PAWTUCKET, R.I.: The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre has announced its 2017-18 season, featuring five plays including Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.
In a statement, artistic director Tony Estrella described the upcoming productions as “stories of public and private reinvention of discovering new ways forward when the old ones stop making sense.”
The season will open with Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (Sept.-Oct.). Set in Victorian London, this comedy follows Jack Worthington and Algernon Moncrieff as they pursue two women who are hopelessly in love with a man named Ernest. The men craft an elaborate plan to win them over, and hilarity ensues.
Following will be Incognito (Nov.–Dec.), by Nick Payne, in which four actors will play all 21 characters throughout three interwoven storylines: a pathologist steals Albert Einstein’s brain, a female neuropsychologist finds love with another woman, and a man with amnesia forgets all but the love for his wife.
Starting the new year will be Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (Jan.-Feb. 2018), a family drama set on a country estate. Characters painstakingly navigate familial conflicts, mid-life crises, and the love for each other in this serious yet comical story of nostalgia and hope for the future.
Next up will be A Human Being Died That Night (March 2018), by Nicholas Wright, based on the book by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, about a white policeman serving two life sentences for torturing and murdering anti-apartheid activists and his complicated relationship with his black female interrogator, psychologist Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela.
Closing the season will be William Shakespeare’s As You Like It (April-May 2018), following young Rosalind who flees to the forest to escape the corruption of her uncle’s court, and disguises herself as a man. Her romantic interest, Orlando, enters the forest in pursuit of her, sparking a tale of true love and mistaken identity.
The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, founded in 1984, aims to engage its audiences with topical issues and is dedicated to educational outreach programs that support its artistic community.
