Alley Theatre Announces the 2014 – 2015 Season
By: Courtnie Mele Apr. 12, 2014
Gregory Boyd, Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre, announces 6 of the 7 plays that will comprise its 2014-2015 season, entitled "Alley Theatre @ UH, " featuring Alley Resident Actors and favorites in stellar roles.
Alley Resident Actors Jay Sullivan, James Black, Jeffrey Bean will be featured in Dracula, the Original Vampire Play, a production that will include the iconic costume and set designs by Edward Gorey. Alley Resident Actors featured in the cast of Shakespeare's romantic comedy As You Like It. Resident ActorJeffrey Bean returns to a favorite role in the riotous comedy The Foreigner, with James Black directing. Arthur Miller's All My Sons is the Alley Theatre's 13th Miller production. The season begins with Elizabeth Ashley and Hallie Foote (Dividing the Estate) in Horton Foote's The Old Friends, helmed by Michael Wilson. Also included in the season is the Texas debut of Britain's innovative and exciting theatre companyKneehigh, with a wonderfully inventive and theatrical production of Tristan & Yseult, based on the Arthurian romance. The Alley's 2014-2015 subscription season includes 7 plays, one of which will be announced at a later date, plus traditional holiday special A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story of Christmas. All productions will be performed at the University of Houston's main campus. The Alley Theatre, which recently announced plans to renovate its theatre for the first time since the building was opened in 1968, will perform its 2014-2015 season at the University of Houston on their main campus. Construction on the Alley Theatre will start on Monday, July 14, 2014 and will continue through the summer of 2015, with the grand opening of the renovated Alley Theatre scheduled for fall 2015.A Story about a Texas Family
The Old Friends
By Horton Foote
Directed by Michael Wilson
Previews start August 15, Opens August 20, Through September 7, 2014 By award-winning Texas playwright Horton Foote, The Old Friends is called "transcendent" by the New York Post, named the "critic's pick" by The New York Times and given "five stars" by Bloomberg. Matriarch Mamie Borden and the remaining members of two longtime Texas farming families await a visit from Mamie's son Hugo and his wife Sybil. When Sybil arrives with alarming news, old friends on opposing sides must confront the issues surrounding legacy, loyalty, and the meaning of happiness that have hounded them for generations. Elizabeth Ashley and Hallie Foote (Dividing the Estate, 2011) are in this production helmed by Michael Wilson, director of the Alley's acclaimed productions of Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate, The Trip to Bountiful, and The Carpetbagger's Children. The Old Friends is an absorbing and vital chapter in Foote's beloved, distinctly American body of work. Contains mature themes.
The Classic Thriller presented by ExxonMobil
Dracula, the Original Vampire Play
By John L. Balderston and Hamilton Deane
Directed by Gregory Boyd
Previews start October 3, Opens October 8, Through November 2, 2014 Featuring iconic costume and set designs by Edward Gorey, The Alley's production is based on the original 1927 Broadway adaptation of the classic thriller that marvelously balances the menace of the horror tale with sophisticated satire. Alley Theatre Resident Company members Jay Sullivan, Jeffrey Bean and James Black lead the cast. You won't want to miss this "triumphant tumult of escapist entertainment (Associated Press)" Suitable for general audiences. Holiday Family Favorite
A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story of Christmas
By Charles Dickens
Adapted and Originally Directed by Michael Wilson
Directed by James Black
Previews start November 21, Opens November 26, Through December 24, 2014 Houston's seasonal favorite the Houston Press described as having "Spectacular London sets ... the inimitable Dickens' tale - spiced with the usual fog and an unusual twist on the ghosts past, present and future." A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story of Christmas follows Ebenezer Scrooge's journey with the three ghostly spirits that visit him on Christmas Eve. A Christmas Carol instills a powerful message about redemption and the spirit of the holiday season. Suitable for general audiences. Alley Resident Company Members Featured in
Romantic Comedy
As You Like It
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Gregory Boyd
Previews start January 9, Opens January 14, Through February 8, 2015 "All the world's a stage" for this play about romance, mistaken identity and passionate adventures. One of Shakespeare's greatest comedies, As You Like It traces the separate and intertwining journeys of Rosalind and Orlando, who have each been banished from their home and family. Independently, they each set out with a faithful friend and loyal servant and make their way through the dark Forest of Arden where Rosalind's father had previously been banished. Rosalind is disguised as the boy Ganymede, when she meets up with Orlando deep in the forest. Lovers discover lovers, fathers find daughters, brothers reclaim brothers, people are changed and evil is converted in this delightful story of love.Suitable for general audiences. The Riveting American Classic
All My Sons
By Arthur Miller
