Actors' Theatre Grand Rapids Announces 34th Season Featuring 4000 MILES, CHESS & More!

Actors' Theatre Grand Rapids (www.atgr.org) is pleased to announce the upcoming productions of their 34th season. Known for providing West Michigan with the best works of contemporary theater, the 2014-15 Season exemplifies this commitment.

"Actors' Theatre is a very important part of the Grand Rapids arts community," states Debbie Playford, Managing Director. "We are known as the Off-Broadway of Grand Rapids and bring shows you would normally have to travel to New York or other big cities to enjoy. Next season we continue our commitment to bring innovative, challenging and thought-provoking works to Grand Rapids."

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The productions scheduled for the 2014-2015 Season are as follows:

OCTOBER 2-11, 2014

4000 Miles

by Amy Herzog
Finalist 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
2012 Obie Award, Best New Play
2012 New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award
Time Magazine's #1 Play or Musical of 2012

After suffering a major loss while on a cross-country bike trip, 21 year-old Leo seeks solace from his feisty 91 year-old grandmother Vera in her West Village apartment. Over the course of a single month, these unlikely roommates infuriate, bewilder, and ultimately reach each other.

Directed by Fred Sebulske

DECEMBER 4-11, 2014

Chess - A musical
Book by Richard Nelson
Lyrics by Tim Rice, Music by ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson

Two of the world's greatest chess masters battle it out at the world chess championships but their greatest contest is for the love of one woman. Amidst political intrigue and international conspiracies, the American and the Russian compete in a romantic triangle that mirrors the heightened passions of the Cold War, all set to the pulse of a monumental rock score.

Directed by Scott Mellema

Music Direction by Scott Patrick Bell

JANUARY 29 - FEBRUARY 7, 2015

Water By The Spoonful

by Quiara Alegra Hudes

Winner of 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Elliot, an Iraq war veteran, joins an internet chatroom in an effort to deal with the after- effects of war. The intimate portrait of both a family and the members of an online recovery community is unlocked as they struggle with the harrowing consequences of addiction. Covering the distance between the virtual world to the physical, Water by the Spoonful ties together the lives of a host of unforgettable characters in a play of genuine warmth about forgiveness and redemption.

Directed by Michelle Urbane

MARCH 19-28, 2015

The Light In The Piazza - A Musical
Book by Craig Lucas, Music and Lyrics by Adam Guettel
During the summer of 1953, American Margaret Johnson is touring the Tuscan countryside with her daughter, Clara. While sightseeing, Clara, a beautiful, surprisingly childish young woman, loses her hat in a sudden gust. As if guided by an unseen hand, the hat lands at the feet of Fabrizio Naccarelli, a handsome Florentine, who returns it to Clara. This brief encounter of fate sparks an intense romance between Clara and Fabrizio and a secret begins to unfold: Clara is not all that she appears to be.

Directed by Kyle Amanda Dutkiewicz

MAY 14 - 23, 2015

Other Desert Cities

by Jon Robin Baitz

Finalist for 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
2012 Tony Award nomination for Best Play
Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs after a six-year absence to celebrate Christmas with her parents, brother, and aunt. Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir dredging up a pivotal and tragic event in the family's history-a wound they don't want reopened. A surprising twist is revealed as she draws a line in the sand and dares them all to cross it. Searing comedy and clever exchanges among family members makes this one of the most satisfying grown-up plays of the decade.

Directed by Fred Sebulske

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