HAND TO GOD, CARRIE & More Set for The Onyx's 2016-17 Season

After producing ten Main Stage shows in ten months to celebrate its tenth anniversary season, The Onyx has settled into a more comfortable groove.

"We've spent this year polling our audiences about what they want to see," says Producing Director Troy Heard. "We're going to lean towards a balance between our Main Stage and Studio spaces, with longer runs in each. Although some of the titles are classics, they still fall within our mission of providing edgy comedy and a damn good time."

Using the election year as inspiration, Heard has curated what he calls "Bring on the Bad Guys": a season celebrating the best theatrical villains.

"When I was a kid, I never played Batman - I was always the Joker," says Heard. "Let's admit it, the best bad guys make the good guys look dull in comparison."

The Main Stage season kicks off with the modern classic Little Shop of Horrors (Sept. 29 - Oct. 22). "This has been on my bucket list since I was a kid," says Heard. "The Ashman/Menken score is timeless and it'll be fun to see the plant take over our tiny theatre."

The Bad Seed (Nov. 17 - Dec. 10) is a chestnut of a thriller about little Rhoda Penmark, every parent's dream and one mother's nightmare. Based on a 1954 novel and turned into a hit film in 1956, this rarely produced gem will feature local actor Jamie Morris.

As Nevada creeps toward the legalization of marijuana, the demon weed is given a spoofy spin in Reefer Madness (Jan. 19 - Feb. 11), the popular musical version of the 1936 film.

William Shakespeare's dark comedy Measure for Measure (March 23 - April 15) is given a local spin as it uses 1970s mob-run Vegas as a backdrop. "Its moral complexities make Measure a very contemporary play, regardless of its setting," says Heard.

Carrie the Musical (May 4 - 27) will make its Vegas premiere in time for prom. A notorious flop during its 1988 Broadway production, Carrie has been revisited by the original creative team and given a fresh makeover that restores its Stephen King grittiness.

The Studio Season opens with a major coup for the Onyx in the West Coast Premiere of Robert Askin's Hand to God (Oct. 27 - Nov. 12). "My jaw dropped when we received the license for this show," says Heard. Although best known as "that play where the guy tried to charge his phone on the set," Hand to God is about a Texas puppet ministry invaded by the forces of Satan.

One of the most requested titles returns to Las Vegas when A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant (Dec. 15 - 18) rings in the holidays yet again. "I suppose that HBO documentary really spurred peoples interests," says Heard, with a wry smile.

The first of two World Premieres at the Onyx this season, Bigfoot, A Musical (Feb. 16 - Mar. 11) written by Amber Ruffin (King of Kong: The Musical; Late Night with Seth Meyers) and Kevin Scriretta explores the origins of America's favorite monster - with a 1970s-tinged pop score.

The second World Premiere, and final show of the Studio Season, is Max Sparber and Coco Mault's Trucker Uppers (Apr. 20 - 29). A new American Tall Tale, Trucker Uppers tells the comic story of a speed-freak long-haul driver in the style of a Southern Rock concert.

The Onyx Theatre is located at 953 E. Sahara Ave. #16B in Commercial Center, Las Vegas, NV 89104. For more information, call 702-732-7225 or visit www.onyxtheatre.com. Nearby dining options include Komol (Thai and vegetarian-friendly); Cornish Pasty Co.; and the world famous Lotus of Siam.

2016-17 MAIN STAGE SERIES

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman, Music by Alan Menken

September 29 - October 22, 2016

The meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he names "Audrey II" - after his coworker crush. This foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down and out Krelborn as long as he keeps feeding it blood. Over time, though, Seymour discovers Audrey II's out of this world origins and intent towards global domination!

THE BAD SEED

by Maxwell Anderson, from the novel by William March

November 17 - December 10, 2016

On the surface little Rhoda Penmark is sweet, charming, full of old-fashioned graces, loved by her parents, admired by all her elders. But Rhoda's mother has an uneasy feeling about her. When one of Rhoda's schoolmates is mysteriously drowned at a picnic, Mrs. Penmark is alarmed. For the boy who was drowned was the one who had won the penmanship medal that Rhoda felt she deserved.

REEFER MADNESS

Book by Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney, Music by Dan Studney, Lyrics by Kevin Murphy

January 19 - February 11, 2017

Inspired by the original 1936 film of the same name, this raucous musical comedy takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the hysteria caused when clean-cut Jimmy Harper and Mary Lane fall prey to marijuana, leading them on a hysterical downward spiral filled with evil jazz music, sex and violence. You won't be able to resist the spoofy fun of REEFER MADNESS.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE

by William Shakespeare

March 23 - April 15, 2017

Set against the backdrop of 1970s mob-run Las Vegas, Shakespeare's darkest comedy pits the seemingly virtuous Deputy Angelo against the definitely virginal Isabella - a young novice who intercedes on her brother's behalf when he's sent to the chopping block for the crime of impregnating his fiancee.

CARRIE THE MUSICAL

Music by Michael Gore, Lyrics by Dean Pitchfork, Book by Lawrence D. Cohen,

Based on the novel by Stephen King

May 4 - 27, 2017

Just in time for Prom Night! Carrie White is a misfit. At school she's an outcast who's bullied by the popular crowd and virtually invisible to everyone else. At home she's at the mercy of her loving but cruelly over-protective mother. But Carrie's just discovered she's got a special power, and if pushed too far, she's not afraid to use it... Inspired by Stephen King's terrifying novel!

2016-17 STUDIO SERIES

HAND TO GOD

by Robert Askins

Oct. 27 - Nov. 12, 2016

After the death of his father, meek Jason finds an outlet for his anxiety at the Christian Puppet Ministry, in the devoutly religious, relatively quiet small town of Cypress, Texas. Jason's complicated relationships with the town pastor, the school bully, the girl next door, and-most especially-his mother are thrown into upheaval when Jason's puppet, Tyrone, takes on a shocking and dangerously irreverent personality all its own.

A VERY MERRY UNAUTHORIZED CHILDRENS SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT

by Kyle Jarrow

December 15 - 18, 2016

By popular request, the return of the scathing satire of Scientology. A cast of precocious and talented children take you through the twists and turns of L. Ron Hubbard's religious edicts using the innocent mode of a holiday pageant. Get Clear this season!

BIGFOOT, A MUSICAL

by Amber Ruffin and Kevin Sciretta

February 16 - March 11, 2017

WORLD PREMIERE! The Time: 1980, The Place: Muddirt, a podunk town built between a chemical plant and a nuclear reactor on top of a Pet Cemetery. Francine gives birth to an abnormally large boy with a major hair growth problem: he has so much the shaggy freak is sent to live in the woods. Will our hero with mutantly big feet ever find love and acceptance?

TRUCKER UPPERS

by Max Sparber and Coco Mault

April 20 - 29, 2017

WORLD PREMIERE! A New American Tall Tale about Rhoades Johnson - the first long haul driver to make a non-stop run from Minnesota to New Orleans thanks to an unruly amount of pharmaceutical grade amphetamines! This Southern Fried musical is a hard rockin' mashup of sketch comedy and a Charlie Daniels concert.

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