Kate Hamill's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, Jennifer Barclay's RIPE FRENZY and More Set for Synchronicity Theatre's 20th Season

True to its mission, Synchronicity Theatre's 20th Anniversary Season will feature the voices of women playwrights and provide new opportunities to uplift the voices of women and girls. The 2017-2018 season includes expanded programming in Synchronicity's Bold Voices series (bold, contemporary plays for adults), the Family Series (compelling plays for children and families), and Spark Series events (curated new voices, events and performances).

Our Bold Voices series features works by female playwrights, including the world premiere of Jennifer Barclay's powerful Ripe Frenzy. We will also produce Kate Hamill's playful new adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, and fully-stage last season's popular staged reading of Lauren Gunderson's modern, political farce, The Taming.

The company will continue its long-standing tradition of curating new voices and providing opportunities for emerging artists to perform their works through our Spark Series events and performances. This year, we will feature our new arts incubator project Stripped Bare, and a third incarnation of SheWrites, a new play festival celebrating female playwrights.

Synchronicity will continue its mission of community building with the Playmaking for Kids and Playmaking for Girls programs (playwriting workshops for juvenile justice and refugee communities, and after school programs), the popular Women in the Arts Panel Luncheon (a discussion of relevant issues in the arts, philanthropy and economic development of Atlanta) in April, and with our community partnerships.

All performances will be at Synchronicity Theatre, in Midtown's Peachtree Pointe complex. For tickets or more information on Synchronicity Theatre, programming and events, visit www.synchrotheatre.com or call 404-484-8636.

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ABOUT THE PLAYS:

September 22 - October 15, 2017
Sense and Sensibility by Kate Hamill, Adapted from Jane Austen's Book
Show Times: 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday
A playful new adaptation of Jane Austen's beloved novel follows the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the Dashwood sisters-sensible Elinor and hypersensitive Marianne-after their father's sudden death leaves them financially destitute and socially vulnerable. Set in gossipy late 18th-century England, with a fresh female voice, the play is full of humor, emotional depth, and bold theatricality. Playwright Kate Hamill's Sense and Sensibility examines our reactions, both reasonable and ridiculous, to societal pressures, and shows us how true love triumphs over all.

December 8 - 31, 2017
Heidi, Adapted from the book by Johanna Spyri, Book by Martha King De Silva, Music & Lyrics by Joan Cushing
Show Times: 7 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday
In this new musical re-telling of the classic Victorian-era book, Heidi moves from a small Swiss village, to the Alps, to Frankfurt, Germany, and back to her beloved mountains (complete with singing goats!). Everywhere she goes, Heidi brings joy to the people around her: her lonely grandfather and neighbor, Peter, as well as her sickly friend, Clara. This richly emotional story celebrates how the power of love can restore hope for the future and a better life.

February 2 - 25, 2018
The Miraculous Story of Edward Tulane, Adapted by Dwayne Hartford from the Book by Kate DiCamillo
Show Times: 7 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday
Edward Tulane is a very dapper china rabbit-a birthday present for 10-year-old Abilene, who loves him almost as much as Edward Loves himself. But when he gets lost at sea, Edward finds he has a lot to learn. Caught in a fisherman's net, he lands in a garbage dump, travels with a happy hobo and comforts a sick child, bouncing along from person to person through decades until he discovers the transformative power of love.

April 13 - May 6, 2018
Ripe Frenzy by Jennifer Barclay
Show Times: 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday
Winner of the National New Play Network's 2016 Smith Prize for Political Theatre, the World Premiere of Jennifer Barclay's Ripe Frenzy brings us to Tavistown, New York, where a recent tragedy has rocked the community to its core. Narrator and town historian, Zoe, recounts the days leading up to the incident, as the high school prepares for the semi-annual production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Ripe Frenzy is a stunning new play about the importance of community in the wake of unspeakable devastation.

June 1 - 24, 2018
The Taming by Lauren Gunderson
Show Times: 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday
A crackling modern political farce, Lauren Gunderson's The Taming hilariously takes on America's overheated political rhetoric and upends historical truths about our founding fathers. When a conservative senatorial aid, a liberal political activist, and a super sparkly beauty queen find themselves locked in a hotel room, the political passions of these slightly insane women prove they might just be revolutionary geniuses. Initially inspired by The Taming of The Shrew, Gunderson's farce The Taming grew out of her desire to wrestle with potent elements inside the Bard's playful and problematic battle of the sexes.

2017-2018 "SPARK SERIES" EVENTS:

Dates TBD
Stripped Bare

In its second year, Synchronicity's new arts incubator project, Stripped Bare, will give early-career artists a space to create and present new work. Stripped Bare focuses on projects that emphasize words and ideas, with minimal technical elements, and encourages young artists to think about the essentials of theatre, "stripped of" intricate sets, lights, props, sound design, and costumes. While each project will use these devices minimally, the focus will be on actors, words, passion, and ideas. Each winner will get up to three days in Synchronicity Theatre's performance space. They will receive a technician, producer and/or facility manager, house manager, and a box office staffer for each performance. Each project will also receive marketing support and mention on Synchronicity's website. Applications will be available online in July at synchrotheatre.com. Performance dates and times will be announced at a later date.

Early 2018
SheWrites

The third incarnation of SheWrites, a new play festival celebrating female playwrights, will provide a week of readings and workshops of three new plays by women writers. Performance dates and times will be announced at a later date.

BEYOND THE THEATRE

April 2018
Women in the Arts Panel Luncheon

Synchronicity's signature event connecting the arts and business communities joins dynamic and lively dialogue with a panel of top women artists and business leaders. Date, time and location will be announced at a later date.

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The company will continue Playmaking for Kids after school and summer camp drama programming and the acclaimed Playmaking for Girls program for juvenile justice and refugee communities with a performance open to the public in June. Info will be available online at www.synchrotheatre.com.

Synchronicity Theatre, led by Producing Artistic Director Rachel May and Managing Director & Artistic Associate Lee Nowell, produces smart, gutsy, high quality theatre that sparks community connections and uplifts the voices of women and girls. Synchronicity supports women artists, forges long-term and effective community partnerships and develops new work. Synchronicity was founded in 1997 by four women with a desire to work collaboratively and bring challenging, meaningful theatre to Atlanta audiences. We now reach nearly 8,000 patrons through our season of plays for adults (Bold Voices) and families (Family Series); community outreach; and educational programming, including our Playmaking for Kids (PFK) summer camps and after school programs and our award-winning Playmaking for Girls (PFG) program. Our intimate theatre in the heart of midtown at Peachtree Pointe became our home in the summer of 2014.

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