21, 2017. Waiting for Godot was written by Samuel Beckett, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. The play is perhaps the most iconic tragicomedy on the stage and has been described as the most significant English language play of the 20th century.

Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday matinees at 1:00 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m., through May 20. Preview performances are April 19 and 20 at 7:30 p.m. Please note, additional performances have been added on Saturday, May 6 at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, May 13 at 2:00 p.m. and Wednesday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. Audience engagement events, including insider's talkbacks and chats with the cast, are held through the run of the production. To purchase tickets go to http://arvadacenter.org/waiting-for-godot or call 720-898-7200. The Arvada Center is located at 6901 Wadsworth Blvd. and provides free parking for its patrons.

Vladimir fusses with his hat. Estragon struggles with his boots. Sitting under a tree on a lonely road, they argue and make up, perform vaudeville routines, contemplate suicide, eat a radish and wait for Godot. Somehow, within this simple plot, Samuel Beckett's great tragicomedy explores the most profound questions of human existence. Described as "one of the most noble and moving plays of the twentieth century...suffused with tenderness for the whole human perplexity, Waiting for Godot celebrates the human spirit's ability to persevere.

Waiting for Godot is the final play of the Arvada Center's inaugural repertory theatre season. It is presented by members of the Center's new ensemble company of actors, directors, technical artists and designers, and performed as part of the Center's three-play repertory rotation. For information on this year's repertory company, visit https://arvadacenter.org/on-stage/2016-2017-black-box-repertory-company.

The cast features Sam Gregory (Vladimir), Tim McCracken (Estragon), Josh Robinson (Lucky), Sam Gilstrap (Pozzo) and Sean Scrutchins (Boy).

In addition to director Geoffrey Kent, the creative team includes Meghan Anderson Doyle (Costume Design), Jason Ducat (Sound Design), Brian Mallgrave (Scenic Design), Shannon McKinney (Lighting Design) and Megan O'Connor (Wigs). The Artistic Director of Plays is Lynne Collins.

Samuel Beckett produced his most important works - four novels, two dramas, a collection of short stories, essays, and art criticism - during an intensely creative period in the late 1940s. Irishman Beckett had settled in France and wrote in both French and English. His experiences during World War II - insecurity, confusion, exile, hunger, deprivation - came to shape his writing. In his most famous work, Waiting for Godot, he examines the most basic foundations of our lives with strikingly dark humor. "Samuel Beckett - Facts." Nobelprize.org.