Park Square's 2015-16 Theatre Season Features Two World Premieres

Midway through its first season producing on two stages, Park Square Theatre shows no sign of slowing down with its 2015-2016 theatre season. In addition to a range of area and regional premieres, the company is commissioning two brand new works - one for each stage - from Joel Sass (Great Expectations) and Christina Ham and Regina Marie Williams (Nina Simone: Four Women). The line-up also includes the first Midwest licensed production of an ingenious miniature musical that will delight mystery lovers, two family-friendly holiday treats, and new productions by two of Park Square's Theatres in Residence, Sandbox Theatre and Theatre Pro Rata. The season will conclude with a flash of mature flesh as nine leading actresses bare all in Calendar Girls by Tom Firth.

The season starts on the Proscenium Stage on September 11, 2015 with Elliot: A Soldier's Fugue by Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes, whose In the Heights won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical. The New York Times raves that this play is "that rare and rewarding thing: a theater work that succeeds on every level, while creating something new." Hudes has a music degree from Yale and while it contains no actual notes, the "fugue" of the title weaves strands of narrative playing in point and counterpoint around the central theme of a soldier's personal experience of war. Park Square Artistic Associate Ricardo Vázquez will be featured as the youngest of three generations of a Puerto Rican family of soldiers. (Sept 11 - Oct 4, 2015)

Speaking of counterpoint, the opening show on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage, scheduled to start a week later on September 18, 2015, will be the first Midwest licensed production of Murder for Two with book by Joe Kinosian and lyrics by Kellen Blair. In this ingenious miniature musical, one of the energetic vaudevillian duo investigates the crime and the other plays all the suspects. (Sept 18 - 0ct 25, 2015)

The season continues on the Boss Stage November 11 - 29, 2015 with Athol Fugard's My Children! My Africa! This regional premiere will be directed by Artistic Associate James A. Williams, who earned raves for his performance of the play under the direction of Ruben Santiago-Hudson in the recent revival at New York's Signature Theatre ("I found myself with tears in my eyes!" wrote Ben Brantley of The New York Times). Written in 1989 shortly before the end of apartheid, My Children! My Africa! presents an honest and unflinching portrait of a country on the brink of revolution, and is a testament to the power and potential of youth, hope, and ideas.

The crowd-pleasing holiday slot in the line-up features the area premiere of The Snow Queen by renowned contemporary folkartist/songwriter Michael Smith on the Proscenium Stage November 27 - December 27, 2015 and a re-imagined Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol by Tom Mula on the Boss Stage December 9 - 20, 2015. "Doug Scholz-Carlson is directing our production of The Snow Queen," says Richard Cook, "and we're working with the show's creator to infuse this sweet folksy, pop oratorio with beautiful theatrical story-telling. This is a touching, smart take on Hans Christian Andersen's tale that literally sings to children and speaks to adults."

The first world premiere of the season takes to the proscenium stage in January, when Joel Sass will direct his own inventive take on Charles Dickens' Great Expectations with a chameleon cast of 12, including two musicians. "My approach has been one of distillation-paring away the text to expose Dickens' incredibly vivid dialogue, descriptions and piercing observations," says Sass, who directed and designed Park Square's 2011 production of Oliver Twist as adapted by Neil Bartlett.

"Another consideration for me was questioning how this story of a young man aspiring to a higher station in life in the face of obstacles like class and parentage could be made even more resonant for Park Square's increasingly diverse audiences," continues Sass. "The answer was found by researching the rich history of black and bi-racial Britons in Victorian society which provides a much more expansive portrait of the period, and has opened up exciting new opportunities to achieve a diverse cast-especially for the key roles of Pip and his sister 'Mrs. Joe.'" The Park Square Theatre production will feature a diverse ensemble of twelve musician-performers who play multiple roles, sing, and play instruments, telling this marvelous old tale for a new generation of theatergoers. (Jan 15 - Feb 7, 2016)

The next world premiere begins on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage March 8, 2016 when playwright Christina Ham and actress Regina Williams (who recently brought down the house as Shug in The Color Purple) will create Nina Simone: Four Women. "The title comes from Nina's song about the many faces of black beauty," says Williams. "As a woman of color with bi-racial children, I love using that idea as the launching point." A four-actor ensemble and pianist will weave classically-trained Simone's fusion of jazz, gospel, pop, and soul together with her feminist and civil rights activism and her personal battle with bipolar disorder. (Mar 8 - 26, 2016)

The season continues March 18, 2016 on the Proscenium Stage with a new staging of Aditi Kapil's play Love Person, which had its world premiere at Mixed Blood Theatre in 2008 to critical acclaim ("...a fascinating brew of emotion, wit and intellect that challenges its audience to reassess how the form of communication shapes understanding." - Star Tribune). Artistic Associate Kapil will direct her bilingual romance steeped in American Sign Language, Sanskrit poetry, and nocturnal emails. (Mar 18 - Apr 10, 2016)

