Ann Arbor's Theatre Nova Sets 2016 Season

Theatre Nova, Ann Arbor's professional playwrights' theater, is thrilled to announce its 2016 Season of Michigan and World Premieres in The Yellow Barn performance space at 416 West Huron, in downtown Ann Arbor. The season is made up of four World Premieres and three Michigan Premieres, and features another season of fun, funny, thought-provoking, and innovative new plays sourced both from around the country and right here in Michigan.

From the Michigan Premiere of one of the newest works by celebrated playwright and MacArthur "genius" award-winner Sarah Ruhl ("Dear Elizabeth"), to the World Premiere of a rock musical by a Michigan playwright and composer ("Irrational" by David Wells and R. MacKenzie Lewis), to a brand new play by poet, playwright, and YouTube sensation Daniel Beaty ("Mr. Joy"), to its second uproarious holiday pantomime created by the Theatre Nova ensemble ("Sugar Plum Panto"), the shows in Theatre Nova's season, which runs from February 5th through December 23rd, represent both the vanguard of American theater today, and a bold commitment to Michigan playwrights. Theatre Nova will feature four World Premiere productions by Michigan playwrights- in addition to "Irrational" and "Sugar Plum Panto," both World Premieres, the season will also feature the World Premiere of "Katherine" by veteran Michigan playwright Kim Carney, author of "Moonglow," "The Home Team" and many others premiered at Performance Network and The Purple Rose over the years, and the World Premiere of "Spin," a hip-hop love story by Emilio Rodriguez, a Michigan playwright already being hailed as a rising star in the national new play community. The theater will expand its offerings to include a seventh show, the Michigan Premiere of the hilariously absurd 1999 play "Chesapeake," recently re-written by nationally-acclaimed playwright Lee Blessing, which will star Sebastian Gerstner from Theatre Nova's 2015 smash hit "Buyer & Cellar."

Artistic Director Carla Milarch said "Theatre Nova's first season was such a high for us, with box office hits, and more critical acclaim than we ever dreamed of, that we had to work long and hard to put together a Season Two that would match, or top, it. But we think we've done just that. We have scoured the country and the state, and these are some of the most exciting and hottest plays and playwrights we have found. We're also super-psyched to feature four World Premieres by Michigan playwrights, which is, I think, the most ever done by a Michigan professional theater in a single season."

Additionally, in recognition and thanks to Performance Network and its subscribers, Theatre Nova will offer a half-season membership, good for free admission to the first four shows in its season ("Chesapeake," "Irrational," "Katherine," and "Spin") to anyone who held a Performance Network subscription when that organization closed in December.

Milarch adds "Both Dan (Walker) and I obviously have a soft spot in our hearts for PNT subscribers, and they've had a rough couple of years. We want to help do right by these theater-lovers by offering them high quality professional theater that is close to home. Anyone who was left holding subscription tickets at PNT can exchange those for a membership good for the shows in the first half of our season, free of charge. It's a smaller, less polished space than PNT, but it's comfortable, it's downtown, and it has free parking. I think audiences will recognize the adventurous scripts, and high quality acting and directing that they loved at PNT. We welcome them with open arms."

PNT subscribers can claim their free memberships by calling the box office at 734-635-8450 or emailing A2TheatreNova@gmail.com

The Theatre Nova season opens with the Michigan Premiere of "Chesapeake" by Lee Blessing, a one-man show that reunites the dynamic team from last year's smash "Buyer & Cellar" - actor Sebastian Gerstner ("The Wizard of Oz" and "Into the Woods" at Encore Musical Theatre, "Venus in Fur" and "The Glass Menagerie" at Performance Network) and director Daniel C. Walker ("Bright Half Life" and "Buyer & Cellar" at Theatre Nova). This absurdist comedy was inspired by Republican Senator Jesse Helms' 1989 campaign against the NEA ?for supporting artists engaged in "anti-Christian bigotry." Often referred to as "The Culture Wars" this crusade was a defining moment in the history of government funding of the arts. In Blessing's play, when conservative candidate Therm Pooley's criticism of performance artist Kerr's government-sponsored performance lands him a Senate seat, the artist seeks revenge. The centerpiece of Pooley's political career is his dog Lucky, whose tricks ingratiate Pooley to voters. Kerr seeks to kidnap and retrain Lucky as the ultimate performance-art piece, but his attempt is foiled by a mysterious and supernatural transformation that brings him closer to Pooley than he ever imagined. "Chesapeake" opens February 5th and runs through February 28th.

