Gender, Race, and Society Take Center Stage in Theater at Monmouth's 2017 Power, Passion, and Privilege Season

This summer, Theater at Monmouth encourages you to "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none" (All's Well That Ends Well). The plays of Season 48 explore the role of power, passion, and privilege in families, friendships, society, and politics. Through classic Shakespearean thrillers, contemporary romances, and fantastical flights of fantasy, the dynamics of gender, race, and society take center stage in 2017.

The Summer Repertory includes Shakespeare's Macbeth directed by Dawn McAndrews and Othello directed by Catherine Weidner; Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain directed by Kate Bergstrom; Molière's The Learned Ladies directed by Sally Wood; and Lolita Chakrabarti's Red Velvet directed by Jennifer Nelson. Opening June 24, the Family Show is an adaptation of Ruth Stiles Gannet's classic My Father's Dragon directed by Adam Blais. The Fall Show, opening September 15 is Roger Rees and Alex Timbers' adaptation of Dave Barry and Ridley Pearsons's novel Peter and the Starcatcher directed by Bill Van Horn. Since its founding in 1970, TAM has produced more than one hundred of Shakespeare's works and other classics both during the Summer Repertory Season and on tour throughout Maine.

Performances take place in Cumston Hall, a 250-seat Victorian opera house designed by Harry Cochrane. Since its founding TAM has rehearsed and performed in rotating repertory, inviting audiences to see the actors in different roles in different shows in one weekend.

Three Days of Rain | July 1 - August 18
by Richard Greenberg | directed by Kate Bergstrom
A famous architect has dies and leaves a mysterious will, prompting his children and their best friend to search for answers about their families' history. Darkly funny, Greenberg's play trips through time, playing children's perceptions against their parent's reality. The collision of past and present explores the complex search for the truth about our parents and ourselves.

"Greenberg's play... explores how relationship patterns and personality imprints are echoed, sketching refracted mirror images of the three points of a triangle over two generations." - David Rooney, Variety

Kate Bergstrom, Artistic Director of On The Verge Summer Repertory Company in Santa Barbara, California, has worked as director, devisor, producer, and educator in theatres and schools throughout the west coast including UCLA, UCLAlive!, REDCAT, Highways Performance Space, CalArts, La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts, On the Verge Summer Repertory Company, and more. She is currently working towards an MFA in Directing at Brown/Trinity Rep. Directing credits include The Children's Hour (Granoff Center for the Arts), The Taming of the Shrew (Brown/Trinity), Footprints at Laetoli & Caylee's First Big Show! (OTV 2015), These Walls (OTV 2016), Woyzeck (UCLA), and Wholed (REDCAT 2013).

The Learned Ladies | July 7 - August 20
by Molière | directed by Sally Wood
Clitandre seeks the hand of Henriette but her mother has other plans. Needless to say the course of true love runs anything but smoothly in Moliere's comp romp of pompous poets, pretentious parents, and seductive servants. Thanks to the clever maneuvering of Uncle Ariste all is set right in the end, with true love trumping intellectual snobbery.

"It may be some 400 years since the French playwright and actor Molière penned Les Femmes Savants (The Learned Ladies) but time has done nothing to diminish its wit and wisdom. In fact, considering the state of American politics at the moment, nothing could be more timely." - Larry Murray, Berkshire on Stage and Screen

Sally Wood is a professional director, actor, and fight choreographer. Sally has directed for Portland Stage Company, Theater at Monmouth, AIRE, and Fenix Theater Company, where she is also a founding member. In addition to an active career as a director, she has choreographed fights for more than 20 productions. Sally spent ten years as a company member at TAM, including six as Artistic Director. Recently, Sally had the great pleasure of working with living, breathing playwrights, directing four world premieres in the last five years.

Macbeth | July 14 - August 18
by William Shakespeare | directed by Dawn McAndrews
In a savage world of ghosts, witches, and bloody battlefields, a dark prophecy leads a warrior and his wife past the point of no return. From its mesmerizing first moments to the last fulfillment of the witches' curse, Shakespeare's swift and relentless tragedy unearths the terrifying consequences of blind ambition.

"Shakespeare's story of a man shedding his morality in a quest for power is a complete psychological portrait that can be set in any era." - Alex Brown, Seven Days

Dawn McAndrews has worked as a producer, educator, and artistic director at theatres across the country including Shakespeare Theatre Company, Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Portland Stage Company, and Shakespeare Festival St. Louis. Directing credits include: The Pajama Game (UMO), Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Colby), The Language Archive (Public Theatre); Love's Labour's Lost, The Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet, The Mousetrap, Henry IV Part 1, Of Thee I Sing (TAM); The Glass Menagerie; Holiday, and Three Days of Rain (1st Stage); Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice, Timberlake Wertenbaker's Antigone, as well as adapting and directing A Christmas Carol at Portland Stage.

Othello | July 21 - August 19
by William Shakespeare | directed by Catherine Weidner
Newly married and promoted, Othello finds himself the pawn in the manipulative games of his right-hand man, Iago. As his imagination is poisoned, Othello turns on his new bride Desdemona and loyal lieutenant Cassio, rapidly spiraling from hero to murderer in Shakespeare's tale of jealousy, duplicity, and destruction.

Catherine Weidner is Chair of the Theater Department at Ithaca College and formerly Program Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy for Classical Acting. She appeared in A Streetcar Named Desire with Patricia Clarkson at The Kennedy Center, in Mary Stuart and Blithe Spirit at CenterStage in Baltimore, and has worked at The Guthrie Theater, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and the La Jolla Playhouse. Directing credits include: Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, Waiting for Godot, Caligula, Otherwise Engaged, Animal Farm, Reckless, Cloud 9, The Visit, and Ubu.

