2nd Story Theatre Announces 2010-11 Season

2nd Story Theatre Artistic Director Ed Shea announces the 2010-2011 Season, five comedies 'with teeth', alternating between quirky modern and enduring classics. 2nd Story's Best of Both Worlds
Season includes "Kimberly Akimbo" by David Lindsay-Abaire, "The School for Wives" by Molière, translated into English verse by Richard Wilbur, "Becky Shaw" by former Rhode Islander Gina Gionfriddo, "Playboy of the Western World" by John Millington Synge, and "Dirty Blonde" by Claudia Shear.

Mark Peckham ("To Kill a Mockingbird", "Orpheus Descending") returns to direct the season opener, "Kimberly Akimbo". "Becky Shaw" and "Playboy of the Western World" will be staged by 2nd Story's Artistic Director Ed Shea. To wrap up the season, 2nd Story welcomes Vanessa Gilbert (Artistic Director, Perishable Theatre) to direct "Dirty Blonde".

Performances are Thursday at 7:00pm, Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm; Sunday at 3:00pm. Subscription package is $115. 2nd Story Theatre is located at 28 Market St., Warren, RI. For more information or to receive a free brochure, visit the Box Office, call 401-247-4200 or email boxoffice@2ndStoryTheatre.com. Visit the website at www.2ndStoryTheatre.com.

In discussing his selections, Artistic Director Ed Shea said, "I'm thrilled about this year. I feel strongly about each piece. I think it's one of the most well-rounded, stimulating seasons we've ever offered. It's a season designed to 'sell out' without 'selling out'. A season to recommend not to 4 friends, but to 40."

2nd Story Theatre is an accessible venue.

Funding for 2nd Story Theatre is provided in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and private funders.

2010-2011 Season

"Kimberly Akimbo" by David Lindsay-Abaire, Director Mark Peckham
September 24 - October 24, 2010
"Kimberly Akimbo" is Pulitzer-prize winning playwright David
Lindsay-Abaire's offbeat comedy about a teenager with an aging disease
causing her body to grow old faster than it should. As if that's not
enough, Kimberly is forced to contend with a neurotic mother, a rarely
sober father, her own looming mortality and, most terrifying of all, the
possibility of first love. This provocative and deadly-funny comedy,
told in Lindsay-Abaire's signature flight-of-fancy storytelling style,
gives a whole new meaning to 'coming of age story'.

"The School for Wives" by Molière, translated by Richard Wilbur, Director
TBA
November 12 - December 12, 2010
"The School for Wives" revolves around an insecure man who contrives to
show the world how to avoid the fate of cuckoldry by marrying the
perfect bride. Richard Wilbur's translation perfectly captures the
wildly lyrical roller-coaster ride that is Molière. The appeal of a
battle of wits, rhyming verse, mercurial shifts from sacred to profane,
the soaring poetry and the base humor, all help make Molière's comedies
as fresh today as when they were first written. With "The School for
Wives" Molière becomes 2nd Story's most produced (and popular)
playwright.

"Becky Shaw" by Gina Gionfriddo, Director Ed Shea
January 21 - February 20, 2011
"Becky Shaw", Gina Gionfriddo's wickedly funny Off-Broadway smash hit,
is difficult to describe but impossible to forget. Set in Providence,
this engrossing, shocking, hip social comedy about mating habits and
financial shenanigans is a contemporary collision of crisis and comedy
when a thirty-something newlywed couple fix up two
relationship-challenged friends.

"Playboy of the Western World" by John Millington Synge, Director Ed Shea
March 11 - April 10, 2011
Set in a pub on the western coast of Ireland in the early 1900s,
"Playboy of the Western World" is a wild comic portrait of Christy
Mahon, a braggart wanderer who turns up in a remote village to dazzle
the gullible locals with an exaggerated tale of having killed his tyrant
father with a single blow. The cause of riots when it opened at
Ireland's Abbey Theatre in 1907, Synge's peasant poetry still packs a
punch.

"Dirty Blonde" by Claudia Shear, Director Vanessa Gilbert
April 29 - May 29, 2011
"Dirty Blonde" is a kind of 21st Century burlesque that chronicles Mae
West's self-willed rise to legendary status as a pop culture icon,
through the perspective of two fixated fans who meet at the actress's
grave in Queens. 3 actors play 18 roles in this bawdy tale filled with
West witticisms, double entendres, story and song. In this Tony
nominated examination of America's fascination with celebrity, Mae West
still has the power to shock, satisfy and, above all, entertain.

 

ABOUT 2ND STORY THEATRE

2nd Story Theatre is a professional, non-union company with a
unique aesthetic and the highest artistic standards for excellence in
the performance of great plays in its relaxed 150 seat black box
theatre. Founded in Newport, Rhode Island in 1978, the theatre found a
permanent home in the historic district of Warren, RI in 2001 under the
artistic direction of Ed Shea.

PURCHASES

Five-Play Subscription package for the 2010-2011 Season includes
"Kimberly Akimbo", "The School for Wives", "Becky Shaw", "Playboy
of the Western World", and "Dirty Blonde". Season package is $115.
Performances are Thursday at 7:00pm, Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm and
Sunday at 3:00pm. Individual ticket price is $27. Preview ticket price
is $20. Subscription packages and single tickets are on sale now.

Five Play Subscription package for the 2010-2011 Season: $115
Individual tickets: $27
Preview tickets: $20

Plays and dates subject to change.
Reservations subject to availability.
2nd Story Theatre is an accessible venue.

 

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