GBSC Announces 20th Anniversary Season

Greater Boston Stage Company celebrates its 20th Anniversary Season with two World Premieres, an adaptation of a beloved holiday classic, a hit Broadway musical, and a musical collaboration with Front Porch Arts Collective.

"How do you celebrate 20 years?" posed Producing Artistic Director Weylin Symes. "As we headed into Season 20, we asked ourselves that question a lot. We thought about a 'greatest hits' season of favorite shows. Then we considered a whole season of brand-new titles highlighting our commitment to new work. But, in the end, we decided to produce the type of great theatre that has come to be expected from GBSC: familiar stories told in fresh new ways alongside exciting new work and, sometimes, both ideas combined into one show."

The 2019-2020 season rolls in on September 5th with the World Premiere of Producing Artistic Director Weylin Symes' hilarious and heart-warming Last Night at Bowl-Mor Lanes - a look at friendship, love, competition, and... bowling. Featuring Paula Plum and Ceit Zweil.

Next is George Brandt's Marie and Rosetta, a look at two ground-breaking women of rock-n-roll in the 1940's (co-produced with The Front Porch Arts Collective). Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, Tharpe is heralded as an inspiration for artists such as Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Then GBSC presents its Holiday offering, Miracle on 34th Street, based on the cherished Twentieth Century Fox film. Featuring William Gardiner as Kris Kringle, this show is a reminder that generosity and kindness can better our world.

In March, the Giving Voice Foundation Trust Drama Series play takes the stage (the title will be announced shortly). Funding from The Foundation Trust enables Greater Boston Stage Company to fulfill its commitment to producing, over the next five years, an annual play that will feature playwrights from traditionally underrepresented communities within the theatre industry. These communities will include but are not limited to women, people of color, members of the LBTQ community, and people with disabilities. These plays will have been written within the last 50 years or be contemporary adaptations or explorations of classic work.

Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin's glorious musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical - a five-time Tony award winner including Best Book of a Musical - will be directed and choreographed by Associate Artistic Director, Ilyse Robbins in April. A story of courage and empowerment for adults and children alike, Matilda will feature GBSC's up and coming shining stars from its Young Company.

To close the season, Christopher M. Walsh's World Premiere of Miss Holmes Returns, based on the characters by Arthur Conan Doyle and a follow-up to the GBSC 2018 smash hit Miss Holmes will be this season's Don Fulton New Play Project production. Directed by Weylin Symes, it will herald the return of Marge Dunn as Miss Holmes, Brittany Rolfs as Dr. Watson, and Alexander Platt as Mycroft. About his new work Walsh shares, "I'm writing the sequel because I love these characters, and I've been eager for the chance to revisit them and expand upon this version of the Sherlockian universe. As proud as I am of Miss Holmes, I think we only scratched the surface of the stories these characters have to tell. The first Miss Holmes has been described as a feminist exploration of the Sherlock Holmes mythos. With Miss Holmes Returns, I want to push that exploration more toward intersectionality as well. I'm excited to have it premiere at GBSC because I was moved by the reception the first production received. All of my work to date has premiered in Chicago, but I'm working to uncover new facets of these characters and the world they inhabit, and so I'm looking to step outside of my own comfort zone and develop this script with a New Group of artists."

The Don Fulton New Play Project is named after the donor whose major philanthropic commitment made it possible. This project represents Greater Boston Stage Company's pledge to produce a World Premiere play each year as part of the Mainstage series.

Alongside the Mainstage productions, GBSC announces three Special Events: Celebrate summer with the Calamari Sisters' Sausagefest and then ring in the New Year with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, the all-female group with timeless hits such as "Heat Wave," "Jimmy Mack" and the epic "Dancing in the Street."

Greater Boston Stage Company is proud to announce a Special Dance Event, Swan Lake in Blue: A Jazz Ballet, created and composed by GBSC favorite Steve Bass. Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins, Swan Lake in Blue reimagines Tchaikovsky's ballet, Swan Lake, for tap and jazz dancers. Accompanied on stage by a full 17-piece big band, Swan Lake in Blue puts this beautiful story into 1930's Harlem. "This production is the perfect compliment to Weylin's commitment to telling familiar stories in fresh new ways," says Robbins. "The only difference being that this story gets told through music and dance rather than the traditional theatrical form."

Memberships are now on sale for Greater Boston Stage Company's Season 20. All Access, Flex Pass, 6-Show, 4-Show, and Senior Matinee Memberships are available from $125-$375. For more information or to purchase a Membership, call GBSC's Box Office at 781-279-2200, or visit www.greaterbostonstage.org.

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