WATERTOWN, MASS.: New Repertory Theatre has announced its 2017-18 season, featuring nine productions.
“The plays in our 2017-18 season will showcase the remarkable resilience of the human spirit,” said artistic director Jim Petosa in a statement. “Theatre has the power to shed light in dark times, to illuminate and stimulate thought, and to provide a forum for us to come together as a community in conversation.”
The season will open with Aaron Loeb’s Ideation (Sept. 2-24), a satirical dark comedy about a group of top-tier consultants who take on a mysterious project for an unnamed client. Petosa will direct.
Next up will be David Mamet’s Oleanna (Oct. 14-Nov. 5), about a power struggle between a professor and one of his female students. Johnny Lee Davenport will star, and Elaine Vaan Hogue will direct.
Following will be Man of La Mancha (Dec. 1-24), with book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion, and music by Mitch Leigh, about the knight Don Quixote and his quest to dream the impossible dream. The cast will include Maurice Emmanuel Parent, and Antonio Ocampo-Guzman will direct.
The season will continue with Unveiled (Jan. 10-28, 2018), written and performed by Rohina Malik, a one-woman show that tells the story of five Muslim women in a post-9/11 world. The production will be co-produced with Stoneham Theatre.
Next will be Athol Fugard’s Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (Jan. 27-March 3, 2018), about an interracial couple that faces oppression in apartheid South Africa. Petosa will direct.
Following will be Steven Dietz’s Lonely Planet (Feb. 3-March 4, 2018), about two friends during the AIDS epidemic in America. Petosa will direct.
The season will continue with Jennifer Barclay’s Ripe Frenzy (TBA), about a tragedy that takes place in the town of Tavistown, N.Y., as the local high school stages a production of Our Town. Bridget Kathleen O’Leary will direct.
Next will be Kate Cayley’s The Bakelite Masterpiece (March 17-April 8, 2018), about an artist who is accused of selling a Vermeer painting to the Nazis at the end of World War II. Petosa will direct.
The season will conclude with Seth Rozin’s Two Jews Walk Into a War…(April 28-May 20, 2018), about the last two Jews in Afghanistan who decide to rewrite the Torah to save Judaism in the city of Kabul. Jeremiah Kissel will star.
Founded in 1984, New Repertory Theatre produces contemporary and classic dramas, comedies, and musicals at its two performance spaces in Boston.
