Nashville Rep Reveals 2016-17 Season

Nashville Repertory Theatre will launch its 2016-17 season with Jason Robert Brown's contemporary musical The Last Five Years and will feature the regional debut of Doug Wright's Posterity, a play about Henrik Ibsen that was developed in the company's Ingram New Works program and which premiered off-Broadway in 2015.

"What should Nashville expect from our 2016-17 season? Laughs and heartbreak and insights and music and pink bunny costumes," says Nashville Rep producing artistic director René D. Copeland.

"A season of shows is a special, unique creation, and I'm always looking for a combination of shows that is compelling and original, yet also provides the things that have made theatre exciting and irresistible for centuries. And those things are all about telling a great story while connecting people, actor to audience and audience member to audience member - the elements that provide the 'Ah-ha!' moments that can change a person. That's what good theatre does. Each play in our upcoming season has been chosen for its power to make you feel something, and maybe think about something in a new way. And best of all, the stories will be told by amazing Nashville theatre artists who rival any that might be seen on Broadway."

Nashville Rep's 2016-17 season will also feature a revival of Michael Fryan's Noises Off and Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. The company's critically acclaimed and audience favorite A Christmas Story will play its regular holiday stand at TPAC's Andrew Johnson Theater for the ninth consecutive season.

Nashville Rep's 2016-17 season includes:

• The Last Five Years Book, Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. Running September 8-24. Previews: September 8-9 / Regular Run: September 10-24. Over the span of five years Cathy and Jamie meet, fall in love, marry, and divorce. The tale of their passionate, hilarious, and heart-breaking relationship is brilliantly told from beginning to end and from end to beginning at the same time.
• Noises Off by Michael Frayn. Running October 13-November 5. Previews: October 13-14 / Regular Run: October 15-November 5. In this show-within-a-show sex farce, the chaos of rehearsal becomes chaos behind the scenes (literally), and ultimately, utter disaster. This brilliant comedy was a riotous success when Nashville Rep produced it over ten years ago, and a big laugh is always a worthwhile venture...
• Posterity by Doug Wright. Running February 9-25, 2017. Previews: February 9-10, 2017 / Regular Run: February 11-25, 2017. Take a world renowned Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, near the end of his life, and force him into a room with Norway's favorite sculptor, Gustav Vigeland, whose ambitions make it necessary for him to persuade a reluctant Ibsen to sit for him. Then their battle begins. This will be the regional premiere of this play by Pulitzer and Tony winner Doug Wright, who developed it initially with the support of the Ingram New Works Fellowship.
• A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Running March 23-April 15, 2017. Previews: March 23-24, 2017 / Regular Run: March 25-April 15, 2017. With the passing of the patriarch, a life insurance check of significant value arrives. How will the money best be spent for the benefit of the family? Should a home be purchased, a business venture invested in, or medical school paid for? And whose decision is it? Whose dream gets deferred?

Holiday Special:

• A Christmas Story adapted by Phillip Grecian, based on the motion picture A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark. Running November 27-December 21. Preview: November 27 / Regular Run: November 28-December 21. This is Nashville Rep's eighth consecutive year performing A Christmas Story for Nashville, and we're pretty sure you don't need another description of the show. There's a leg lamp, a pink bunny suit, and "Deck The Halls" sung at a Chinese restaurant.

Further, the 2016-17 Season offers a fun and social option of Opening Night Drinks. Attendees of Opening Night Drinks enjoy an open bar, delicious appetizers and free garage parking across the street from TPAC for only $35 per person per show or for $140 to join the party all season long right off the bat. Ticket holders for a play's opening night can join other audience members and Rep staff immediately prior to the performance at Waller on the 27th floor of Nashville City Center. Parking, drinks, appetizers, good company, and an invigorating view for only $35 per person - space is limited at Opening Night Drinks.

Nashville Rep Student Pass is also new this season: A student will spend $35 and attend as many performances as possible all season long for no additional price. (No physical card is involved.) Once purchased, the student is welcome to come to the box office 90 minutes prior to a performance, and if a ticket is available for that performance, the student will receive admission. The Student Pass can be used repeatedly for the same play, allowing her or him to enjoy the show repeatedly at no extra cost. Student Pass holders must bring their student ID with them when obtaining tickets.

Subscriptions go on sale on May 9 and range from $135 to $220 per person for four shows. Early-bird subscription discounts are available until May 31, 2016. Subscribers can save up to $105 off the full ticket value of single show tickets, and also have the option to purchase tickets to Nashville Rep's A Christmas Story at a discount.

Go to www.nashvillerep.org to subscribe or to learn more about becoming a Subscriber. Subscriptions are also available by calling Subscriber Services at (615) 782-6560, or by visiting the TPAC Box Office at 505 Deaderick Street in Nashville. Single tickets will go on sale July 1, 2016. All Nashville Rep performances will be held in Andrew Johnson Theatre at Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

- photo of Hamish Linklater and John Noble in Doug Wright's Posterity in its 2015 off-Broadway production by Doug Hamilton

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