Good Theater Announces 2013-14 Season

Good Theater, the professional theater company in residence at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland, is proud to announce its 12th Anniversary Season. The company will host two Maine premieres, a Portland premiere and a New England premiere for 2013-2014.

The company will kick off the season with CLYBOURNE PARK by Bruce Norris. Opening October 2 and running through October 27, Clybourne Park won the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play and was also awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is the inspiration for Clybourne Park. Clybourne Park explodes in two outrageous acts set fifty years apart. Act 1 takes place in 1959, as nervous community leaders anxiously try to stop the sale of a home to a black family. Act 2 is set in the same house in the present day, as the now predominantly African-American neighborhood battles to hold its ground in the face of gentrification. Noelle LuSane, who was featured in Good Theater's production of Good People will return to Maine for Clybourne Park.

THE GRAND MANNER by A.R. Gurney will open November 6 and continue through November 24. This Maine premiere will star two Good Theater favorites, Denise Poirier and Tony Reilly, plus two other actors. Set in 1948, a young boarding-school student, travels to New York to attend a performance of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Going backstage afterward, he meets the production's star, Katharine Cornell, who was dubbed "The First Lady of the American Stage," and her husband, the volatile director, Guthrie McClintock. A mix of remembrance and imagination, The Grand Manner is a love letter to this fabled actress and a heartfelt look back at the glorious heyday of the Broadway theater.

Opening January 29 and continuing through February 23 will be the Portland premiere of BECKY'S NEW CAR by Steven Dietz. Becky is caught in middle age, middle management and in a middling marriage with no prospects for change on the horizon. When Becky is offered nothing short of a new life, the audience is offered a chance to ride shotgun on this rollicking adventure. Becky's New Car is a thoroughly original comedy - a devious and delightful romp down the road not taken. Featuring a cast of seven, Becky's New Car is the perfect feel good show for the winter blues.

The final show of the season will be the New England premiere of Bruce Graham's THE OUTGOING TIDE. Broadway veterans Will Rhys and Florence Lacey star along with local favorite Brent Askari. This beautiful and touching play premiered in Chicago and recently played off-Broadway. Good Theater's production will move to Hilton Head, South Carolina following the Portland engagement. Set on Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, The Outgoing Tide is about two generations of family dealing with choices, getting older and accepting the past.

In addition to the four main stage productions, Good Theater will produce its annual Broadway at Good Theater concerts December 5-8. These popular performances feature a Broadway star along with many Good Theater favorites as they perform a mix of holiday tunes and songs from the Great White Way.

Season subscriptions for the four main stage shows are available starting as low as $60. For more information, patrons can call the Good Theater box office at 207-885-5883 or go to the Good Theater website, www.goodtheater.com