Cotuit Center for the Arts Announces Upcoming Season

While final preparations are underway for its 2022 season finale production of The Sound of Music, Cotuit Center for the Arts has announced a new season of programming and fundraising with a focus on celebrating, dreaming, planning, imagining, and creating art in all theater, music, exhibition, education, outreach and collaboration offerings.

Following another year of post-Covid turbulence at Cotuit Center for the Arts, the 2023 season once again offers something for everyone. The Center will present five Mainstage theatrical productions, including Maytag Virgin; a unique presentation of Grease; Barefoot in the Park; Hello Dolly!, featuring Holly Hansen in the title role; and Matilda. Due to popular demand, three new original productions will also be presented on the Mainstage, including Malcolm Granger's Muskrat Love II: The Muskys; Michael Dunford's Women Rock!, featuring the creative team from the Piano Men series; and Ruth Condon Price's Hot August Nights: A Tribute to Neil Diamond.

Concerts and special events include a melange of returning artists and events, such as The Provincetown Jazz Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Pepper Grinds' Summer Striptacular, Suede, Tom Rush, Art & Souls Masquerade Ball, Kentucky Derby Gala, CapeCodCAN, Entertainment Tonight!, Twisted Broadway, LipSyncPalooza, Schitt's Creek Bingo, Gallery Brunch Cabarets, The Woods Hole Film Festival, and many others.

The John Weltman Outdoor Performance Pavilion (affectionately known as Tangle-Tuit) will host a variety of programs for families in addition to a new film series, theatrical productions, stand-up comedy, and acoustic music series.

Cotuit's Morton and Vivian Sigel Black Box theater space will feature 10 exciting full productions, including 5 original plays by local playwrights.

Gallery exhibitions include local and regional artists: the Center's Winter Art exhibit specifically curated for Cape Cod's K-12 students; solo shows featuring Dan Wheldon, Richard Neal, Edie Vonnegut; Face Time, curated by Maggie Van Sciver; exhibits from the National Association of Women Artists and the Rocky Neck Art Colony of Gloucester; and the annual student/member/faculty exhibition.

The Center's education and outreach programs offer something for everyone of all abilities, ages, and interests with classes in visual and performing arts. The John and Marjorie McGraw Family ceramics studio is already established as a state of the art clay facility bustling with activity 7 days and nights a week. The Marjorie-Lynne "Art Bus" will be popping up all over the Cape bringing art and nature activities to families with a renewed focus on inclusion and accessibility. And our CapeCodCAN! program will continue to provide visual and performing arts' opportunities meaningful to all in our community.

Please check the Center's website for information about specific programs and auditions.

Highlights of the Mainstage season include:

Maytag Virgin (January 26-February 5) by Audrey Cefaly. "Maytag Virgin is a witty and earnest meditation on how people connect even when they feel they're not ready, and what it is to move on while honoring and remembering the things, and people, who came before." Starring Mirande Jonte and Neil McGarry.

Grownup Grease (February 17 - March 5) by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. One of the world's most popular musicals will be presented as a semi-staged, choreographed concert featuring a cast of Cotuit's favorite actors of a certain (definitely not high school!) age. This is not your typical production of the rockin' classic. The performers in this production wish to pay loving homage to Olivia Newton John, who inspired everyone in the cast when they WERE in high school. You won't want to miss this one!

Barefoot in the Park (April 13 - 30) by Neil Simon. Newlyweds Corie and Paul Bratter are over the moon to begin their life together in their new apartment in Manhattan. It may be small and a six-flight climb, the heating may be busted, and snow may be falling through the skylight, but nothing can quash their newlywed bliss.

Muskrat Love II: The Muskys (May 18 - June 4) by Malcolm Granger. A sequel to 2021's smash hit Muskrat Love: A Celebration of the Songs We Hate to Love keeps those songs we all know ringing in our ears. Inspired by Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs, this year's "Musky" may go to a horse with no name. Or a lollipop. Or it may be promised to a Rose Garden. Or a candy man. Whether you are woman, delta dawn, or just too sexy, we'll be loving you, babe, when we touch in the afternoon delight. Just knock three times and ring my bell. You get the idea.

Hello Dolly! (July 12 - August 6) by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart. The beloved musical follows the story of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. Holly Hansen, one of the Cape's finest local actors stars as Dolly Levi under the direction of David McCarty, one of the Cape's finest local director/choreographers.

Women Rock! (August 16 - September 3) conceived and directed by Michael Dunford. From the creative team behind the Center's recent tributes to Queen We Are the Champions and Billy Joel and Elton John Piano Men I & II, the women take center stage this year as the incredible All Star Band and cast of 7 unparalleled female lead singers blow the roof of the Center in a tribute to some of the greatest rock legends in history. Janis Joplin, Heart, Aretha, Blondie, Pat Benatar, Stevie Nicks, Alanis Moristte, Annie Lennox, Melissa Etheridge, Amy Winehouse and many, many more.

Hot August Nights: A Tribute to Neil Diamond (September 28 - October 15) by Ruth Condon Price. From the creative force behind the Center's smash hits What the World Needs Now: A Tribute to Burt Bacharach; Now: A Tribute to Karen Carpenter; and The Beat Goes On, Ruth and her team are back where they belong, on stage, in this world premiere tribute to one of the greatest American artists of all time.

Matilda (November 21 - December 17) by Roald Dahl. Directed and choreographed by Michele Colley, Matilda is packed with high-energy dance numbers, catchy songs, and an unforgettable star turn for a young actress, Matilda is a joyous, girl-power romp. Children and adults alike will be thrilled and delighted by the story of the special little girl with an extraordinary imagination.

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