STORRS, CONN.: Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) has announced its 2016-17 season, including productions for their mainstage and studio spaces.
The mainstage season will begin with a production of Shakespeare’s King Lear (Oct. 6-16), directed by Dale AJ Rose. The show will follow the Folger Shakespeare Library‘s First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare, an exhibition that will bring a copy of the rare “first folio” to the University of Connecticut’s (UCONN) campus during the month of September.
Next up on the mainstage will be An Absolutely Turkey (Dec. 1-10), a translation of the Georges Feydeau farce Le Dindon, translated by Nikki Frei and Peter Hall and directed by Paul Mullins. In the show, a man lusts after his friend’s wife, setting off a humorous revenge plot.
Following in the mainstage season will be Clifford Odets’s Waiting For Lefty (Feb. 23-March 5, 2017), a politically-charged story set in 1930s New York City which follows a group of cab drivers as they decide whether or not to go on strike.
The mainstage season will close with Shrek The Musical (April 20-30, 2017), a Tony-nominated musical comedy with music by Jeanine Tesori and book by David Lindsay-Abaire. Based on the Dreamworks film, the story follows an ogre hero and his sidekick donkey on the quest to rescue a princess. The production will feature work from UCONN’s Puppet Arts program. Margarett Perry will direct.
In addition to its mainstage season, Connecticut Rep will feature two smaller-scale productions on its studio stage. First will be Bernardo Solano and Allan Havis’s Nuevo California (Oct. 27-Nov. 6), directed by Richard Ruiz. The “futuristic fantasy” takes place in 2028, after an earthquake has wiped out Los Angeles and Orange County. It follows the first Mexican-American pope as he visits the region to bless the demolition of the wall between Mexico and the United States.
The second and final studio stage offering will be Sarah Ruhl Eurydice (March 23-April 2, 2017), an adaptation of the Greek myth which follows the mythic Eurydice and Orpheus to the underworld.
Connecticut Repertory Theatre is the producing arm of the University of Connecticut’s Department of Dramatic Arts. It presents both new and classic works.
