TheatreZone Announces Season 8 Hot Seats
Beloved soap actors husband-and-wife team James and Kassie DePaiva cast in Broadway musical 110 in the Shade
Hot Seats. Four hot musicals in one season.
That’s what TheatreZone Artistic Director Mark Danni promised as he unveiled the non profit Equity theatre’s selections for its eighth season performing at the G& L Theatre.
The hottest news is that Danni scored a coup in signing well-known beloved New York soap opera veterans, husband-and-wife team actors/singers James and Kassie DePaiva, for the company’s season finale 110 in the Shade.
“I’m very pleased to welcome back to TheatreZone New York actor Jim DePaiva and the TheatreZone debut of his wife actress/singer Kassie DePaiva in our production of 110,” revealed Danni. Based on dramatist N. Richard Nash's 1954 play The Rainmaker, 110 is an all-American love story about a con man who brings sweet relief to the parched life of a small-town virgin.
With book by N. Richard Nash, music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones, 110 takes place In the hot and drought-stricken American southwest, where spinster Lizzie Curry’s advances are rebuffed by File, the divorced sheriff. Charismatic, traveling con man Bill Starbuck restores Lizzie’s self-confidence, all the while promising the local farmers he can provide them some much-needed rain.
Kassie Pavia won two Daytime Emmy Awards as bad-girl Blair Cramer on the now-cancelled soap opera One Life To Live where she met and then married actor Jim DePavia who played heartthrob Max Holden. “It might sound odd, but filming a soap is closer to acting in a play than filming episodic television,” she says, noting that soap sets resemble classic stage sets.
110 in the Shade plays for 10 performances May 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11th and Sundays, May 5 and 12 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm.
TheatreZone opens Season 8 in December with A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum. Broadway's great farce is light, fast-paced, witty, irreverent and one of the funniest musicals ever written -- the perfect escape from life's troubles. With Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, music and lyrics by the legendary Stephen Sondheim, Forum takes comedy back to its roots, combining situations from time-tested, 2000 year old comedies of Roman playwright Plautus with the infectious energy of classic vaudeville. The result is a non-stop laugh-fest in which a crafty slave (Pseudolus) struggles to win the hand of a beautiful but slow-witted courtesan (Philia) for his young master (Hero), in exchange for freedom. Forum plays November 29, 30, Dec. 1, 6, 7 and 8 at 8 pm and Sunday Dec. 2 and 9 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm.
Up next, ring in the New Year at Grand Hotel, the Tommy Tune Award-winning musical, set in the world's most opulent, extravagant hotel. It is 1928. The world is between wars, the stock market is booming, Berlin is the center of high life, and optimism rules the day. Inspired by Viki Baum’s period novel, Luther Davis (Kismet, Timbuktu!) collaborated with the prolific, distinguished composer-lyricist team of George Forrest and Robert Wright with additional music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. Together, they created a seamless musical that boasts an engaging, non-stop book and a powerful score that sweeps you away with all of the lavishness of the 1920s. Grand Hotel performs Jan. 10, 11, 12 ,and 17, 18, 19 at 8 pm and Sundays, Jan. 13 and 20 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm.
In the spring, TheatreZone will stage Next to Normal in Naples. This Tony award-winning rock musical and winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in drama, is an emotional powerhouse of a musical about a family trying to take care of themselves and each other. According to Rolling Stone magazine, “Next to Normal is the groundbreaking musical that pushed Broadway in new directions.” Music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Briand Yorkey, Next to Normal runs March 7, 8, 9, 14, 15 and 6 at 8pm and Sundays, March 10 and 17th at 2 pm and 7:30 pm.
About TheatreZone
In 2005, non-profit TheatreZone was born on two concepts: an affinity and nostalgia for the stage, and for the intimacy of live audiences. Co-founders artistic director Mark Danni and his wife, actress/choreographer Karen Molnar shared a vision and a passion to bring equity professional actors, and produce talented and innovative productions of classic “lost treasures of Broadway.”
Operating under the guidelines of the Actors’ Equity Association and small professional theatres contracts, TheatreZone is in residence and performs in the intimate 250-seat G&L Theatre housed on the magnificent campus of The Community School of Naples, one block north of Pine Ridge Road at 13275 Livingston Road.
Over the last seven years, TheatreZone has grown steadily and produced a total of 220 performances, including two world premieres, featuring more than 250 artists and played to audiences over 50,000.
Season 8 subscriber series (four shows) costs $182; a mini series (3 shows) costs $144, and individual seats costs $43 - $48 plus a $2 per ticket. Group rates (more than 10) are also available.
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