The REP, Point Park University Announces 2015-2016 Season

The 2015-2016 season of The REP, Point Park University's professional theatre company, will include critically acclaimed and recent popular comedies and dramas by some of the best contemporary playwrights.

The season runs Sept. 4 through April 24, 2016, at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Ave.

The 2015-2016 season opens with John Amplas directing The Country House, Pulitzer Prize-winner Donald Margulies' comedy about a theatrical family's dramatic weekend. The REP will next present MacArthur Genius award-winner Tarell Alvin McCraney's coming-of-age drama, Choir Boy, directed by Tomé Cousin, and close the season with The Flick, Annie Baker's 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winner for drama, directed by Robert A. Miller.

The REP 2015-2016 season subscriptions, which save patrons more than 35 percent off single ticket prices, are available now and can be purchased for $64-$72. Single tickets, ranging from $24-$30, will go on sale at 10 a.m., Monday, Aug. 3. Those who purchase three subscriptions get the fourth free. To order a season subscription, contact the Pittsburgh Playhouse box office at 412.392.8000. For single tickets, when they become available, or more information about the Pittsburgh Playhouse, visit www.pittsburghplayhouse.com.

The REP's 2015-2016 season:

The Country House

By Donald Margulies

Directed by John Amplas

Sept. 4 - 20, 2015; preview Sept. 3

Rauh Theatre

Set in the summer home of a theatrical family, Margulies' witty and compelling comedy tells the story of famous and longing-to-be-famous artists tackling former loves, romantic outbursts and familial jealousies. When the play opened in New York last year, the Wall Street Journal said it was "one of the most satisfying new American plays to reach Broadway in a decade." Entertainment Weekly called it "a valentine to the theater. ... There are laughs aplenty."

A professor with Point Park's Conservatory of Performing Arts, John Amplas teaches all levels of acting and directing. He has served as both an actor and director in countless Pittsburgh Playhouse productions dating back to 1972. He is one of the founding members of the Playhouse Repertory Company and has served as associate artistic director since 1999. A few years ago, his production of The Exonerated won the Governor's Award produced in part with the Pittsburgh Innocence Project. He directed the world premiere of Tammy Ryan's Soldier's Heart for The REP, and, last season, directed As You Like It for the Conservatory Theatre Company.

Choir Boy

By Tarell Alvin McCraney

Directed Tomé Cousin

Sept. 25 - Oct. 11, 2015; preview Sept. 24

Studio Theatre

Featuring gospel music, McCraney's stirring drama explores race, gender and other issues among members of a prestigious boys prep school's beloved a capella choir. "Believe the buzz. Choir Boy, the small but mighty coming-of-age play by Tarell Alvin McCraney deserves its kudos," wrote The New York Daily News.

Described by Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times as "one of the brightest American playwrights to come along in some time," McCraney was the Royal Shakespeare Company's International Playwright in Residence in 2009-2011. He won several prestigious awards, including London's Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, inaugural New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award, and inaugural Paula Vogel Playwriting Award. His work has been performed at McCarter Theater in Princeton, The Public Theater in New York, Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, and the Young Vic in London.

Point Park graduate Tomé Cousin is an internationally recognized director, choreographer, educator, performer and creator of musical theater works, ballets, films, new opera, song cycles and art installations, as well as a published author. Cousin has appeared on Broadway in Contact, A Free Man of Color, and Dreamgirls, national tours ofDreamgirls, My One and Only, and A Chorus Line, and internationally in Bob Fosse's Sweet Charity (Switzerland), The Who's Tommy, La Cage aux Folles, Starlight Express, and Tabaluga und Lilli (Germany). He serves as the directing supervisor for original director/choreographer Susan Stroman's Tony Award-winning musical Contact, having staged 12 companies worldwide including premieres in Hungary, Korea and Poland. In 2014, he directed By the Way, Meet Vera Stark and Souvenir for The REP.

The Flick

By Annie Baker

Directed by Robert A. Miller

April 8 - 24, 2016; preview April 7

Studio Theatre

The 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winner for Drama, The Flick is a charming, funny and keenly observant play about a run-down movie theater's three underpaid employees who tackle their interpersonal battles and deal with love as they mop the floors between screenings.

In his review of The Flick, Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote, "Ms. Baker, one of the freshest and most talented dramatists to emerge Off Broadway in the past decade, writes with tenderness and keen insight about the way people make messes of their lives. ... Ms. Baker specializes in moments of intimacy that are awkward, hilarious and ineffably touching. ... Her writing is a great blessing to performers."

Acclaimed Hollywood producer, director and screenwriter, Robert A. Miller, is best known for producing The Crucible, nominated for two Academy Awards and featuring Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Joan Allen and Paul Scofield. Miller also produced Focus, starring William H. Macy, Laura Dern and David Paymer. His directorial credits include Company of Angels in Hollywood, and Bend in the River, a live PBS broadcast featuring Ken Kesey. Miller directed several plays for The REP, including his first-ever production of his father's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Death of a Salesman in 2008. He also directed The REP's world premieres of The Umbrella Man in 2010 and A Child's Guide to Heresy in 2011, and is a producer of the movie The Umbrella Man, filmed in 2012 in Pittsburgh and Dallas. Miller has served as a Distinguished Master Artist in Residence at the Conservatory of Performing Arts since 2009.

Photo Credit: REP Professional Theatre Company

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