Cygnet Theatre Announces the 2011/2012 Season

Cygnet Theatre Company's Artistic Director Sean Murray and Executive Director Bill Schmidt are delighted to present the 2011/2012 line-up to be performed at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. Cygnet's ninth season will offer productions ranging from Shakespeare to Williams; and for Cygnet's musical-lovers, two uniquely thrilling productions! The new season officially begins July 28th, 2011.

Cygnet's season begins with LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, a rock musical based on the 1960s camp film, The Little Shop of Horrors, which follows the story of a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. Cygnet's production, featuring the amazing Audrey II puppets designed by Monkeyboys Designs, will be a B-move, campy horror-fest staged in black and white film-noir style! This quirky dark comedy - with music composed by Alan Menken and written by Howard Ashman - received a long off-Broadway run, a subsequent Broadway production and was turned into a 1986 film of the same name. The LITTLE SHOP music features rock-n-roll, doo-wop and early Motown sounds with several well-known tunes including Skid Row (Downtown) and Suddenly Seymour. Cygnet Resident Artist David McBean (It's a Wonderful Life, Fully Committed) will feed the horror and the hilarity as the human-hungry plant, Audrey II. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS will run July 28th through September 11th, 2011.

In early October, Cygnet Theatre is pleased to announce a Shakespearean main-stage production, RICHARD III. This play, which depicts the rise to power and subsequent short rein of Richard III, is widely considered to be one of Shakespeare's greatest works. Regarded as an "antihero" of the medieval age, the deformed Richard III was known for being both frighteningly vicious and eerily funny. Shakespeare's fascinating depiction of his murderous path to the English crown is one of his most beloved and oft performed plays. RICHARD III runs October 13th through November 13th, 2011.

At Cygnet Theatre, the holiday season wouldn't be complete without IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY, adapted by Joe Landry. Each year, Cygnet audiences delight in this new-found wintertime tradition as Tom Andrew performs his San Diego Critics Circle Award-winning role of George Bailey, whose life alters for good upon meeting Clarence the Angel. Once again the 1940's radio actors of "WCYG Theatre of the Air" will recreate the classic story in a "live" radio broadcast filled with music, sound effects and the beloved characters from the film. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE returns to the Cygnet stage from November 30th through December 31st, 2011.
The new year offers something truly surprising! Cygnet has to hold off on announcing our our 2012 kick-off but a following press release will provide all the details of our January/February slot. The TBA production runs January 19th through February 19th, 2012.

In the Spring, Cygnet Theatre is proud to announce PARADE, with book by Alfred Uhrey and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. The musical dramatizes the 1913 true story of the trial of Jewish factory, Leo Frank, accused of the murder of a thirteen-year-old employee, Mary Phagan, in Atlanta Georgia. The play, which won Tonys for best book and best score and six Drama Desk Awards, is both hauntingly beautiful and bitingly frank in its depiction of love in the midst of adversity and growing racial tensions. The show was Brown's first Broadway production and his award-winning melodies drew from a variety of influences including pop-rock, folk, rhythm and blues and gospel. PARADE will run March 8th through April 22nd, 2012.

Cygnet Theatre will close its season with Tennessee Williams A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. The Pulitzer Prize winning drama is considered a landmark play. It has also been at the top of Artistic Director Sean Murray's lists of dream projects for Cygnet Theatre since his award-winning production of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF in 2005. The story deals with the culture clash of two iconic characters, Blanch DuBois, a fading relic of the Old South, and Stanley Kowalski, a rising member of the industrial working class. The production received multiple runs on Broadway, was adapted into a film, an opera, a ballet and was even produced for television. The steamy drama comes to Cygnet Theatre May 17th through June 24th, 2012.

The regular Cygnet performance schedule for all shows will be Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm and Sundays at 2pm and 7pm. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY will include special Tuesday evening performances at 7:30pm.
For more information regarding subscriptions and other theatre packages please contact the box office at 619-337-1525 or visit www.cygnettheatre.com. Tickets can also be purchased in person by visiting Cygnet's main box office located at the Old Town Theatre, 4040 Twiggs Street, in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.

 

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