WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VT.: Northern Stage has announced its 2015–16 season, which includes a musical, a world premiere, and classic works of the American and British stages.
The season will begin with a modern-dress production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (Oct. 7–31, 2015). Billed as “a new take on an exquisite classic,” the play will be performed in the round and in modern dress. Artistic director Carol Dunne will direct.
Next, a holiday-season run of Mary Poppins (Nov. 18, 2015–Jan. 3, 2016) will serve as the Disney musical’s regional premiere under the direction of Chad Larabee.
New Works Now (Jan. 15–16, 2016), a showcase for new-play development, will follow.
Mad Love (Jan. 27–Feb. 13, 2016), a romantic comedy from local playwright Marisa Smith that was itself featured in last year’s New Works Now festival, will receive its world premiere shortly thereafter. Key plot elements include cabbage soup, a rare baseball card, and a kindly Ukrainian hooker. Maggie Burrows will direct.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Feb. 24–March 12, 2016), a madcap adaptation of the classic Sherlock Holmes tale, will follow. As in The 39 Steps, another thriller-turned-farce, only a handful of actors (in this case, 3) will portray a whole host of characters (16). Peter Hackett will direct.
Next will be The Mountaintop (March 23–April 9, 2016), Katori Hall’s Olivier Award-winning glimpse into Martin Luther King Jr.’s last evening on earth, also directed by Carol Dunne.
The Norman Conquests: Living Together (April 20–May 8, 2016), the second installment in Alan Ayckbourn’s seriocomic trilogy about a sextet of lustful British thirtysomethings, will conclude the season.
The public is also invited to the grand opening of the Barrette Center for the Arts (BCA), Northern Stage’s brand new facility, on October 10, 2015. A ribbon-cutting ceremony, self-guided tours, children’s activities, and prize drawings will be among the festivities.
“With the Barrette Center for the Arts, we have the opportunity to create work that makes our audiences truly love the experience of attending theatre, whether our offerings are the reimagining of classics or groundbreaking new work,” says Dunne. “From Our Town’s portrayal of the beauty of the simple to a world premiere by our local playwright Marisa Smith to the statewide collaboration with Vermont theaters, our season honors our extraordinary region and the people who made the BCA possible.”
