The Weekend Theater Announces Upcoming Shows this Season

The Weekend Theater in Little Rock will present a number of upcoming shows as a part of their 2009-2010 season.

On February 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, and 27 Christopher Shinn's DYING CITY will take the stage. DYING CITY, a political play, is also a psychodrama about what Arthur Miller called the politics of the soul. It's about public conscience and private grief, and real and symbolic catastrophes. A year after her husband's death in Iraq, Kelly, a young therapist, confronts his identical-twin gay brother, Peter, who shows up at her apartment unannounced. Trying to make sense of what is left behind, Christopher Shinn's remarkable tale of loss and how two very diff¬erent people handle their grief is personal, intimate even, yet its themes could not be more all-encompassing and its emotional impact more affecting. In this subtle and revealing play, Shinn is able to take the political and humanize it, transforming the ¬daily news stories into a devastating statement on the unforeseen and often hidden consequences of war. The production will be directed by Ralph Hyman.

Next is THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED by Douglas Carter Beane and directed by Andy Hall on March 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, and 27. Receiving a 2007 Tony Award Best Play nomination, THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED follows the adventures of Mitchell Green, a movie star who could hit big if it weren't for one teensy-weensy problem: his agent, Diane, can't seem to keep him in the closet. Using satire's risqué humor to reveal the deeply ingrained artifice of Hollywood, the play's deeper level shows the masks everyone wears, and the pain they hide. With twists and turns that keep audiences guessing, the production cleverly reflects America's celebrity-obsessed culture, the price of ambition, the luxury tax on love, and the unexpected packaging in which dreams invariably arrive.

Ralph Hyman will direct a production of Ron Cowen's SUMMERTREE on April 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, and 24. Winner of Off-Broadway's Vernon Rice Award and concerned with the problems and fears of young people in today's uncertain world, this honest crucial play is both a joyous expression of the good things in life and a powerful indictment of war and the senseless waste which it can bring. Travel with our Young Man as he remembers his youth, his love, his terror, and the idiosyncrasies of living. This is a story that will question where we came from, where we're going and most important where we are now and what do we truly value. There's a beauty and elegance to the writing that elevates the play to the level of poetry. Cowen has distilled this bittersweet part of the human experience to its essence.

David Mamet's GLENGARRY GLen Ross will be directed by John Haman on May 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 and 29. More pertinent than ever in today's gravely compromised political atmosphere, this Pulitzer Prize winning tale of cutthroat competition among desperate real estate salesmen sticks figurative needles into businessmen and, by extrapolation, into American corporate practices. With obscenities as common as conjunctions, these hardened hucksters hustle worthless Florida land developments on the easily deluded. Insults rage. Tempers flare. Reveling in obscenity and scatology, the alpha-male animals of "Glengarry", metaphor for the greedy in The American Corporation, practice the art of the deal, the hard sell, the scam, mesmerizing the honest and honorable public as easily as a viper does its prey.

For more information or to order tickets, visit online at www.weekendtheater.org or call (501)-374-3761.