Chance Theater Announces 2017 Season

Chance Theater is thrilled to announce its lineup for 2017, which will be the third to employ both stages in its new home at the Bette Aitken theater arts Center. Next year will feature nine fully-staged productions, a workshop production, and three staged readings of new plays still in development.

For the 7th year in a row, Chance Theater will have a resident playwright whose work will be featured throughout the year in the On The Radar Series. Previous resident playwrights include Marshall Pailet (whose musical Triassic Parq at the Chance won the Ovation Award for Best Musical), Lauren Yee (whose play, King of the Yees will be produced at Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2018) and Nick Jones (who later had two of his shows that were featured in the OTR Series receive major world premiere productions at Lincoln Center and Manhattan Theatre Club). Over the years, the resident playwrights have returned time and again to have their work featured in both the OTR Series (Lauren Yee's recent Untitled Music Play) and the Main Season (Marshall Pailet's Loch Ness, a new musical).

In 2017, we are very excited to announce that our resident playwright will be Ted Malawer. A current Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights Fellow at The Juilliard School, his plays include The Anatomy of Love, Daddy Issues, Times Square Psychic, The Watcher, and arrhythmia. Ted's plays have been read or developed at MCC Theater (2016 PlayLabs), Atlantic Theater Company (2017 Amplified Reading Series, upcoming), Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Juilliard, HERE Arts Center/Untitled Theater Company #61, The New Colony, Edge Theatre Company, and more. Ted has published six novels, including the Mystic City series (Penguin Random House), which has been translated into over ten languages and optioned for television by CBS. He is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and the recipient of fellowships from the Lecomte du Nouy Foundation, the NFAA/YoungARTS, and the Association for Jewish Theatre. Ted is a graduate of the Columbia University-Juilliard School Exchange Program, and received his Masters in Literature from Fordham University.

In 2017, Ted will have two of his shows featured in the OTR Series -- a staged reading of a brand new play that he's still writing, and a LAB Workshop of The Anatomy of Love, a play about two parents dealing with the gender fluidity of their child.

SEASON 19

January 27 - February 26, 2017 on the Cripe Stage

West Coast Premiere

CLAUDIO QUEST

Book, Music and Lyrics by Marshall Pailet and Drew Fornarola

Directed by Marshall Pailet

Musical Direction by Ryan O'Connell

Choreographed by Maxx Reed

Executive Producer: Mary Kay Fyda-Mar

A new musical comedy that follows a very super hero, his less super little brother, and one butt-kicking princess, as the three embark on a mission to overcome killer eggplants, a love-starved platypus, and their own 8-bit existential crisis.

April 21 - May 21, 2017

on the Fyda-Mar Stage

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PREMIERE

MIDDLETOWN

by Will Eno

Directed by Trevor Biship

Executive Producers: Scott & Sandra Graham

Middletown is a deeply moving and funny new play exploring the universe of a small American town. As a friendship develops between longtime resident John Dodge and new arrival Mary Swanson, the lives of the inhabitants of Middletown intersect in strange and poignant ways in a journey that takes them from the local library to outer space and points between.

June 30 - July 30, 2017

on the Cripe Stage

PARADE

Book by Alfred Uhry

Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown

Directed by Kari Hayter

Musical Direction by Robyn Manion

Executive Producers: Sophie & Larry Cripe

Associate Producers: Laurie Smits Staude and Rachelle Menaker & Eddie Schuller

Amid religious intolerance, political injustice and racial tension, this stirring Tony Award-winning musical explores the endurance of love and hope against all the odds. In 1913, Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jew living in Georgia, was put on trial for the murder of a 13-year-old girl. Armed with a rousing score and a powerful script, Parade takes an unflinching look into the darkest corners of America's history.

September 8 - October 8, 2017

on the Fyda-Mar Stage

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PREMIERE

IN A WORD

by Lauren Yee

Directed by Jocelyn A. Brown

Executive Producers: Rachelle Menaker & Eddie Schuller

Associate Producer: Nexgen Pharma

Today is the two-year anniversary of Fiona's son's disappearance, and still, nothing makes sense to her. Not her blasé husband, the incompetent detective, or the neighborhood kidnapper who keeps introducing himself in the checkout line. As Fiona delves back into her memories of that fateful day, to uncover that crucial missing piece, grief and comedy collide, and ordinary turns of phrase take on dangerous new meanings.

NOTE: This show contains some adult language.

September 22 - October 22, 2017

on the Cripe Stage

ORANGE COUNTY PREMIERE

TRIBES

by Nina Raine

Directed by Marya Mazor

Executive Producers: Tod & Linda White

Associate Producers: Sophie & Larry Cripe and Laurie Smits Staude

Billy was born deaf into a hearing family. He was raised inside its fiercely idiosyncratic and politically incorrect cocoon. He has adapted brilliantly to his family's unconventional ways, but they've never bothered to return the favor. It's not until he meets Sylvia, a young woman on the brink of deafness, that he finally understands what it means to be understood.

NOTE: This show contains some adult language and themes.

Theater for Young Audiences

February 17 - March 5, 2017

on the Fyda-Mar Stage

THE LITTLE PRINCE

by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar

From the book by Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Directed by Darryl B. Hovis

Executive Producer: Elizabeth Jones

A story that reminds us of all we leave behind to grow up and invites us to see the world again with the fresh eyes of youth. A journey of simple beauty, Saint-Exupery's tale has a different meaning for each of us. Young and Old alike will enjoy this visually alluring masterpiece. Join us for an adventure that spans from the Sahara to Outer Space and Beyond; a place where it's never too late to rediscover your dreams.

May 5 - 28, 2017

on the Cripe Stage

ENCORE PRESENTATION

FANCY NANCY - THE MUSICAL

Book & Lyrics by Susan DiLallo

Music by Sam Viverito

Based on the book Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

Directed by Kelly Todd

Musical Direction by Robyn Manion

Executive Producer: Robert Berman

Back by popular demand!

Fancy Nancy and her friends Bree, Rhonda, Wanda, and Lionel are going to be performing in their very first show, "Deep

Sea Dances." Nancy is positive, that's fancy for 100 percent sure, that she and Bree will be picked to be mermaids. When another girl wins the coveted role of the mermaid, Nancy is stuck playing a dreary, dull tree. Can Nancy bring fancy flair to her role, even though it isn't the one she wanted?

Holiday Series

November 24 - December 23, 2017

on the Cripe Stage

THE SECRET GARDEN - THE MUSICAL

Book and Lyrics by Marsha Norman

Music by Lucy Simon

Adapted from the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Directed by Casey Long and KC Wilkerson

This enchanting classic of children's literature is now a brilliant musical by a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright. Orphaned in India, an 11 year old girl returns to Yorkshire to live with an embittered, reclusive uncle and his invalid son. Her own personality blossoms as she and a young gardener bring life to a neglected garden. This Tony Award winner is a treasure for children and adults alike.

December 8-23, 2017

on the Fyda-Mar Stage

THE EIGHT: REINDEER MONOLOGUES

by Jeff Goode

Directed by Alex Bueno

The Chance Un-Holiday Tradition Returns!

We just couldn't shut them up.... so for the 14th straight year, accusations, rumors and all-out attacks are (still) flying fast and furious around the toyshop. Hear the truth straight from the reindeer who know Santa best. When a doe says "No" she means "No."

WARNING!! This show contains FOUL-MOUTHED REINDEER and very inappropriate ADULT HUMOR! Definitely no kids or anyone who doesn't want to see the dark side of Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and the North Pole!

All tickets and subscriptions can be purchased by calling (888) 455-4212 or by visiting www.ChanceTheater.com.