Palm Beach Dramaworks Announces 2019/2020 Season; THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, LOBBY HERO, and More

A world premiere and four popular, critically acclaimed works make up Palm Beach Dramaworks' 2019-2020 season, it was announced today by Producing Artistic Director William Hayes.

The season gets underway at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre on Friday evening, October 11 with Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, the Pulitzer Prize-winner that is on virtually every critic's short list of greatest American plays. Williams gave us two characters for the ages: Blanche DuBois, who's searching for magic and has a tenuous grip on reality, and the brutal, domineering Stanley Kowalski. Neither has a place in the other's world, and their mutual antagonism leads to inevitable tragedy. J. Barry Lewis directs.

Up next is the world premiere of Joseph McDonough's Ordinary Americans, inspired by the true story of television pioneer Gertrude Berg. The play, to be directed by William Hayes, was commissioned by PBD and was included in the recently concluded New Year/New Plays Festival, which featured readings of five promising works. Ordinary Americans was developed in The Dramaworkshop, where it will continue to be shaped and polished prior to opening night, December 6.

That's followed on February 7 by David Hare's Olivier Award-winning Skylight, in which two former lovers, who see the world from starkly different vantage points and agree on nothing, look back and look ahead, trying to determine whether they have a future. Hayes directs.

For the second consecutive season, PBD is including a musical during its subscription season.The Light in the Piazza, one of the loveliest musicals of the twenty-first century, opens on April 3. Written by Adam Guettel (music and lyrics) and Craig Lucas (book), the show won six 2005 Tony awards, including Best Original Score. Based on a novella by Elizabeth Spencer, the show is about family secrets and the pursuit of happiness. Bruce Linser will direct.

Closing out the season is Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, a serio-comic play set in the lobby of a New York apartment building, in which four characters face ethical challenges all too familiar to contemporary audiences. The play opens on May 22, with Lewis directing.

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.

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