Three world premiere productions with settings in Montgomery, Alabama from the 1860s to the 1960s will be among the highlights of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's 25th Anniversary season. The ten-show lineup will also include three encores of ASF's biggest-selling hits ever, as well as a Shakespearian comedy and tragedy-and Tigger, too.
ASF Memberships offer the best prices and perks for the 2010-11 Season. New memberships can be purchased beginning May 21, 2010 by contacting the ASF box office at 1.800.841.4273. For more information visit www.asf.net.ASF kicks off season number twenty-five at the Carolyn Blount theatre complex with the world premiere of Pearl Cleage's The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at A Celebration of its First One Hundred Years, Sept. 24-Oct. 3. The play is a joyous and irreverent romp through Montgomery's black debutante society during the 1960s and features television, film and Broadway star Jasmine Guy. The Nacirema Society Requests... is a co-production with Atlanta's ALLIANCE THEATRE.Bettye Knapp's adaption of The House at Pooh Corner (Sept. 22-Oct. 22) features all of A.A. Milne's classic Pooh characters. In this episode, disaster strikes when Christopher Robin learns that he has to leave the 100-Acre Wood and move to Africa. So, Winnie the Pooh and company, including Tigger, must find a way to save the day.
ASF's biggest hit ever, Peter Pan the Musical, will be revived Nov. 19-Dec. 31. Peter, Wendy and Tinker Bell join the Lost Boys to take on the dreaded Captain Hook in this musical spectacular. Unforgettable songs include I'm Flying, Pirate Song, I Won't Grow Up and I've Got to Crow. Peter Pan the Musical features a book by James Barrie, music by Carolyn Leigh and Mark Charlap and additional music by Jule Stine with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.ASF's Octagon stage's biggest hit, Michael Vigilant's Bear Country (Jan. 13-23), returns with Rodney Clark reprising his role as legendary University of Alabama head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. This limited engagement will be restaged in ASF's Festival Theatre.ASF has partnered with the Alabama Tourism Department to mark the American Civil War's Sesquicentennial with two world premiere plays. Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder's The Flagmaker of Market Street (Feb. 4-March 19) follows the story of true-life Montgomery store owner George Cowles, who walks a fine line catering to the Confederacy while holding secret Unionist meetings in his back room. When George is asked to create the first Confederate flag, he has to make a choice between upholding his convictions and living a lie.
In Jeffry L. Chastang's Blood Divided (Feb. 18-March 20) fifteen-year old Willie Baldwin, enchanted by the passionate rhetoric of secessionist William Lowndes Yancey, is increasingly disgusted by his father's more moderate views. As tension grows between Willie, his family and longtime friend freedman James Hale, Willie's rash behavior has unforeseen consequences.Performances of both Civil War shows will be available in the same weekend on Feb. 25-27, March 4-6, March 11-13, and March 19 -20.William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar will open ASF's three-play repertory season on Feb. 2. There are those in the ranks of Rome's political elite who believe Julius Caesar is becoming too arrogant and powerful. Conspirators gather to plot his murder, but Brutus and company do not quite pull off the perfect coup d'état and are forced to fight off Caesar's avenging allies, including Marc Antony, who will not rest until justice is done.
Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing opens on March 9. The bard is at his fun-loving best in this raucous comedy. Don John the wedding crasher spoils the special day of lovers Claudio and Hero by casting false aspersions on the bride. What's a woman to do when she's dumped at the altar? Well, if friends work behind the scenes to make things right, there's a chance the lovers will live happily ever after.Both Julius Caesar and Much Ado About Nothing will play to ASF's Alfa SchoolFest student audiences in special weekday morning matinees before opening to the public. Much Ado and Julius Caesar will have their first adult audiences on April 14 and April 16, respectively, and run through May 21.ASF's repertory concludes with Ron Hutchinson's comedy Moonlight and Magnolias, April 8 - May 29. Imagine this: the production of the epic movie Gone with the Wind has stopped, the director's been fired and the screenplay deemed unworkable! A new writer is brought on board to turn this bomb into blockbuster--but can he do it in a week? Creative forces clash, the press hounds, and Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh wait impatiently for their lines in this hilarious fast-paced comedy.
ASF's best-selling summertime smash, Jeanie Linders Menopause: The Musical, caps ASF's 2010-11 season July 8-24. Hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss and chocolate binges have never been as funny as in this long-running hit. The show features 25 parodies of classic baby boomer hits including "Hot Flash" ("Heat Wave"), "My Thighs" ("My Guy") and "Stayin' Awake" ("Stayin' Alive").The Alabama Shakespeare Festival is among the largest Shakespeare theatres in the world. Designated as The State Theatre of Alabama, ASF has been located in Montgomery since 1985 when it moved from Anniston as a result of Mr. and Mrs. Wynton M. Blount's gift of a performing arts complex set in the 250-acre Wynton M. Blount Cultural Park.
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