Red Velvet | July 28 - August 17 MAINE PREMIERE
by Lolita Chakrabarti | directed by Jennifer Nelson
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, 1833. Edmund Kean, the greatest actor of his time, collapses on stage while playing Othello. A young black American actor is asked to take over the role. But as the public riot in the streets over the abolition of slavery, how will the cast, critics, and audience react to the revolution taking place on stage?

Jennifer Nelson is a Washington-based theater professional committed to principles that value human dignity, justice, and compassion. She has more than 40 years' experience as an actor, playwright, professor, and director. She is the senior advisor for special programming at Ford's Theatre, and previously served for 11 years as the producing artistic director of the African Continuum Theatre Company. Nelson has directed productions at Ford's Theatre, Round House, Woolly Mammoth, Theater of the First Amendment, Theater J, and more.

Each summer, TAM presents a play for families adapted from classic literature which runs weekends in June and then as scheduled through August. Group sales for summer camps are available.

My Father's Dragon | June 24 - August 17
adapted from Ruth Stiles Gannet's classic by Dawn McAndrews | directed by Adam Blais

When Elmer Elevator hears about the plight of a poor mistreated baby dragon, he packs his knapsack and stows away on a ship headed for Wild Island. Nothing will stop Elmer from rescuing the dragon! With the help of two dozen pink lollipops, rubber bands, chewing gum, and a fine-toothed comb, Elmer outwits the fiercest of beasts and saves the day.

Adam Blais holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Maine and is happy to make his directing debut with TAM having previously choreographed TAM productions of Of Thee I Sing, Patience, The Sorcerer, and Ruddigore. Additional credits include work with The Public Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, and the Waterville Opera House, among others. During the day, Adam is the Supply Chain Coordinator for a local hospital and the Drama Director at Mt. Ararat High School and Middle School.

TAM will present the Maine Premiere of the smash-hit prequel to Peter Pan in Fall 2017, for those young ones and the young-at-heart who still believe in fairies and the magic of Neverland.

Peter and the Starcatcher | September 14-24 MAINE PREMIERE
conceived for the stage by Roger Rees and Alex Timbers
from the novels of Dave Barry and Ridley Pearsons | directed by Bill Van Horn

Haven't you always wondered: Where are Peter's parents? How did Hook lose his hand? What makes the crocodile tick? This swashbuckling prequel to Peter Pan chronicles the adventures of Molly, a girl charged to protect a cargo of stardust, and an orphan named Peter who eventually becomes "The Boy Who Never Grew Up."

Bill Van Horn calls both Winthrop, ME and Philadelphia, PA home. He most recently directed Peter and the Starcatcher to rave reviews at the Walnut Street Theatre, where he also recently delighted audiences as the wizard in The Wizard of Oz. Other recent directing credits include: Romeo and Juliet (The Media Theatre), Life in the Theater (Walnut Street Theatre and National Tour), Santa in Elf (Walnut Street Theatre), as well as playing Birdboot in Real Inspector Hound and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Theater at Monmouth).

Monmouth is located just off Route 202 in the Winthrop Lakes region of Central Maine. By car, the Theater is 20 minutes from Augusta, 20 minutes from Lewiston, 45 minutes from the Mid-Coast region, 45 minutes from Portland, and 90 minutes from Bangor. Monmouth and neighboring towns Winthrop, Hallowell, Augusta, and Lewiston offer a variety of attractions suitable for the whole family, including the Monmouth Museum, Cobbossee Colony Golf Course, Mount Pisgah Hiking Trail, Children's Discovery Museum, Maine State Museum, Viles Arboretum, Bates College Museum of Art, Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary, and more. These areas also offer a myriad of dining options including The Sedgley Place, Pepper's Garden & Grill, DaVinci's Eatery, Fish Bones, Gritty McDuff's Brewpub & Restaurant, Joyce's Restaurant, The Liberal Cup, and Slates Restaurant. Visitors can enjoy a stay in Monmouth at one of the several bed and breakfasts or nearby hotels, including A Rise and Shine B&B, The Roost, Hilton Garden Inn, and Senator Inn & Spa.

All performances take place in historic Cumston Hall, which towers dramatically over Monmouth's Main Street. While Dr. Charles M. Cumston donated the building to the Town of Monmouth in 1899, it has always been a gift shared with the community at large. A registered National Historic Building since 1976, the building's architecture is a mix of Romanesque-style asymmetrical columns and towers and varying external textures of the Queen Anne period. The 250-seat opera hall features elaborate plaster carvings, a fresco mural ceiling, and near-perfect acoustics.

A TAM Season Pass offers up to 25% off the single ticket price and exclusive benefits like priority seating and ticket exchanges. Gold, Flex, General, or Senior Passes are available for purchase, so whether you want a ticket for each show or five tickets to one show, there's an option for you. Single tickets for the Summer Repertory and Fall Show are $32 for adults, $28 for senior citizens, and $20 for students (18 and under). My Father's Dragon tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for children. Groups of 10 or more can enjoy TAM shows at up to a 22% discount. Groups may also schedule pre or post show discussions with tours of the historic Cumston Hall. Contact the Box Office for more information and to book your group's event.

Opening Nights are Educator Nights. Educators receive 20% off the single ticket price with a photo ID at the Box Office.

Under 30 Rush Tickets: For patrons under 30, twenty $10 Rush Tickets are available at each performance in the season. Sign up by contacting the Box Office, either by emailing boxoffice@theateratmonmouth.org or calling 207.933.999 the morning of the performance. Tickets will be released to the first 20 people on the list ten minutes before curtain.

To reserve single tickets, subscriptions, or arrange group sales, please visit www.theateratmonmouth.org or call the box office at 207.933.9999.

You can find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TAMonmouth, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TAMonmouth, and view photos of past production on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/theateratmonmouth/

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