Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater Announces Season

Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater announces the return to live theater with its 2021 Summer Theater Season. Beginning June 30, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater offers three productions, all performed outside under the stars. You'll experience WHAT as never before: al fresco in both the Larry Phillips Performance Pavilion and at the theater's new garden stage, in front of the theater.

June 30 - July 25, Wednesday - Sunday at 7 p.m. on the Garden Stage:

Shipwrecked! An Entertainment-The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as Told by Himself)

By Donald Margulies
Directed by Daisy Walker
Pulitzer prize winner Donald Margulies celebrates what live theater does best with this epic tale, inspired by the true story that both amused and infuriated Victorian London.

The adventurous Louis de Rougemont invites you to hear his amazing story of bravery, survival and celebrity that left nineteenth-century England spellbound. Dare to be whisked away in a story of the high seas, populated by exotic islanders, flying wombats, giant sea turtles and a monstrous man-eating octopus. SHIPWRECKED examines how far we're willing to blur the line between fact and fiction in order to leave our mark on the world.

"Recreating the pleasures of nineteenth-century platform entertainment with a tart contemporary twist, Donald Margulies' SHIPWRECKED offers a self-promoting fabulist a forum to inform and persuade, and it delights in both respects." -Variety

August 11 - September 5, Wednesday - Sunday at 7 p.m. on the Garden Stage:

Nat Turner in Jerusalem

By Nathan Alan Davis
In August 1831, Nat Turner led a slave uprising that shook the conscience of the nation. Turner's startling account of his prophecy and the insurrection was recorded and published by attorney Thomas R. Gray. This timely play imagines Turner's final night in a jail cell in Jerusalem, Virginia, as he is revisited by Gray and they reckon with what has passed, and what the dawn will bring. Woven with vivid imagery and indelible lyricism, Nat Turner in Jerusalem examines the power of an individual's resolute convictions and their seismic reverberations through time.
"The sparse, persuasive two-hander examines America's racial history, but feels disturbingly close to the present day." - The Village Voice

July 5 - August 12 in the Larry Phillips Performance Pavilion

WHAT for Kids!

The Tale of Ibis-A Puppetry Play in Two Acts
By Jody O'Neil, adapted from the book Ibis, A True Whale Story by John Himmelman
Based on the true story of a curious humpback whale calf found entangled in Provincetown Harbor in 1984. The Tale of Ibis is a story of friendship, the power of kindness, and how one act of generosity can reverberate throughout the world.

$2 of each WHAT for Kids! ticket will go to the Center for Coastal Studies Entanglement Fund, which was established in response to the effort to free Ibis in 1984. Originally created for the Center for Coastal Studies, Provincetown MA, this production of The Tale of Ibis is made possible through the generous support of the Red Auerbach Youth Foundation

One of the cruelest realities of the last 14 months was the incalculable risk gathering together posed, at a time when we most needed to reflect, escape, and heal through the power of the performing arts. In a time of political upheaval, a long overdue reckoning with racist structures, and an invisible threat to life itself, we were forced to remain offstage.

As we begin our cautious steps back onto the stage, we are eager to share the unique and powerful experience of live theater. This summer's offerings, each inspired by true stories, offer a reminder of the power of theater to amplify voices. Donald Margulies' SHIPWRECKED!... celebrates the art of epic storytelling and innovation onstage, asking the question "What is the harm in a lie, if it provides such an entertaining escape?" It is a riotous tale that often strains credulity with its outlandish claims and antics. The intimate Nat Turner in Jerusalem, imagines the final night of Turner's life as he crafts his confession to leading a slave rebellion in 1831. Inspired by the text of his actual confession, this deeply poetic exploration of his resolute convictions reverberates through time, growing ever more poignant in the modern day.
-Christopher Ostrom, Producing Artistic Director

Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater's Box Office opens June 1.

To post a comment, you must register and login.