Red Branch Theatre Company Announces 2017 Season

Red Branch Theatre Company Artistic Director Stephanie Lynn Williams and Managing Director Tiffany Underwood Holmes unveiled the 2017 season titles on opening night of the current production of Evil Dead: the Musical. The season, entitled "Mad About You" includes productions of Mad Libs Live!, Lysistrata Jones, The Bridges of Madison County, and Madagascar - A Musical Adventure.

Red Branch will open its ninth full season with Mad Libs Live! running from March 17 - April 8. The immensely popular word game is now a musical. Just as participants fill in the blanks on paper, so does the audience "fill in the blanks" to help the actors on stage complete the story. The highly interactive musical promises something new for each performance. With music by Jeff Thomson and book and lyrics by Robin Rothstein, Mad Libs Live! originally played at New World Stages from November 2, 2015 - January 3, 2016. This marks the first time that an area theatre will produce the title.

Summer theatre will return in August following this successful summer runs of Avenue Q and Heathers in seasons past. Red Branch is slated to present the area premiere of Lysistrata Jones from August 4-26. The musical comedy adaptation of Aristophanes' Lysistrata boasts a book by Douglas Carter Beane with music and lyrics by Lewis Flinn. The updated adaptation brings the action from the original ancient Greek play into the 21st century, substituting soldiers in Athens with basketball players at the fictitious Athens University. Lysistrata Jones premiered at the Dallas Theater Center. It enjoyed a limited run on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre with 34 previews and 30 regular performances in the 2011-12 season. The title marks another area premiere for Red Branch's 2017 season.

Following several successful productions of the composer's work, Red Branch will produce the regional premiere of Jason Robert Brown's The Bridges of Madison County in September and October of 2017. Many of the songs from this work were presented on Red Branch's stage in 2014 when the composer presented a one-night-only concert soon after the show's transfer to Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.

Red Branch will round out its 2017 season entitled "Mad About You" with Madagascar - A Musical Adventure. This stage adaptation of the popular DreamWorks animated feature brings characters like Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe, and Gloria the hip hip Hippo to dazzling new life in three dimensions. With a book by Kevin Del Aguila and original music and lyrics by George Noriega and Joel Someillan, the show expands from the original animated film while keeping fan favorite song "I Like to Move It" in the action.

Season subscriptions are on sale now. Individual tickets will be on sale in 2017 on a rolling basis.

Mad Libs Live! is presented with permission by R&H Theatricals. Lysistrata Jones is presented with permission by Tams Witmark. The Bridges of Madison County and Madagascar - a Musical Adventure are both presented with permission by MTI.

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2017 Season At-a-Glance:

· March - April: Mad Libs Live!

· August: Lysistrata Jones

· September - October: The Bridges of Madison County

· December: Madagascar - a Musical Adventure

Season Subscriptions are on sale now through April 2017. Individual tickets will go on sale to the general public February 2015.

2017 Subscription Pricing:

3-Show Plan

$70

4-Show Plan

$85

2017 Single Ticket Pricing:

Advanced / Door

Mainstage Theatre

$24*/$30

$35

Family Theatre

$15*/$18

$20

PJ Party

$25

*Students (with valid ID), Seniors (65+), and Active Duty Military

Performances will play the Drama Learning Center, located at 9130-I Red Branch Road, Columbia, MD 21045.

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