LEWISTON, MAINE: The Public Theatre has announced its 2018-19 season, which will feature six plays, a children’s production, and an educational outreach program.
The season kicks off with Katherine DiSavino’s romantic comedy Things My Mother Taught Me (Oct. 19-28). This comedy follows a newlywed couple who, after buying their first apartment together, must find a way to fit both sets of their parents when they spontaneously drop by to help them move in.
Following will be Making Whoopie! Ida LeClair’s Guide to Love and Marriage (Nov. 9-11), created and performed by Susan Poulin. The show offers a mix of stories about love, marriage, and dating, all followed by Ida’s humorous but common-sense advice.
Next up is the theatre’s production of A Christmas Carol (Dec. 14-16), adapted by Christopher Schario. Tickets for this Christmas classic, which features six actors and a fiddler, are $5 for children 18 and under.
Following will be the East Coast premiere of Human Error (Jan. 25-Feb. 3), by Eric Pfeffinger. In this new comedy, after a fertility doctor mistakenly implants a liberal couple’s embryo into the womb of an extremely conservative family, two couples must find common ground for the sake of their child.
Next will be Lucas Hnath’s Broadway hit A Doll’s House, Part 2 (March 15-24). In this contemporary sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s tragedy A Doll’s House, Norwegian housewife Nora Helmer returns 15 years later to the home she walked out on.
The season continues with the Maine premiere of Matthew Barber’s Fireflies (May 3-12). This love story follows Eleanor, a strong woman comfortable in her life who must decide if she is ready to let late-life romance back in. The production will be directed by two-time Tony winner Judith Ivey and features Broadway veterans Peter Friedman, Caitlin O’Connell, and Jennifer Harmon.
The season will conclude with The Legend of the Banana Kid (May 19), for children and families. In this special production from the Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers, who have received three Citations of Excellence from UNIMA-USA, the highest national award in puppetry, a young boy travels to the Wild West on his trusty goat to fight outlaws and gangs of bandits.
Additionally, the Public Theatre will also host pre-show beer and wine tastings in the theatre lobby for opening night and Thursday night performances of subscription shows as well as Makin’ Whoopie. The “BREW HaHa” beer tastings, compliments of Baxter Brewing. will be held starting at 6:30 on Oct. 19, Jan. 25, March 15 and May 3. “Wine-Down Thursday”, courtesy of Roopers and The Vault, will be held on Oct. 25, Jan. 31, March 21, and May 9, plus a special “Wine-Down Friday” on Nov. 9.
The season will also continue the theatre’s educational outreach and student matinee program, which will present morning matinees for most productions as well as study guides online for each show. The program also encourages student attendance by offering $5 tickets for anyone under 18 for shows from October to May.
The Public Theatre, which was named the Best Theatre in Maine for the sixth year in a row by Down East Magazine’s readers’ choice poll, was founded in 1991 with the mission of bringing high quality professional theater to Central Maine at an affordable price.