Previews start March 27, Opens April 1, Through April 19, 2015 All My Sons, Arthur Miller's first commercial success, was inspired by a true story about a successful businessman who sold the government defective airplane parts during World War II. The play takes place following World War II, as the Keller family desperately hopes that their son Larry, who was missing in action three years earlier, returns home. As their other son prepares to propose to the woman he loves, who was Larry's girlfriend when he went missing, the Kellers confront realities as family secrets are revealed. All My Sons will be the Alley Theatre's 13th production of a Miller play.Contains mature themes. Funny, moving, sexy and spectacular
Kneehigh's
Tristan & Yseult
Adapted and directed by Emma Rice
Writers: Carl Grose and Anna Maria Murphy
Previews start April 24, Opens April 29, Through May 24, 2015 Britain's innovative and exciting theatre company Kneehigh makes their Texas debut with a wonderfully inventive, utterly timeless, delightful tale of love. Cornish King Mark rules with his head, until he falls head over heels for his enemy's sister. Based on the ancient tale, Tristan & Yseult revels in forbidden desires, broken hearts and grand passions. Seen through the eyes of the 'Unloved,' Tristan & Yseultblends comedy, live music and tender truths in an irresistible night of love! For mature audiences, adult language and sexual situations. Alley Resident Company Member Jeffrey Bean in
The Popular and Marvelously Funny Comedy
The Foreigner
By Larry Shue
Directed by James Black
Previews start June 12, Opens June 17, Through July 19, 2015 The Foreigner is one of the most popular and most requested comedies in the Alley's history. In the marvelously funny comedy, Alley Resident Company member Jeffrey Bean leads the cast, directed byJames Black. This comic gem is set in a remote fishing lodge in Tighman County, Georgia, where socially awkward Charlie discovers intriguing and dangerous secrets under the guise of a foreigner who speaks no English. Suitable for general audiences. ALLEY THEATRE @ UH
The Wortham Theatre is located just off Cullen Boulevard on UH's main campus inside the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts building (also called building 507 on a UH campus map), which also houses the UH School of Theatre & Dance. Free designated parking for Alley patrons will be actively monitored and patrolled by campus security for all performances and is located at campus entrance 16 off Cullen Boulevard, just across the street from the theatre building. ABOUT THE ALLEY THEATRE
With its 177 employees, the Alley Theatre produces 393 performances annually, more than all other performing arts organizations in the Theater District combined. The Alley has attracted over 8 million people to Houston's Theater District since 1968 and has a $34.5 million annual economic impact on the City of Houston ("Arts & Economic Prosperity III: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts & Culture Organizations and their Audiences in the City of Houston," Americans for the Arts, 2005.) The Alley Theatre, one of America's leading not-for-profit theatres, is a nationally recognized performing arts company focused on collaborating with resident actors, visiting artists, directors, designers, dramaturgs, and authors to cultivate the new voices, new work, and new artists of the American theatre. Under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and Managing Director Dean R. Gladden, the Alley has also brought its productions to 40 American cities, and to Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg and New York's Lincoln Center, as well as to major European festivals (including two in one season at the Venice Biennale) and Broadway. As a recipient of the Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, the Alley creates a wide-ranging repertoire and innovative productions of classics, neglected modern plays, and premieres, as well as new works that will become classics for the future developed through the Alley's New Play Initiative. During the 2014 - 2015 season the Alley Theatre will be performing at the University of Houston's Wortham Theatre as the Alley's downtown home is being renovated. For more information go to alleytheatre.org/uh. TICKET AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Part of the Alley's mission is to produce thought-provoking and diverse works that should be experienced by all. Theatre lovers can experience these plays for as little as $26 each! Season tickets may be purchased at alleytheatre.org or by calling 713.220.5700. Subscribers can purchase a 5 play package containing The Old Friends, Dracula, All My Sons, Tristan & Yseult and The Foreigner. A 7 play package is also available containing all the plays in the 5 play package plus As You Like It and one play to be announced at a later date. A Christmas Carol is available to all subscribers as an add-on.
Individual tickets will be available for purchase in July 2014, at alleytheatre.org or by calling 713.220.5700. Groups of 10 or more can receive special concierge services and select discounts by calling 713.220.5700 and asking for the group sales department. Projects at the Alley Theatre are funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston and the Texas Commission on the Arts. The Alley Theatre is supported by the 2014-2015 season sponsor United Airlines, the official airline of the Alley Theatre.Videos
