ADDISON, TEX.: WaterTower Theatre (WTT) has announced the 2016-17 season, its 20th. The season will be the last to be programmed by artistic director Terry Martin, who will be stepping down this summer.
“I have had the privilege and honor to call this theatre my artistic home for 17 glorious years,” said Martin in a statement. “My heart is full of pride with all that we have accomplished. I am thrilled to leave the community with a 20th anniversary season that I feel is a wonderful representation of what WaterTower Theatre has always been about—a true celebration of the art of theatre.”
The season will kick off with Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash (Oct. 7-30). Created by Richard Maltby Jr., conceived by William Meade, and featuring orchestrations by Steven Bishop and Jeff Lisenby, the show will pay tribute to Johnny Cash’s music.
Next up is Lauren Gunderson’s Silent Sky (Jan. 20-Feb. 12, 2017), about Henrietta Leavitt, a pioneering American astronomer in the early 20th century.
Following will be Scott Carter’s The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord (April 14-May 7, 2017). In this comedy, Carter, an executive producer for Real Time with Bill Maher, explores “what happens when great men of history are forced to repeat it.”
The season will continue with Native Gardens (June 2-25, 2017), by Karen Zacarías, about a couple living the American dream who get into an argument about class, privilege, and entitlement with their neighbors.
The season will conclude with Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George (July 28-August 20, 2017), a musical that revolves around a fictionalized version of the French post-impressionist painter Georges Seurat and his famous painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.”
In addition to these plays, WaterTower will present a “holiday extra,” Maripat Donovan’s Sister’s Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold (December 2-23, 2016). Described as “CSI: Bethlehem,” the holiday mystery revolves around the biblical Magi from the Gospel of Matthew.
WaterTower Theatre, founded in 1996, serves the greater Dallas area, and is based out of the Addison Theatre Center.
