FIELD HOCKEY HOT Premiere, THE LIFE & More Set for 11th Hour Theatre Company's 2014-15 Season

11th Hour Theatre Company announces its 2014-2015 season including a world premiere musical as its main stage production, and four musicals in its Next Step Concert Series.

11th Hour will present its first world premiere musical Field Hockey Hot with music, lyrics and book by Michael Ogborn. Set in 1986, Field Hockey Hot is the story of coach Shipley Barnes and the Applebee Academy field hockey team. When Applebee's star goalie, "Sticky Vicky," is badly injured two weeks before the championship, Shipley will stop at nothing to win the title. It's a zany comedy featuring crazy gender-bent characters, 80s pop inspired music, and a world where field hockey rules all.

"After Michael came to see our production of Reefer Madness, he called me and said he wanted to write a musical for 11th Hour. As a company solely dedicated to presenting musicals we are completely thrilled to be contributing to the musical theater canon," said Michael O'Brien, Producing Artistic Director of 11th Hour Theatre Company. "We have been collaborating with Michael for the last two years, workshopping the production and casting the show so Michael could write with specific voices in mind."

11th Hour continues its Next Step Concert Series, the only series in the city that focuses exclusively on readings of new and seldom seen musicals. This year's musicals feature The Life, with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Ira Gasman, and book by David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman; Dogfight with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and book by Peter Duchan; Dani Girl with music by Michael Kooman, and book and lyrics by Christopher Dimond; and A New Brain with music and lyrics by William Finn, and book by William Finn and James Lapine.

"The Next Step Concert Series gives us an opportunity to introduce Philadelphians to new and seldom seen musicals and to take some risks on pieces that we are passionate about," continued O'Brien.

Nominated for 11 Tony Awards, including best musical, The Life features an amazing score by musical theatre legend Cy Coleman. This powerful and exhilarating musical depicts the pulsating and tough life on the Times Square streets in the 1980s, before the days of Rudy Guliani and Disney.

Dogfight tells the story of three young Marines on the eve of their deployment to Vietnam who set out for a final wild boys' night. Their mission is to win the "Dogfight" - a cruel game to bring the ugliest girl to the party. But when Corporal Eddie Birdlace enlists Rose, a self conscious but optimistic waitress, she rewrites the rules and teaches him the power of compassion.

When Dani, a precocious nine year old, loses her hair to leukemia, she embarks on a magical quest to get it back. Simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking, Dani Girl is a tale of life in the face of death, hope in the face of despair, and the extraordinary power of the human imagination.

A New Brain is a show about making the most out of life in the face of tragedy. When a neurotic, frustrated composer is confronted with a terminal illness, he begins his search for the song that he will be remembered by...but will his search cost him precious time to be with those who love him most? The show is in fact William Finn's autobiographical account of his own battle for life when he was afflicted with a seemingly terminal illness.

11th Hour Theatre Company is a dynamic, boutique company committed to producing high quality musical theatre that favors intimate, story-driven musicals over flashy, budget-busting spectacles. Now in its ninth season, the company has presented twelve Philadelphia premieres and has received thirty-two Barrymore nominations and eight awards, including two consecutive awards for "Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical" (The Bomb-itty of Errors, The World Goes 'Round), several individual artist awards, and the first-ever June & Steve Wolfson Award for An Evolving Theater.

For further information, please call 215-735-7356.

To post a comment, you must register and login.