THE EXPLORERS CLUB, LEGENDS!, ATOMIC, CALENDAR GIRLS and More Set for Meadow Brook Theatre's 50th Anniversary Season

Meadow Brook Theatre's 2015-2016 season promises to please with Michigan Premieres, a hilarious comedy, and a nostalgic musical sure to take you on a trip back in time!

"This is going to be an amazing season." said Cheryl Marshall, Managing Director. "We're so excited to kick off our 50th Anniversary with a great event this summer and such a wonderful line-up of shows!"

The summer event Marshall is referring to is the 50th Anniversary Kick-off and Benefit, Black Tie on the Blacktop. Tickets for the benefit event, which will take place July 18, 2015 and feature strolling dinner, cocktails, raffle and one-night-only concert by Tommy James and the Shondells are on sale now!

But Black Tie on the Blacktop isn't all MBT has to offer for their Golden Anniversary season. The regular season gets underway in October and features a sure-to-please line-up of Seven productions?four of which are Michigan Premieres!

The season opens October 7 with The Explorers Club by Nell Benjamin, which will run through November 1, 2015. It's London, 1879 and the prestigious Explorers Club is in crisis: their acting president wants to admit a woman, and their bartender is terrible. True, this female candidate is brilliant, beautiful, and has discovered a legendary Lost City, but letting a woman in could shake the very foundation of the British Empire, and how do you make such a decision without a decent drink? Grab your safety goggles for some very mad science involving deadly cobras, irate Irishmen and the occasional airship. The Explorers Club is a Michigan Premiere.

The regular season then breaks for the special 34th holiday production of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, adapted by Charles Nolte, running November 15 - December 24, 2015. Subscribers to the MBT season receive a 20% discount for tickets to A Christmas Carol.

January 6 - January 31, 2016 MBT brings audiences Legends! by James Kirkwood. Eager beaver producer Martin Klemmer, has uncovered a terrific script - 'Star Wars: The Play'. Since he has produced only one Off-Broadway project, something called 'Craps!', Martin's calls are not being returned by the powerful Broadway magnates capable of getting this play to the Great White Way. Martin needs names, names like film legends Sylvia Glenn and Leatrice Monsee, for the leads. If Martin can sign them he can get the money. Unfortunately, they hate each other. Will Martin be able to resolve this titanic dilemma? Will 'Star Wars: The Play' hit the big time? And, if Sylvia and Leatrice do agree to appear together, will another famous star sign on, too?

The third production of the regular 2015-2016 season is the Michigan Premiere of ATOMIC, created by Danny Ginges with book and lyrics by Danny Ginges & Gregory Bonsignore, music and lyrics by Philip Foxman. ATOMIC, is the thrilling new Off-Broadway musical that blasts open the doors of The Manhattan Project, a government-funded program of top scientists with the task of creating the world's first atomic bomb. Leo Szilard is the mastermind behind atomic power, but his heart has reservations. Ethics, scientific progress, and true love are tested as Leo discovers exactly what he's capable of when someone believes in him. This show goes up February 10 - March 6, 2016.

The Michigan Premiere of Calendar Girls by Tim Firth is the next show in the 50th anniversary season. Annie and her best friend, Chris resolve to raise money for a new settee in the local hospital waiting room. The ladies manage to persuade four fellow Women's Institute members to pose nude with them for an "alternative" calendar, with a little help from hospital porter and amateur photographer, Lawrence. The news of the women's charitable venture spreads like wildfire, and hordes of press soon descend on the small village of Knapeley in the Yorkshire Dales. Based on the true story of eleven Women's Institute members who posed nude for a calendar to raise money for the Leukemia Research Fund. Calendar Girls, on stage March 16 - April 10, 2016, is a hilarious, yet beautifully touching play.

Sistas the Musical another Michigan Premiere, Written by Dorothy Marcic will have audiences dancing in their seats and singing along April 20 - May 15, 2016. After a matriarch's death, the women in the family clean Grandma's attic and find love and old memories packed away. In the process they find hit tunes that trace the history of black women, from the trials of the 1930s through the Girl Groups of the 60s to the empowerment of the 90s. With songs such as "I Will Survive," "We Are Family," "Mama Said," and "Oh Happy Day!"

The season will conclude May 25 - June 19, 2016, with the barbershop quartet harmonies of Forever Plaid, written & originally directed and choreographed by Stuart Ross · Music Continuity Supervision and Arrangements by James Raitt and originally produced by Gene Wolsk. Once upon a time, there were four guys who discovered they shared a love for music, and then got together to become their idols - The Four Freshman, The Hi-Lo's and The Crew Cuts. Rehearsing in the basement of Smudge's family's plumbing supply company they became "Forever Plaid." On the way to their first big gig, the "Plaids" are slammed broadside by a school bus and killed instantly. It is at the moment when their careers and lives end, that the story of Forever Plaid begins.... This nostalgic and fun revue is chock-full of classic barbershop quartet harmonies, pitch-perfect melodies and some of the best songs of the 1950s!

Season tickets are currently available by calling the Meadow Brook Theatre box office at 248-377-3300. They range from $138 - $211 per seat for the six-play season. When you subscribe to the 2015-2016 season, you may also purchase tickets for A Christmas Carol at a 20% discount before they go on sale to the general public. Single tickets go on sale Monday, September 7, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. Tickets range from $26 - $41 for individual plays.

Meadow Brook Theatre is also proud to present their annual Children's Series. Details will be announced soon. These shows are often presented with two performances per day. So don't miss out on this wonderful chance to share live theatre with the ones you love. Subscribers to the MBT season receive a 20% discount for tickets to the Children's Series.

The season may also include a (TBA) Pre-Broadway tryout production June 29 - July 24. More information about this performance is coming soon to www.mbtheatre.com.

Meadow Brook Theatre is a non-profit, cultural institution serving southeast Michigan for 50 years.

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