The season continues with the World Premiere of "Irrational" - an original rock musical by Ann Arbor playwright and Ann Arbor composer David Wells and R. MacKenzie Lewis. Wells' work will be familiar to Performance Network patrons who saw his "Brill" or "County Line" in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Lewis' original compositions have been seen Off-Broadway in "The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters, The Musical," and

at The Kennedy Center in "Mockingbird," "Wings of Ikarus" and "Jason Invisible." He also composed the musicals "Video Games: The Rock Opera," and "Soaring on Black Wings" - a world premiere with Ben Vereen. Set in Ancient Greece, "Irrational" explores the original cult of personality - the Pythagoreans, led by the charismatic mathematician, philosopher and... rock star? This rockin' musical is inspired by the true story of Pythagoras and his fervent followers, who believed that divinity was found in the harmony of ratios. When one of their own discovers irrational numbers, he blows a hole in their worldview and crosses the wrong mathematician. Theatre Nova Artistic Director Carla Milarch, known for directing popular musicals at Performance Network (including "She Loves Me," "The Bakers' Wife," "Little Shop of Horrors," and "The Drowsy Chaperone") will make her return to directing in the genre after a 2-year hiatus. "Irrational" runs April 22nd through May 15th.

Up next is the World Premiere of the one-woman comedy, "Katherine" by veteran Michigan playwright Kim Carney, whose work has appeared throughout Michigan and across the country. Michigan audiences will remember her feminist comedy "The War Since Eve" (Wilde Award: Best New Play) which had an extended run at Performance Network Theatre, as well as "Moonglow" (Best New Play: Ann Arbor News and Lansing State Journal) and "The Home Team" (American Theatre Critics Steinberg Award nominee) which also premiered there. Kim's plays "Nooner", "Only Me and You" and "Labor Day" were produced at the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea. In "Katherine" Carney brings her signature blend of offbeat comedy and feminine insight as five generations of mothers and daughters tell their interconnected stories, consisting of monologues spanning the years 1905 to 2017, from the hilarious to the sublime. As the members of this line of indomitable - yet very different - women migrate from rural Georgia to suburban Detroit, each faces her own personal crisis, from abandonment to unemployment, to alcoholism. Will they forge ahead, or be compelled to repeat the patterns of the past? "Katherine" is a moving testament to the grit, endurance, and humor of five remarkable women. "Katherine" runs May 20th through June 12th.

The fourth show in Theatre Nova's season is its third World Premiere: "Spin" a hip-hop love story by Detroiter Emilio Rodriguez. Recently featured in the Latino Theatre Commons' Carnaval of New Work and Western Michigan University's Activate Midwest Festival, the play also landed Rodriguez a commission with Milagro Theatre in Portland, Oregon, a residency with the Mitten Lab scheduled for summer 2016, and an inaugural artist-in-residence slot with Ann Arbor's University Musical Society. Spoken word poetry and teen romance collide in this fast-paced and funny play set in a homeless shelter for LGBTQIA teens. When Angelo Mendez lands there, he just wants to be loved, his roommate Mila won't let anyone close enough to try, and both boys struggle with the

unfortunate realities of being a homeless, gay teen of color in present day America. As they grow closer the boy's secrets draw them together, but will those same secrets eventually tear them apart? This modern day love story with hip-hop appeal will leave you rapping, laughing, and ultimately moved. "Spin" runs June 17th through July 10th.

