THE HOUSE World Premiere, Solo Performance Festival and More Set for Kitchen Theatre's 24th Season

Kitchen Theatre Company opens its 24th Season on September 10, 2014. Located at 417 W. State/MLK, Jr. St., Ithaca, NY in a renovated, LEED-certified, intimate 99-seat space, Kitchen Theatre Company is a professional Equity theater producing an eight-play Mainstage season from September through June. Led by Artistic Director Rachel Lampert and Managing Director Stephen Nunley, Kitchen Theatre Company produces new and recent plays intended to start the important conversations the theater has been known for over the past two decades. Subscriptions for the eight-play season and single tickets are on sale now. Tickets and subscriptions are available by phone at 607-272-0570 or online at www.kitchentheatre.org.

The 2014-15 Season opens with the world premiere of The House by Brian Parks. Downsizing-couple Martyn and Shanny have struck a For Sale By Owner deal with upsizing-couple, Lindsay and Fischer. What starts as a simple transaction, selling and buying a house, deliciously spirals into a hilarious, irreverent, uncensored, winner-takes-all free-for-all. Margarett Perry directs. Tyler M. Perry is the set and lighting designer. Lisa Boquist is costume designer and Lesley Greene the sound designer. Underwriters are Elissa Cogan and Barry Chester. Media sponsor is Cayuga Radio Group. Previews September 10-12, opening night is September 13. The play runs through September 28.

Lonely Planet by Steven Dietz reminds us of the power of friendship and the imperative to create a legacy. Jody is almost hibernating in his map shop. His friend Carl shows up daily with uproarious tales of his ever-changing occupations. The two longtime friends share the burden of the AIDS epidemic, but not how to deal with it. With a nod to Ionesco's The Chairs, Lonely Planet is a richly woven, heart-warming and heart-wrenching play from our recent past. Rachel Lampert directs. Kent Goetz is the set designer and Tyler M. Perry the lighting designer. Underwriter is CSP Management. Previews October 15-17, opening night is October 18, running through November 2.

In Sunset Baby by Dominique Morriseau, a former Black revolutionary, his outside-the-law daughter and her drug-dealing lover struggle to overcome the forces that derail families. What happens when the line between sacrifice and selfishness is blurred? This contemporary new play is bold in its honesty and gripping in its audacity. Margarett Perry directs. Co-producer is Viva Taqueria & Cantina. Media Sponsor is WVBR. Previews December 3-5, opening night is October 6, running through December 21.

Count Me In by Rachel Lampert asks the question, "What happens when forever friends begin "forever" again?" A musical romp headed toward infinity by Kitchen Theatre Company Artistic Director, writer of Tony & the Soprano, Bed No Breakfast, Precious Nonsense and many other music-and-dance-filled pieces. Tyler M. Perry designs set and lights. Underwriter is CSP Management. Media Sponsor is Lansing Star. Previews January 14-16, opening night is January 17, running through February 1.

A Body of Water by Lee Blessing is an intriguing mystery, a wild fantasy and a suspenseful family drama. Avis and Moss awake every morning in a beautiful house surrounded by water, not knowing who or where they are. When Wren arrives on the scene, her answers just add to the uncertainty. A mystery play about memory and family. Michele Minnick directs. David L. Arsenault designs set and lights. Lisa Boquist is costume designer. Sponsor is Cornell University. Media Sponsor is WITH90.1. Previews are February 18-20, opening night is February 21, running through March 8.

From March 25 to April 12, 2014, the Kitchen is hosting a Solo Performance Festival. Lorriane Rodriguz-Reyes' Mami Confessions runs from March 25-March 29. Darian Dauchan's Black Sheep runs from April 1-5. And from April 8-12, Michelle Courtney Berry's Mother Land and Ryan Hope Travis' A Shout In Salty Water share the evening. These are four extraordinary writer-performers whose expert storytelling is filled with truth, heart and humor. Tyler M. Perry designs set and lights. Sponsor is PPM Homes. Media Sponsor is the Ithaca Journal.

Swimming in the Shallows by Adam Bock delighted audiences and played to sold-out houses in the 2002-03 season, so we are bringing it back. A lesbian wedding is in the works, if only Donna can stop smoking. Married couple Barb and Bob are on their way to Splitzville. And Nick wants to stop bed-hopping and settle down, if he can only find the right partner. Everyone is seeking love and understanding in this brilliant comedy for five humans and one shark. Rachel Lampert directs. Set and lights by David L. Arsenault. Costume designer is Lisa Boquist and Scott O'Brien is sound designer. Co-producer is Tompkins Trust Company. Media Sponsor is WSKG. Previews are April 29-May 1, opening night is May 2, running through May 17.

Thin Walls brings writer/performer Alice Eve Cohen back to the Kitchen in a tale of big-city life and cultures colliding. Based on her real-life experiences, writer Cohen portrays a cast of 20 characters all living in a once-elegant, now run-down NYC residential hotel. We cheer their triumphs and feel their flaws. Rachel Lampert directs. Tyler M. Perry is the set and lighting designer. Lisa Boquist is the costume designer and Lesley Greene is sound designer. Underwriter is Travis Hyde Properties. Media Sponsor is WRVO Public Media. Previews are June 10-12, opening night is June 13, running through June 28.

Performances throughout the season are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, Sundays at 4:00pm. There is also one matinee at 2:00pm on the third Thursday of every production. There is a Pay What You Can night on the first Thursday of every three-week production. Tickets and subscriptions are available online at www.kitchentheatre.org, over the phone at 607-272-0570, or in person at the Kitchen offices (409 W. State St). In-person purchases can be made one-hour before performances and Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00-4:00pm at the Box Office in the lobby of the theater.

Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC), now beginning its 24th season, is downtown Ithaca's critically acclaimed and nationally recognized year-round professional theater company, specializing in regional and world premiere plays and musicals. KTC's intimate 99-seat theater is in its newly renovated, LEED-certified building in the West End neighborhood of downtown Ithaca, New York. KTC is the first not-for-profit recipient of the David R. Strong Memorial "Small Business of the Year" Award from the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce and receives public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the Tompkins County Tourism Program. Kitchen Theatre Company also receives general operating support from the Shubert Foundation.

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