TUCSON and PHOENIX, ARIZ.: Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) has announced its 2017-18 season, featuring six mainstage productions.
“An ideal season at ATC creates a meeting place for the many communities that make up our dynamic home in Arizona,” said artistic director David Ira Goldstein in a statement. “Our audiences come from every county in the state and have an eager thirst for theatre experiences that range from reimagined classics to new plays. This season, specifically, contains a large dose of romance and larger-than-life characters from all over the world.”
The season will open with Neil Simon’s Chapter Two (Sept. 9-30 in Tucson, and Oct. 5-22 in Phoenix), a comedy about a widowed writer whose brother sets him up with a soap opera actress. Marsha Mason will direct.
Next up will be Marisela Treviño Orta’s The River Bride (Oct. 21-Nov. 11 in Tucson, and Nov. 16-Dec. 3 in Phoenix), about a young woman pining over her sister’s future husband, and a mysterious stranger who offers the two sisters an alluring but potentially dangerous future. Kinan Valdez will direct.
Following will be Man of La Mancha (Dec. 2-23 in Tucson, and Jan. 11-28 in Phoenix), with book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion, and music by Mitch Leigh. The musical follows Miguel de Cervantes and his fellow prisoners as they perform the story of Don Quixote while they wait to hear news on the Spanish Inquisition.
The season will continue with John Patrick Shanley’s Outside Mullingar (Jan. 20-Feb. 10 in Tucson, Feb. 15-March 4 in Phoenix), about an unlikely romance that blossoms between two introverts living on farm lands in Ireland.
Next up will be Low Down Dirty Blues (March 10-31 in Tucson, and April 5-22 in Phoenix), by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman, a revue about a group of veteran blues musicians who gather for after-hours jam sessions featuring music by Muddy Waters, Mae West, Ma Rainey, Sophie Tucker, Howlin’ Wolf, and Pearl Bailey. Myler will direct.
The season will close with The Diary of Anne Frank (April 21-May 12 in Tucson, and May 17-June 3 in Phoenix), adapted by Wendy Kesselman from Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, which follows the catastrophic events of eight people hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam. This production, coproduced with the Geva Theatre Center, will incorporate newly discovered writings from the diary of Anne Frank. Goldstein will direct.
The Arizona Theatre Company, founded in 1966, is the professional resident theatre of Arizona. The company produces full seasons in both Tucson and Phoenix.