April 19, 2016 brings a fresh rendering of Wonderlust Productions treatment of Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello. Leah Cooper and Alan Berks set the action of the 1921 original amidst a TV reality show, to great effect. Cherry and Spoon said of their 2013 production at Gremlin Theatre: "The use of video in this play is unlike anything I've seen on stage...the cast is wonderful." By partnering with local colleges, Wonderlust hopes to take the video element to an even greater level and make the show even more interactive in the intimacy of Park Square's Boss Thrust Stage. (Apr 19 - May 8, 2016)

Sons of the Prophet, Stephen Karam's Pulitzer Prize finalist about two brothers keeping their Lebanese-American family together after a string of personal losses, takes to the Proscenium Stage on May 20, 2016. "Written with insight and compassion, not to mention biting wit, it shines a clarifying light on some of life's darker passages..." - New York Times (May 20 - June 5, 2016)

Park Square concludes its work in the season on the Proscenium Stage with the summer delight Calendar Girls on June 17, 2016 directed by Mary M. Finnerty. "After featuring amazing women in The Color Purple, Sally Wingert (in Shooting Star) and Linda Kelsey (The Other Place), I was eager to find a great vehicle for this town's amazing actresses - Calendar Girls features nine deliciously witty women!" says Artistic Director Richard Cook. "Whether or not you're a fan of the popular movie, we promise to fill the stage with a 'don't miss' cast." (June 17 - July 24, 2016)

Park Square's Theatres in Residence Sandbox Theatre and Theatre Pro Rata will be announcing their work on the Boss Stage later this year. Girl Friday Productions will return with a new production in the 2016-2017 Season. The full calendar of seventeen projects includes the returns of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Of Mice and Men, Romeo and Juliet and The Diary of Anne Frank, expected to play to more than 30,000 students. Romeo and Juliet will offer three public performances February 12 and 13, 2016.

All shows will be in Park Square's two theatre performance space in the Historic Hamm Building, 408 St. Peter Street, downtown Saint Paul. Shows, dates and artists are subject to change. Season tickets are on sale now and available at 651.291.7005 or online at www.parksquaretheatre.org. Packages begin at $99 and can be expanded to include all 14 shows in the season plus the three productions in the education series. Single tickets will go on sale in late July.

THE SEASON BY STAGE

Proscenium Stage

Elliot: A Soldier's Fugue by Quiara Alegría Hudes (Drama, Regional Premiere) Three generations of soldiers - in evocative voices - unravel the story of their Puerto-Rican family transformed by war. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright. (Sept 11 - Oct 4, 2015)

The Snow Queen (Musical, Regional Premiere) This young girl's quest sings to children and speaks to adults with an artful contemporary folk-pop score by the incomparable Michael Smith. (Nov 27 - Dev 27, 2015)

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens adapted and directed by Joel Sass. (World Premiere Commission) An inventive mix of Dickens' words, music and movement depict an orphan's rise to fame and fortune. (Jan 15 - Feb 7, 2016)

Love Person written and directed by Aditi Kapil (Dramatic Comedy) A bilingual romance told through American Sign Language, Sanskrit poetry, and nocturnal emails. (Mar 18 - Apr 10, 2016)

Sons of the Prophet by Stephen Karam (Comedy/Drama, Area Premiere) This Pulitzer Prize finalist is a comic and poignant exploration of how we face grief and continue to endure. (May 20 - June 5, 2016)

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth (Regional Premiere) Thirteen deliciously witty women find faith in each other and an answer to grief in a revealing fundraising scheme. (June 17 - July 26, 2016)

Andy Boss Thrust Stage

Murder for Two (first Midwest licensed Production) Book by Joe Kinosian and Lyrics by Kellen Blair (Mystery with Music) In this ingenious miniature musical, one of the energetic vaudevillian duo investigates the crime and the other plays all the suspects. (Sept 18 - Oct, 25, 2015)

My Children! My Africa! by Athol Fugard (Drama, Regional Premiere) A teacher and two gifted students, believe education can conquer violence in a country on the brink of change. (Nov 11 - 29, 2015)

Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol by Tom Mula (Holiday Special) The reimagined return of a classic tale of redemption told from the ghost's perspective. (Dec 9 - 20, 2015)

Nina Simone: Four Women written by Christina Ham (Play with Music, World Premiere Commission) Regina Marie Williams stars as the one and only Nina Simone who broke barriers and rules in this honest and heart-filled exploration of life, music and beauty. (Mar 8 - 26, 2016)

Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello (Park Square presents this Wonderlust production) A modern classic turned on its head, set amidst the egos (!), drama(!) and mind-blowing mysteries(!) of reality TV, with innovative live streaming video. (Apr 19 - May 8, 2016)

PRODUCTIONS FOR STUDENT AUDIENCES

Proscenium Stage

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

A Midsummer Nights' Dream - William Shakespeare

The Diary of Anne Frank - Goodrich and Hackett

Andy Boss Thrust Stage

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare (public performances Feb 12 and 13, 2016)