NORFOLK, VA.: Virginia Stage Company (VSC) has announced its 2016–17 season, the theatre’s 38th, which will include two world premieres alongside classic works.
The season will also mark the reopening of the Wells Theatre, which underwent a $4 million renovation. Due to the renovation, the first two shows of the season will take place at outside venues.
First up will be the world premiere of Eric Schorr’s chamber musical, I Sing the Rising Sea (Sept. 13–Oct. 9), which will be presented in partnership with—and on the campus of—Old Dominion University at the Goode Theatre.
Patrick Mullins’s new adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist (Oct. 28–Nov. 13), with music by Jake Hull, will be next. The production will be presented in partnership with the Governor’s School for the Arts at the Roper Theater.
The theatre’s annual holiday show, A Christmas Carol (Dec. 7–24), will follow. The show will be the first to play in the remodeled Wells Theatre and will mark the space’s soft opening.
The Wells Theatre will have a grand reopening with Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire (Jan. 17–Feb. 5, 2017). VSC’s director of artistic vision Chris Hanna will direct.
Venus in Fur (Feb. 28–Mar. 19, 2017), by David Ives, will be next. Based on the1870 novel Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the play follows a tumultuous audition between a director and an unsteady actress.
The final show of the season will be The Color Purple (April 11–30, 2017)*, the musical based on Alice Walker’s novel. With book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Allee Willis, Brenda Russell, and Stephen Bray, the show will be produced in partnership with Norfolk State.
Founded in 1968, VSC is southeastern Virginia’s only professional nonprofit resident theatre, with a commitment to producing new work and engaging with the community.
*Update: The final show of the season will be The Wiz (April 11-30,2017), produced in partnership with Norfolk State University, featuring a book by William F. Brown and music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls.
