Keegan Theatre Announces Fall Lineup, Spring Musical

Keegan Theatre will reopen its doors and launch its 18th season with the show that started it all for the company: Tennessee Williams' masterpiece CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF.

"CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF was the first show that Keegan ever produced," explains Mark A. Rhea, Keegan's producing artistic director, "and we produced it at Church Street. The symmetry is beautiful: to produce in the place where it all began, the show that started it all, but now it's a theater we own! To come full circle in our newly purchased and newly renovated home with the show that put Keegan on the map in 1997 - it's a pretty incredible thing."

Rhea, who played Brick in that original production - as well as in the company's 2001 remount with his wife, Susan, in the role of Maggie - will direct the show ("another symbolic passing of the torch," Rhea says). All other production information will be released in coming months.

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF will be followed by the Washington DC premiere of the musical DOGFIGHT.

"We're excited to showcase the hottest new songwriting team to hit Broadway, Pasek and Paul," says Rhea. "If you don't know their names yet, you will soon." Based on the 1991 Warner Brothers film and written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Smash, Edges, James And The Giant Peach, A Christmas Story) and Peter Duchan, DOGFIGHT was praised by countless critics and won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical and the Richard Rogers Award for Musical Theatre.

"This premiere also provides the opportunity to feature the outstanding talent of young musical theater actors in our community," Rhea continues. "Finding and nurturing fresh talent is an area in which we feel Keegan has a strong track record."

Following DOGFIGHT, Keegan is thrilled to be participating in the Women's Voices Theater Festival in fall 2015. As part of this area-wide initiative, Keegan will produce the US premiere of THE MAGIC TREE by Ursula Rani Sarma, a Canadian-Irish playwright, and the world premiere of THE DEALER OF BALLYNAFEIGH by Irish playwright and longtime Keegan collaborator Rosemary Jenkinson. These two premieres will run in rep during the festival, beginning in mid-October.

The Women's Voices Theater Festival will bring the company up to December 2015, during which Keegan will present its beloved holiday classic AN IRISH CAROL for its fifth-anniversary production.

In Spring 2016, Keegan will tackle the mother of all modern rock musicals: Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT. Green Day's powerhouse album is brought to life in this electric-rock musical of youthful disillusion. The two-time Tony Award-winning musical is based on Green Day's Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album. Boldly taking the American musical where it's never gone before, this high-octane hit show includes every song from Green Day's album American Idiot, as well as several songs from follow-up release, 21st Century Breakdown.

Keegan will announce the remaining shows in its 18th season lineup in early February, 2015. "The 2015-2016 season is shaping up to be truly inspiring - and our most ambitious yet," hints Rhea. "We are hitting on all cylinders when we reopen, and we can't wait to share what's in store. We intend to give our audiences the season they deserve; their support of Keegan has gotten us this far, and we are eager to give our wonderful audiences what they've come to expect at Keegan: extraordinary artists telling powerful stories in an intimate -- and now newly renovated -- space."

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