URINETOWN THE MUSICAL, THE CAKE and More Announced for The Studio Theatre's 2021-2022 Season

The last year has brought more change than any of us could have predicted. Amid the huge impact of the pandemic there were also protests on street corners and marches all over the country. People were standing up for their beliefs, as is our right as Americans. Some of these movements resulted in tangible change and every one of them was started by a single person; one person saw something they didn't agree with and decided to do something about it. This season the Studio Theatre has curated four stories that unpack what it means to adapt to the changing world and also what to do when adapting isn't the answer. When is it time to change the world rather than just yourself? Each of the productions they selected for this season features characters who witness injustice and decide to start their own tiny revolution of one. That small act of bravery in just one person ripples out to others who join the fight. As Alice Walker said, "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." I am so grateful to present Season 6 at The Studio: Tiny Revolutions, Big Changes. -Whitney Morse, Artistic Director -

ANNOUNCING SEASON SIX:

BROADBEND, ARKANSAS | How can I protect them from the whole damn world?

Act 1 ("Just One Q") book and lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh, with music by Ted Shen

Act 2 ("Ruby") book and lyrics by Harrison David Rivers, with music and additional lyrics by Ted Shen

This beautiful jazz-infused two-person musical reveals a short insightful history of a family whose stories parallel our current social issues. Benny is a Black orderly at a white nursing home in 1961, raising his twin daughters alone. He befriends his boss Julynne as they bond over missing scrabble tiles and plucking chin hairs. Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, Benny joins the Freedom Riders in the Deep South. Twenty-seven years later, his daughter Ruby is living through similar racial injustice while struggling to understand an incident of police brutality against her 15-year-old son. This exquisite and stunning musical spans three decades and three generations. In Broadbend, Arkansas, Benny and Ruby ask us to contemplate the cycles of violence in this country, and how we will find hope and create change against the backdrop of systemic racism.
DATES: Preview: Sept 28-30, 2021 | Opening: 10-1-21 | Closing: 10-30-21
Tickets: $20 for previews | $40 for performances

THE CAKE | Is it ok to stray from the recipe?

By Bekah Brunstetter

Jen and Macy are getting married! Macy comes from a Black progressive liberal New England

family, while Jen's upbringing is from the white conservative South. When Jen returns home to get married locally, she wants to hire her mother's charming best friend and Great American Bake-Off competitor, Della, to make her wedding cake. As a Christian woman, Della makes cakes, not judgment calls - those she leaves to God and her blue-collar husband, Tim. For the first time in her life Della has to think for herself. Her indecision about making a wedding cake for two women leaves Della and Jen at a crossroads covered and smothered in a mess of icing. This funny heartfelt play written by Bekah Brunstetter shows us how we all change when those we love bring us new perspectives.

DATES: Preview: Nov 22-24, 2021 | Opening: 11-26-21 | Closing: 12-18-21

Tickets: $15 for previews | $35 for performances

URINETOWN THE MUSICAL | It's a privilege to pee.

Music & Lyrics by Mark Hollmann, Book & Lyrics by Greg Kotis

Winner of three Tony Awards, Urinetown is a hilarious musical satire of capitalism, populism, corporate mismanagement, and musical theatre itself. In a Gotham-like city, a terrible water shortage has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. So when nature calls the citizens must pay to use the amenities. These public potties are regulated by Urine Good Company, a malevolent megacorporation that profits off of humanity's most basic needs. A hero emerges from the oppressed masses and decides that he's had enough. Our hero plans a revolution, restores Hope, and leads them all to freedom! Inspired by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, Urinetown is an irreverently humorous satire in which no one is safe from scrutiny. Praised for reinvigorating the very notion of what a musical could be, Urinetown's wickedly modern wit sustains its ability to produce gales of unbridled laughter.
DATES: Preview: Jan 25-27, 2022 | Opening: 1-28-22 | Closing: 2-26-22
Tickets: $20 for previews | $40 for performances

No. 6 | Can we weather the unknown together?

By T. J. Young

In 2001, the death of an unarmed Black man by the police has put the city of Cincinnati on

edge. This incident has incited a five-day riot setting the citizens against the police force. During these violent protests, twins Felicia and Felix hunker down with their mother in their apartment. In lockdown, Felicia finetunes her natural history thesis while Felix, protective of his mother and sister, takes care of the family's needs. Returning from a risky grocery run, Felix brings home more than just dinner; he drags an unconscious white man into his family's apartment. The family attempts to find out who this man is and why Felix brought him home, while the riots grow and move closer. As we learn more about the strange man, this play asks us to confront the changes we all must make in order to avoid Felicia's hypothesis of extinction event No. 6. "The question's not if we will weather this unknown, but how we will weather the unknown together."-Amanda Gorman
DATES: Preview: March 29-31, 2022 | Opening: 4-1-22 | Closing: 4-30-22
Tickets: $15 for previews | $35 for performances

ADDITIONAL DETAILS:

For each performance, doors open thirty minutes before curtain. All dates and plays are subject to change. More information about The Studio Theatre's sixth season is available online: www.TheSharonStudio.com.

FOR SEASON SIX TICKETS:

June 1 - Subscription renewals begin

June 28 - Deadline to renew subscriptions

June 29 - New subscriptions will go on sale | New Season Subscriptions are $130

June 29 - Individual performance and preview tickets go on sale

The Studio Theatre's Mission is to inspire the residents of Central Florida to examine relevant issues by elevating them through innovative and intimate storytelling. Think outside the box, inside the box.

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