WELLFLEET, MASS.: Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT) has announced its 2015 season, which will include a modern Broadway comedy, the world premiere of a new take on a classic American story, an homage to a groundbreaking artist, a look at personal morality and a underperformed musical centered around the so-called crime of the century.
First up is Mark Brown’s adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days (March 14–29), the tale of Phileas Fogg and his manservant Passepartout’s race ’round the globe to prove that it’s possible to complete the trip in the titular time period. Christopher Ostrom directs.
Seminar (May 16–June 13) by Theresa Rebeck is next. It traces four up-and-coming novelists in a private writing classes with a famous and demanding author. Christine Toy Johnson directs.
The world premiere of James Armstrong’s adaptation of Melville’s Moby-Dick (June 20–July 18) is next. A five-member cast helps narrate the storyof Pequod’s voyage in this production directed by Ostrom.
Fresh from Broadway is Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (July 25–Aug. 22) by Lanie Robertson, a recreation of a performance by Billie Holiday at a Philadelphia bar months before her death. Stephen Nachamie directs this close look at the life of the jazz songstress.
Then comes Donald Margulies’s Time Stands Still (Aug. 29–Sept. 6). Michael Unger directs the story of Sarah and James, a photojournalist and foreign correspondent, who partnered to cover the war in Afghanistan and but can’t live in peace on home front.
Stephen Dolginoff’s Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story (Oct. 23–Nov. 8) follows. This musical recounts the events leading up to the infamous murder by two brilliant and troubled young men. Jeffry George directs.
For the WHAT for Kids Show, audiences will travel to old Russia in The Fool Of the World and the Flying Ship (July 6–Aug. 27), where a father offers his daughter’s hand in marriage to the first person who can bring a flying ship to the palace. The show was written and will be directed by Stephen Russell.
Closing out the season will be Hard Travelin’ with Woody (Aug 4, 9, 11, and 16). Randy Noojin, who penned the show and will perform the part of Woody, will take audiences on a journey through the late Woody Guthrie’s life and music, starting during the days of the Dust Bowl up to a union meeting with striking mineworkers.
Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater has been producing for 31 years.