Kicking off the fall season is the Michigan Premiere of "Dear Elizabeth," a brand new play by nationally acclaimed playwright Sarah Ruhl, which comes to Ann Arbor hot off the heels of its New York premiere at the Women's Project Theatre in December 2015. The New York Times calls Ruhl "one of the most adventurous playwrights working today" and "Dear Elizabeth" is a quietly rapturous twist on her signature style. Excerpted almost completely from the famed, decades-long correspondence between two of the twentieth century's most brilliant poets - Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell - Ruhl proves herself brilliant even when using others' words. The play chronicles the true story of the troubled poets' platonic love affair spanning thirty years and more than 400 letters, with postmarks from Maine to Key West, from London to South America. Using the poets own letters, words, and poetry, Ruhl weaves a pastiche of genius, intimacy, mental illness, despair, and ultimately friendship, that is as uplifting as it is heartbreaking. Artistic Director Carla Milarch will return to the stage to take on the role of Bishop, her first acting role since her 2014 turn as Richard III at Performance Network. "Dear Elizabeth" runs September 2nd through the 25th.

Theatre Nova's sixth show is the third Michigan Premiere of the season: "Mr. Joy" by Daniel Beaty, an Obie and Drama Desk award-winning actor, singer, writer, and composer, whose plays have enjoyed extended runs Off-Broadway, and whose YouTube videos such as "Knock-Knock" have enjoyed viral acclaim with hundreds of thousands of views. The Boston Globe calls "Mr. Joy" a play that "exhorts us to pay attention: to racial and economic injustice, to a generation of young men who feel adrift and forgotten, and to our common humanity, too often overlooked in the struggle of daily life." Developed at Lincoln Center and ArtsEmerson, it tells the story of a Harlem community that is shaken when Mr. Joy, a Chinese immigrant whose shoe repair shop has been a neighborhood pillar for decades, is the victim of an attack. Through the lens of Mr. Joy's customers, from the bubbly eleven-year-old Clarissa, to the savvy "gangsta granny" Bessie, all played by one actor in a tour-de-force performance, we learn the profound yet unassuming impact the shop owner has had on each of their lives, and the intricate and inextricable ways that each life affects so many others. A desperately needed examination of our societal, and personal, responsibility for one another, "Mr. Joy" runs from September 30th through October 23rd.

Theatre Nova will close out the season with its fourth World Premiere, "Sugar Plum Panto" - the second devised piece by the Theatre Nova Ensemble, with music by R. MacKenzie Lewis. After the wild success of Theatre Nova's first Panto "An Almost British Christmas," the Theatre Nova holiday Panto tradition continues for another year, complete with all the zany antics you've come to expect from this raucous family entertainment. When young Clara's Christmas dream goes awry, an outrageous cast of characters appears to entertain her and save her from the Mouse King. Bring the whole family for this festive holiday tradition, with local celebrities, original songs, a Bee-oo-ti-ful Panto Dame, and of course, all of the candy you can eat! Directed by Theatre Nova Artistic Director Carla Milarch, with Music Direction and Original Songs by R. MacKenzie Lewis. "Sugar Plum Panto" Runs November 25th thru December 23rd.

All performances are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested donation of $20. Theatre Nova memberships are available starting at $75. Theatre Nova's unique membership-based admission program gives members unlimited access to all of the seven shows in the season, plus all of the staged readings in the Michigan Playwrights' Festival, children's theater performances, classes, workshops, and more. Memberships can be acquired online at https://www.artful.ly/theatre-nova/store/donate or by calling the box office at 734-635-8450.

Evening performance times will move to 8 pm in 2016, with the exception of "Sugar Plum Panto" which will begin at 7 pm, in order to accommodate families with school-age children. Sunday matinees will remain at 2 pm. A full performance calendar is included in the fact sheet of this release.

Tickets are available now to Theatre Nova members only through January 25th, when they will go on sale to the general public. Performances run Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 pm, with a 2 pm matinee on Sunday. Seating is general admission. Reservations can be made in advance by calling 734-635-8450, or online at www.theatrenova.org.

Theatre Nova is Michigan's only theater exclusively producing brand new plays. Its mission is to raise awareness of the value and excitement of new plays and new playwrights, and provide resources for playwrights to develop their craft, by importing, exporting, and developing new plays and playwrights. Its goal to create a sustainable theater for generations to come is built on the cornerstones of accessibility, transparency, artist-leadership, and equality. It is a nonprofit 501c(3) organization.

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