Palm Beach Dramaworks Announces 2018 – 2019 Season

Palm Beach Dramaworks Producing Artistic Director William Hayes announced today that the 2018 - 2019 season will be comprised of three twenty-first century works, including a world premiere and a musical, and two contemporary classics from the latter part of the twentieth century.

The season gets underway at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre on Friday evening, October 19, with Indecent, Paula Vogel's poignant and powerful play with music that resurrects the playwright Sholem Asch and the journey of his groundbreaking 1907 work, God of Vengeance. Indecent is a co-production between PBD and GableStage, a first for two South Florida theatres. J. Barry Lewis directs.

Up next is the world premiere of House on Fire, a darkly comic twist on the story of the Prodigal Son. The play is written by Lyle Kessler, author of the much- acclaimed Orphans, and will be directed by Hayes. Opening night is December 7. That's followed on February 1 by The Spitfire Grill, the first musical to be performed at PBD as part of its subscription season. This warm and uplifting show, with music by James Valcq and lyrics by Fred Alley, who co-wrote the book, is about starting over and second chances. The musical will be directed by Paul Stancato.?The season continues on March 29 with August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences, the sixth of his 10-part Pittsburgh cycle chronicling the black experience, with each play taking place in a different decade of the twentieth century. This searing drama, directed by Hayes, is set in the '50s and tells a tale of family and race and shattered dreams. The season concludes with John Guare's tragicomic masterpiece, The House of Blue Leaves, in which everyone is obsessed with celebrity and desperate for a better life. The play opens on May 17, with Lewis directing.

INDECENT
By Paula Vogel
October 19 - November 11, 2018
For 16 years, Sholem Asch's God of Vengeance was a success all over the world - and then a firestorm erupted shortly after its 1923 Broadway premiere. This drama with music is a spellbinding exploration of the play's journey, and a heartfelt tribute to the people that brought it to life.

HOUSE ON FIRE (World Premiere
)By Lyle Kessler

December 7, 2018 - December 30, 3018
In this moving and funny parable of love, resentment, family, and redemption, an old man and his two sons battle for dominance. Miracles abound when two strangers appear and lives are changed forever.

THE SPITFIRE GRILL
Book and Music by James Valcq
Book and Lyrics by Fred Alley
February 1, 2019 - February 24, 2019
A young parolee hopes to find balm in Gilead, Wisconsin, where she gets a job at Hannah's Spitfire Grill. As she starts her life anew, the moribund town begins to awaken with her in this spirited and uplifting folk musical.

FENCES
By August Wilson
March 29, 2019 - April 21, 2019
An embittered sanitation worker, a former Negro League star denied a shot at the major leagues because of the color of his skin, takes his resentment out on his wife and son, fracturing relationships and thwarting dreams in this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama.

THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES
By John Guare
May 17, 2019 - June 2, 2019
The Pope is in New York City for the day, and an untalented songwriter hopes a blessing from the Pontiff will help him achieve his Hollywood dream, with his celebrity-obsessed girlfriend at his side. First, though, he'd have to institutionalize his schizophrenic wife, in this surrealistic, heartbreaking and hilarious Obie Award-winning play.

Palm Beach Dramaworks is a non-profit, professional theatre and is a member of the Theatre Communications Group, the South Florida Theatre League, Florida Professional Theatres Association, and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30PM, Friday and Saturday at 8PM, and select Sundays at 7PM. Matinee performances are on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2PM. Post-performance discussions follow Wednesday matinee and Sunday evening performances.

The Don & Ann Brown Theatre is located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach, at 201 Clematis Street. For ticket information contact the box office at (561) 514-4042, or visit www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.