ARVADA, COLO.: The Arvada Center for the Performing Arts has announced its 2018-19 season, which will feature seven productions.
The season will kick off with the musical Mamma Mia! (Sept. 7-30), which follows a daughter’s quest to find her birth father on the eve of her wedding. The musical features songs by ABBA, with a book by Catherine Johnson, and Rod A. Lansberry will direct.
Following will be Educating Rita (Oct. 5-Nov. 11) by Willy Russell. The play follows the mentor-mentee relationship of a tutor and an open university student who must navigate class differences in order to pursue higher education. Lynne Collins will direct.
Next onstage will be ELF – The Musical (Nov. 20-Dec. 23), based on the film by David Berenbaum, which details Buddy the elf’s journey through New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. Gavin Mayer will direct.
Following will be The Diary of Anne Frank (Feb. 1-May 17, 2019), newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman from the memoirs of Anne Frank, about a young Jewish girl forced to hide from Nazi persecution. Christy Montour-Larson will direct.
Then Arvada will present the regional premiere of The Moors (Feb. 22-May 18, 2019) by Jen Silverman, a dark comedy about two sisters and a dog who are sent on a strange path by the arrival of a governance. Anthony Powell will direct.
The season’s penultimate production will be the world premiere of Sin Street Social Club (March 15-May 19, 2019) by Jessica Austgen, adapted from The Rover by Aphra Behn. It is about two sisters living in 1916 New Orleans who try to save their father’s dance club. The show will be directed by Collins.
Finally, finishing out the season will be the regional premiere of Trav’lin – The 1930s Harlem Musical (April 9-8, 2019), which follows three couples of different generations during the Harlem Renaissance. Lansberry will direct.
Founded in 1976, the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities has become one of the nation’s largest multidisciplinary arts centers and is devoted to all aspects of the arts.