Parallel 45 Theatre Announces 10th Anniversary Season

Parallel 45 Theatre has announced their Tenth Anniversary season featuring four adventurous shows this summer in downtown Traverse City. The 2020 season includes the award-winning musical, The Sound of Music; Arthur Miller'sThe Crucible; and the return of one of P45's most popular musicals, Hedwig and the Angry Inch; and a newly-devised production for teens, YouthQuake, directed by the nationally acclaimed Jesse Jou.

"We are thrilled to build on the success of last year's nearly sold-out season and add a fourth show to our summer line-up. We hope our community is as excited as we are about two musicals, a classic production, and a new program for teens," says Erin Anderson Whiting, Parallel 45 executive director.

The Sound of Music

More than 60 years after The Sound of Music blazed onto the American stage, this intimate production offers the opportunity to experience Rodgers and Hammerstein's unabashedly romantic masterpiece like it's the first time. This vibrant, boiled-down unearthing of this 1958 classic is directed by Parallel 45 Artistic Director Kit McKay and accompanied by an eight-piece orchestra.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

In honor of our tenth anniversary, Parallel 45 will re-mount one of our most popular shows, the cult-classic musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Originally presented at the Jane Street Theatre in 1998, Hedwig was dubbed the "best rock musical ever" by Rolling Stone Magazine. Parallel 45 will bring this "shamelessly enjoyable," "sublimely trashy and surprisingly powerful" production to Traverse City with a kick-ass rock band and bright, snazzy spectacle.

The Crucible

A disobedient take on Arthur Miller's revered classic, director Michael Burditt Norton probes this central work of the American canon, penetrating its distinct brand of American populist hysteria. Featuring a lean ensemble of eight professional actors playing all 22 characters, P45's production considers who determines truth, and what boundaries we're willing to cross to turn our beliefs into actions.

YouthQuake

Parallel 45 Theatre welcomes acclaimed director Jesse Jou to devise and direct an entirely new piece of theatre for teens. Parallel 45 believes that young audiences are smart, sophisticated and emotionally complex audience members who deserve rich, nuanced material that helps them engage with the complex world around them. We invite teens and families of all ages to experience programming that will inspire, encourage critical thinking and--most importantly--spark the imagination.

"We are ecstatic to be creating Traverse City's newest summer tradition," explains Parallel 45 Artistic Director Kit McKay. "Each July, artists from across the country and around the world convene on P45's new, state-of-the-art stage to perform adventurous, boundary-pushing musicals, plays, and devised works for all ages--rotating daily. Local food, wine, and live music allows our community to gather and experience world-class theatre right in their backyard."

Season Tickets are on sale now! Tickets at PARALLEL45.org, 800-836-0717, or visit the MyNorth Tickets Box Office.

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