SPRING GREEN, WISC.: American Players Theatre (APT) has announced its 2020 season, featuring 9 productions in repertory from June 6 to Oct. 4, 2020.
“This season is both very different for us and very much APT, as we have been succeeding in stretching just who we are able to be here in the middle of the woods,” said artistic director Brenda DeVita in a statement.
The programming at the Hill Theatre, the company’s 1,089-seat outdoor performance space, will begin with Tom Stoppard’s Rough Crossing. Inspired by a play by Ferenc Molnár’s, the comedy Rough Crossing follows two established playwrights hoping to propel their careers with a musical. The cast will feature David Daniel, Brian Mani, and James Ridge, and William Brown will direct.
Next up will be Sense and Sensibility, adapted by Jessica Swale from Jane Austen’s novel, about three sisters in the 1800s looking for love while navigating the loss of their father and estate. The cast will include Nate Burger, Sarah Day, Colleen Madden, and Brian Mani. Marti Lyons will direct.
Following will be Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caeser, starring Jim DeVita as Brutus and Gavin Lawrence as Marc Antony. Stephen Brown-Fried will direct.
Next will be The Madwoman of Chaillot, adapted by Maurice Valency from Jean Giraudoux. A social satire about a group of corrupt executives looking to capitalize on oil they believe is beneath the streets of Paris. The cast will feature Tracy Michelle Arnold, Sarah Day, David Daniel, Jim DeVita, and Colleen Madden. Aaron Posner will direct.
The Hill Theatre season will round out with Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, a comedy about a king and his three companions who commit themselves to three years with no women—an oath the men regret when a French princess and her three attendants arrive to town. The cast will include Marcus Truschinski, Kelsey Brennan, Nate Burger, Melisa Pereyra, and James Ridge. Brenda DeVita will direct.
The season at the Touchstone Theatre, the company’s 201-seat indoor theatre, will kick off with The Brothers Size by Tarell Alvin McCraney. A drama about two brothers in the Louisiana bayou exploring brotherhood and the fragility of freedom. Gavin Lawrence will direct.
Next up will be Marisela Treviño Orta’s The River Bride, a fable about a young woman pining over her sister’s future husband, and the mysterious stranger from the Amazon River who offers the family an alluring future. Melisa Pereyra and Triney Sandoval will star, and Robert Ramirez will direct.
Following will be Christopher Fry’s A Phoenix Too Frequent, a comedy about a grieving Roman widow whose death wish is thwarted when she meets a handsome soldier. Keira Fromm will direct.
The season will continue with Stones in His Pockets by Marie Jones, about two down-on-their-luck Irishmen who are given an opportunity to appear in a Hollywood film as extras. The tragicomedy will star Nate Burger and Marcus Truschinski as all 15 characters. Tim Ocel will direct.
Also part of the programming will be APT’s off-season play readings series in Feb. of 2020.
Founded in 1979, APT brings contemporary and classic plays to its home on 110 acres of woods and meadows in Northern Wisconsin.
