FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE: February
27, 2015
CONTACT:Randall
Hartzog, Theatre
Memphis, Director of Marketing and Communications rhartzog@theatrememphis.org
901.682.8601
Theatre Memphis Announces 2015-16 Season
Theatre Memphis
has made its play selections for the 2015-16 season and they include a variety
of entertainment that touches many bases. Featuring musicals, comedy, drama,
classics and new work, the season offers options to Memphis patrons.
The 411 seat
Lohrey Stage will begin the season with The
Producers, a zany musical
by Mel Brooks based on his film of the same name. Get rich quick producers promote a sure fire
Broadway flop only to see it succeed. Wait Until Dark, will
follow in the season line up as a suspenseful thriller that shows a blind woman
using all her wits to survive a brutal set of con men out to retrieve what they
believe to be their contraband. The
Lion in Winter will next bring on a historically-based fictional story
of Queen Eleanor of Aquataine and her
attempt to discredit her husband King Henry II who has imprisoned her for a
decade. The fray engulfs their three sons and French royalty who all lay claim
to rule. In March of 2016, Into the Woods by Stephen
Sondheim and James Lapine, a musical based on a
storybook fantasy, brings together the likes of Little Red Riding Hood,
Cinderella, Jack and his beanstalk and more from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.
This delightful romp, with a dose of reality thrown in the mix, questions
“happily ever after.” A farcical comedy of manners by Noel Coward is presented
next as Hay Fever infects hilarity on the stage with the
Bliss family. Each member of the family invites a guest to the country house
and the confusion and melodrama take over.
Reality slips into fiction leading to the visitors plotting their escape from
the mayhem. Closing the Lohrey Stage season will be Oliver! which has never been performed on a Theatre
Memphis stage. A wildly popular musical, the Charles Dickens
characters come to life as an orphan and his associates scramble to survive and
to find joy in their journey. And
of course, the family favorite, A
Christmas Carol, will be performed as a special holiday offering in
December for the 38th consecutive
year at Theatre Memphis. Liberace! Will be a Summer Showcase
Special show in July of 2015 featuring
Gary Beard in a one man presentation of the performer famous for his charm,
glitz and glamour.
The black box Next
Stage season leads off with The
Gin Game, a Tony Award winner for Best Play. A lonely woman in her twilight years has
entered a home for the aged and then is befriended by a male fellow resident.
As they seemingly become close over the shuffle of cards as he teaches her to
play Gin Rummy, much is revealed of their regret-filled lives and their
interaction soon leads to an unsettling confrontation. Doubt comes up next presenting a rigidly
conservative nun who is the Principal of a Catholic school in 1964. She
suspects sexual misconduct between a priest and a student and even
confrontation to the priest and the child’s mother only brings more mistrust
and suspicion to the sister’s beliefs. Following in the Next Stage will
be a Terrance McNally work. At turns funny and powerful, Mothers and Sons portrays a woman who
pays an unexpected visit to the New York apartment of her late son's partner,
who is now married to another man and has a young son. Generations collide as she revisits the past
and begins to see the life her son might have led. Scheduled next to follow in the black box theatre is comical parody The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr
(Abridged). Three actors take on William Shakespeare in all of his
glory breaking the fourth wall with animated and shortened interpretations
improvised and infused with pop culture.
Visit www.theatrememphis.org for a complete listing of the 2015-16
season.
Season
memberships are available by calling 901.682.8323 and are $135 which includes
six tickets. All tickets are good to use on any performance and can be used in
any combination on any show, excluding A
Christmas Carol, TM/PM cabarets and summer showcases which are not part of
the membership package. Season members do, however, receive discounts on
tickets to holiday offerings and special events. Memberships secured prior to April
15, 2014 will receive a $10 discount off the regular membership price. All shows are at 7:30pm Thursdays, 8pm
on Fridays and Saturdays with matinees on Sunday at 2pm, unless otherwise
designated. Single ticket prices for adults are $30 for musicals and $25
for dramas/comedies, $15 for children 11 and
under and students with a valid ID.
Dates for all
productions are listed below:
###
Summer
Musical Showcase* Liberace!
By Brent Hazelton, Performed by Gary Beard, July 10 – 26, 2015
Lohrey
Stage
The Producers
Music and
Lyrics by Mel Brooks, Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
August 21 –
September 13, 2015
Wait Until Dark
by Frederick
Knott, October 16 –
November 1, 2015
A Christmas Carol*
by Charles
Dickens, December 4 –
23, 2015. Theatre
Memphis’ 38th Annual
Production
The Lion in Winter
by James
Goldman, January 22 –
February 7, 2016
Into the Woods
Music and
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by James Lapine, March 11 –
April 3, 2016
Hay Fever,
by Noel Coward, April 29 – May
15, 2016
Oliver!,
Book, Music and
Lyrics by Lionel Bart, June 10 – July 3,
2016
Next
Stage
The Gin Game by Donald L.
Colburn, September 18 –
October 4, 2015
Doubt
by John Patrick
Shanley, November 6 – 21,
2015
All Over
by Edward Albee, February 12 – 28,
2016
The
Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)
by Adam Long,
Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, April 8 – 24,
2016
*Not part of the season membership but members do get discounts on Adult full price tickets.
Theatre Memphis is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization located at 630 Perkins Extended (corner of Perkins and Southern) and is a community theatre whose mission is to provide outstanding theatrical experiences to enrich the lives of our audiences and participants. Visit our website at www.theatrememphis.org. Theatre Memphis receives funding from ArtsMemphis and the Tennessee Arts Commission.