STONY POINT, N.Y.: Penguin Rep Theatre has announced its 2016 season, which will feature plays that tackle current and controversial subject matters.
“The upcoming season is a wonderful opportunity to meet unforgettable characters, and to experience really great stories about some hot-button topics, including immigration, same-sex marriage, and disability,” said artistic director Joe Brancato in a statement.
Great White American Teeth (April 30–May 1), written and performed by Fiona Walsh, will be a pre-season three-performance offering. The show is about the comedian’s efforts to travel from Ireland to America to date a movie star.
The season will kick off officially with Mark Harelik’s The Immigrant (May 20–June 12), about the playwright’s Jewish grandfather and his emigration from Russia to Texas in 1909.
Next will be Buyer & Cellar (July 1–24), by Jonathan Tolins, about an out-of-work actor who begins working for Barbra Streisand in a private mall located in the basement of her Malibu home.
Following will be Mark St. Germain’s Dancing Lessons (Aug. 12–Sept. 4), a romantic comedy about an injured dancer who teaches a young man with autism how to dance in preparation for an awards dinner.
The season will conclude with Michael McKeever’s Daniel’s Husband (Sept. 23–Oct. 16), about a gay couple whose lives take a shocking turn. The show will be produced in arrangement with Ted Snowdon
Penguin will present a one-night-only performance of Wiesenthal (Oct. 8), written and performed by Tom Dugan, about Simon Wiesenthal, an ordinary man who brought Nazi war criminals to justice.
Penguin’s “Just Desserts” reading series, featuring desserts and a reading of a new play, will also be part of the programming.
Founded in 1977, Penguin Rep Theatre brings new and challenging plays to its home in a century-old barn in the Hudson Valley.
