Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company Announces 2010-2011 Season

Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company is pleased to announce the line-up for Season 5. Subscriptions are now available at www.BoulderEnsembleTheatre.org.

Doubt, A Parable
By John Patrick Shanley
September 30th - October 23rd, 2010

Winner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best New Play and the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

In this brilliant and powerful drama, Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of improper relations with one of the male students. Shanley penned the Academy Award-winning screenplay for Moonstruck as well as Danny and the Deep Blue Sea and Savage in Limbo, Both of which were part of BETC's Season 1. Featuring BETC's Rebecca Remaly and Stephen Weitz, and introducing visiting artist A. Elizabeth Dowd as Sister Aloysius.

"Doubt is a lean, potent drama...passionate, exquisite, important and engrossing." -NY Newsday

"An eloquent and provocative investigation of truth and consequences. A gripping mystery, tightly written." -Time Out

Producing Ensemble Director's Comments: We are very excited to present one of the most powerful and evocative plays in recent dramatic history. It's amazing to me how Shanley, in what appears to be such a streamlined and simple story, manages to touch on so many potent themes. Bringing this stirring drama to Boulder audiences is a perfect way to kick off our 5th Season.

The SantaLand Diaries*
By Davis Sedaris, adapted by Joe Mantello
Back by popular demand!
December 1st - 23rd, 2010

Last year's smash hit returns for another holiday-sized helping. This hilarious and irreverent tale detailing Sedaris' real-life experience of working as an Elf in Macy's SantaLand played to packed houses in 2009, and promises to be even more outrageous and uproarious in 2010!

"[BETC's SantaLand is] quite possibly the best Christmas-themed show." - Boulder Weekly

"BETC's version of SantaLand reaches out and tickles the Bad Santa that lives in many of us." - Boulder Daily Camera

*The SantaLand Diaries is not part of the Season 5 subscription package; however, patrons who purchase a subscription are eligible for specially-priced tickets to The SantaLand Diaries.

Producing Ensemble Director's Comments: SantaLand was a huge hit for us last year and we're looking forward to bringing back this irreverent look at the excesses of the holidays with new material and inflatable Santas!

Crime & Punishment
Adapted by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus from the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A regional premiere!
February 17th - March 5th, 2011

Winner of the 2002-2003 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Adaptation.

This award-winning adaptation of Dostoyevsky's literary masterpiece is set in the mind of the murderer, where he relives and explores the events that drove him to his horrible crime. Crime & Punishment is a thrilling psychological journey which seeks to unveil hidden dimensions of the human condition.

"Who would have thought that the novel no high school student has ever finished reading would make such engrossing theater?" -New York Times

"Stunningly lean, taut and emotionally searing...[like] the swift, sharp impact of a blow from an ax." -Chicago Sun-Times

Producing Ensemble Director's Comments: The novel is one of my favorite pieces of literature, in part because I find it's piercing look inside the human mind to be so closely related to what we explore in the theatre. This adaptation is a streamlined, one-act version that captures the haunting essence of the play in a fast-moving, three-person format.

An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf
By Michael Hollinger
A regional premiere!
April 21st - May 7th, 2011

On one hot July night in 1961, the staff of the Café du Grand Boeuf awaits the imminent arrival of Victor, the Café's owner and sole patron. But when Monsieur returns from the bullfights in Madrid, he brings with him news that sends his adoring staff into a race to save their jobs....and their master's life. A "comic tragedy in seven courses" celebrating the joys of cooking, sex, bullfighting and the collected works of Ernest Hemingway.

"Without ever sacrificing the prevailing zaniness of The Situation, [Hollinger] flavors it all with enough sadness about dashed hopes and inertia to make this a menu filled with food for thought as well as laughter." -CurtainUp

"An absurdist tragicomedy...that manages to pay homage to Hemingway and Beckett in an...often hilarious existential romp." -Boston Globe

Producing Ensemble Director's Comments: This play is a wonderful combination of love and laughter and is sure to send audiences to the door with a serious appetite. Hollinger is currently one of the most popular American Playwrights (i.e. Opus at Curious) and we are hopeful that this production will mark the beginning of an exciting relationship between BETC and this fantastic writer. But more on that in a later announcement!

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