BOSTON: SpeakEasy Stage Company has announced its 2018-19 season, featuring the regional premieres of three plays and two Tony Award-winning musicals.
“Each of these shows is uniquely theatrical and celebrates the importance of sharing our stories to better appreciate our common humanity,” said producing artistic director Paul Daigneault in a statement. “I am also excited for the many opportunities these shows offer a diverse group of local artists, both young talent and experienced professionals.”
The season will open with the New England premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Between Riverside and Crazy (Sept. 7-Oct. 6). In this dark urban comedy exploring the slippery nature of justice, Walter “Pops” Washington fights to hang on to his rent-stabilized Manhattan apartment.
Next up will be the Boston regional theatre premiere of the Tony Award-winning Fun Home (Oct. 19-Nov. 17), with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. Daigneault will direct this funny and heartbreaking musical based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir.
Following will be the Boston premiere of Small Mouth Sounds (Jan. 4-Feb. 2, 2019), by Bess Wohl. In the play, six strangers meet at a silentwellness retreat for what they hope will be a life-changing five-day experience.
After that will be the Boston regional premiere of Once (March 1-30, 2019), with book by Enda Walsh and music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. Paul Melone will direct this story of unexpected romance between a Dublin street musician and a Czech immigrant. The musical is based on the motion picture written and directed by John Carney.
Next will be School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play (May 3-25, 2019), by Jocelyn Bioh. Summer L. Williams will direct the New England premiere of this play that sees Paulina’s reign as the “queen bee” at Ghana’s most exclusive boarding school threatened when Ericka transfers in from Ohio for her senior year.
Rounding out the season will be the New England premiere of The View Upstairs (May 31-June 22, 2019), with book, music, and lyrics by Max Vernon. Wes finds himself transported to the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant seventies gay bar, after buying an abandoned building in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Daigneault will direct.
Founded in 1992, SpeakEasy Stage Company brings new plays and musicals to New England.
