HOUSTON: Alley Theatre has announced five productions of their 2020-21 season, including two productions that were initially cancelled because of the coronavirus.
“I am pleased to announce the Alley’s full 2020-21 season,” said artistic director Rob Melrose in a statement. “After the cancellation of the latter half of the current season, due to safety precautions surrounding COVID-19, I’m happy to bring back two of those productions for this upcoming season. Sadly, we’re forgoing producing a Summer Chills production out of an abundance of caution. But I hope Houstonians will be glad to finally get to see two productions we were so sad to lose this season. I’m also proud that the Alley is presenting five world premiere productions as well as a wide range of offerings featuring our Resident Acting Company. In spite of all obstacles, it is going to be a wonderful new season!”
Opening this summer will be Clue (July 24-Sept. 6), written by Sandy Rustin with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price. The play is based on the Hasbro board game and Paramount Pictures movie by the same name. Brandon Weinbrenner will direct this classic whodunit.
Next will be the world premiere of Chisa Hutchinson’s Amerikin (Oct. 9-Nov. 8), which was originally slated for the 2019-20 season. The play is about a new father’s plight to joining a white supremacist group. James Black will direct.
A Christmas Carol—A Ghost Story of Christmas (Nov. 19-Dec. 30), adapted by Michael Wilson from the Dickens classic, will return for the holidays and celebrate the 30th anniversary of its Alley premiere. James Black will direct.
Also for the holidays will be the world premiere of Isaac Gomez’s What-a-Christmas! (Dec. 1-27), a one-woman comedy about a 30-something Tejana working a late-night shift at a Texas burger joint on Christmas Eve. Brandon Weinbrenner will direct.
In January will be the new musical Noir (Jan. 21-Feb. 21, 2021), with music by Duncan Sheik, book by Kyle Jarrow, and lyrics by Jarrow and Sheik. A heartbroken man finds himself drawn into a world of lies, deceit, and danger when a couple moves in next door and eavesdropping becomes his newest form of entertainment. Darko Tresjnak will direct.
The season will continue with Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (March 12-April 4, 2021). Eleanor Holdridge will direct Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story, which turns the classic into a funny adventure through a web of deceit and disguises.
The final play announced so far is the world premiere of Liz Duffy Adams’ Born With Teeth (April 2-May 2, 2021). Developed in the Alley All New Reading Series, the play follows poets Kit Marlowe and Will Shakespeare as they try to collaborate on a history play cycle under an authoritarian ruler and violent police state. Rob Melrose will direct.
Next up is Dead Man’s Cell Phone (April 30 – May 23, 2021), by Sarah Ruhl, about a quiet cafe, an incessant ringing phone, and a dead man. Weinbrenner will direct this production, which was programmed for the 2019-20 season.
The season will close with Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (May 21-June 20, 2020), an absurdist classic about two characters waiting for the arrival of someone named Godot. Melrose will direct.
In addition, the Alley Theatre will present High School Play: A Nostalgia Fest (June 11-July 4, 2021), by Texan playwright Vichet Chum, a co-world premiere with Dallas Theater Center. The play was developed as part of the 2020 Alley All New Festival, and will be directed by Houston native Tiffany Nichole Greene.
Founded over 70 years ago, Alley Theatre seeks to educate, entertain, and innovate in American theatre.
