Hershey Area Playhouse Announces Directors and Updated Season

Hershey Area Playhouse announces an update and its directors for the 2014 season. The theatre was originally scheduled to open the season with the musical The Fantasticks, but due to a national tour now coming through the area at the same, the rights are no longer available. Instead, The Playhouse artistic committee is excited to feature the musical comedy, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

The 14th annual Playhouse season now includes: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, February 13-16, 20-23, 2014; Leading Ladies , April 24-27, May 1-4, 2014; Gypsy, July 17-20, 24-27, 2014, Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, October 9-12, 16-19, 2014 and A Christmas Carol (Traditional), December 4-7, 11-14, 2014.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is the hilarious tale of overachievers' angst chronicling the experience of six adolescent super spellers vying for the spelling championship of a lifetime. The Tony Award winning show features an unlikely cast of heroes - quirky, yet charming outsiders who only fit in at the spelling bee. The musical features some mature content and is recommended for an adult audience. Spelling Bee will be directed by Beth Dunham.

Leading Ladies is a hilarious comedy by Ken Ludwig, the author of Lend Me A Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo. Two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, find themselves so down on their luck that they are performing "Scenes from Shakespeare" on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. When they hear that an old lady in York, PA is about to die and leave her fortune to her two long lost English nephews, they resolve to pass themselves off as her beloved relatives and get the cash. The trouble is, they find out that the relatives aren't nephews, but nieces! This comedy will be directed by Jeff Cartwright.

The summer musical, Gypsy, is based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee and was a project of producer David Merrick and actress Ethel Merman. Determined to make her young, blonde, and beautiful daughter, June, a vaudeville headliner, willful, resourceful, domineering stage mother Rose Hovick will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. She drags June and her shy, awkward, and decidedly less-talented older sister, Louise, around the country in an effort to get them noticed. Favorite songs include: "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Let Me Entertain You," and "Small World." Gypsy will be directed by Eric Mansilla.

Agatha Christie's And Then There Was None (Ten Little Indians), directed by Jennifer Feldser, is the story of ten strangersinvited to spend a weekend at a remote mountaintop home. After dinner, they learn that they've been invited to the house to pay for their crimes. Unable to leave the house, the guests are being killed off one by one according to the poem of "Ten Little Indians." As the number of survivors decreases, they begin to believe that the killer is one in the group, but are unable to decide who.

Wrapping up the season is the classic holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The story tells of bitter and miserly Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation resulting from supernatural visits from Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. A Christmas Carol remains popular, has never been out of print and has been adapted to film, stage, opera, and other media multiple times. This production will be directed by Matthew Ford.

Season tickets are available at www.HersheyAreaPlayhouse.com and at the box office at 717.533.8525. Individual tickets will be on sale in the near future. To get involved in our productions, learn about acting classes, support The Playhouse or sign up for the mailing list, please visit the website.

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