Tennessee Rep Announces 26th Season Productions

Christopher Sergel's stage adaptation of Harper Lee's classic Southern novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, will open Tennessee Repertory Theatre's 26^th Season with an October 2-23 run at the Andrew Johnson Theatre at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Other shows featured during the 2010-2011 season includes Steven Dietz's Yankee Tavern, the acclaimed stage adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, and the toe-tapping musical favorite Pump Boys and Dinettes. Last season's holiday hit, A Christmas Story, will be revived as a season special and Tennessee Rep has three shows on tap for its popular REPaloud Series of staged readings.

The season includes:

• To Kill A Mockingbird, by Christopher Sergel, based on the classic novel by Harper Lee, October 2-23, 2010: Based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South, To Kill a Mockingbird presents a gothic coming-of-age tale in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice. Told through the voice of Scout Finch, this gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale illustrates the heroism and courage of one man (Scout's father, Atticus Finch) in the face of blind and violent hatred. When a black man, Tom Robinson is arrested on the accusation of raping a white woman, Atticus agrees to defend him. Many townspeople demand Atticus to pull out of the trial, but he refuses. How will the trial turn out-and will it change any of the racial tension in the town? If you have read the novel, you will relive every treasured moment. If not, a deeply moving experience awaits you in this celebration of the 50th anniversary of a true American classic.

• Yankee Tavern by Steven Dietz February 5-19, 2011: A man walks into a bar...and inside the walls of a crumbling tavern in New York City, a young man is pressed by questions from his late father's best friend, who weaves conspiracy theories together in a an intoxicating blend, and a stranger who knows much more than he should. Surprising revelations continue to emerge in this dramatic thriller in which a young couple's future seems connected inexplicably to shadowy events around the national tragedy of 9/11. Are conspiracy theories just for fun? Do they do service or do they do damage? What is it about us that jumps to believe the dark and mysterious undercurrents of our national events rather than what appears to be true on the surface? Are we right to question official stories or are we just making it harder for the truth to be known? Steven Dietz's acclaimed and already widely-produced play-a selection of the National New Play Network's Continued Life Project and one of the top ten plays produced among regional theatres this season-is a fierce, funny, suspenseful, and ultimately mind-bending work of theatrical power that grips you until the final word.

• Alfred Hitchock's The 39 Steps, Adapted by Patrick Barlow from the novel by John Buchan from the movie of Alfred Hitchcock and an original concept by Nobby Dimon and Simon Corble, March 19-April 2, 2011: Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre. This two-time Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of four), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers, and some good old-fashioned romance. In The 39 Steps, Richard Hannay-a man with a boring life-finds himself on an extraordinary and entertaining adventure when a quickly acquainted spy is killed by assassins with a butter knife. Soon, a mysterious organization called "The 39 Steps" is hot on the man's trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale! A fast-paced, riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft, The 39 Steps amounts to an unforgettable evening of riotous,unforgettable pleasure!

• Pump Boys and Dinettes, Created by John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel, and Jim Wann, April 23-May 14, 2011: Drive a ways outta town, and you'll come to a filling station run by Jim and L.M. Across the blacktop is the Double Cupp Diner, operated by Rhetta and Prudie Cupp. To look at it, you wouldn't know that this little stop on Highway 57 is where all the action is. But trust us, once the boys get that guitar and bass fiddle revved up, you won't want to be anywhere else. Packed with hummable, hilarious songs like "Be Good or Be Gone," "Tips," and "The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine," Pump Boys and Dinettes is a foot-stomping good time that will make you want to order a big slice of cherry pie and a second cup of coffee before you hit the road in search of life's simple pleasures.

• Holiday Special: A Christmas Story adapted by Phillip Grecian from the motion picture by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, and Bob Clark November 20 -December 18, 2010: BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Humorist Jean Shepherd's memoir of growing up in the Midwest in the 1940s follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his unflappable campaign to get Santa (or anyone else) to give him a Red Rider carbine-action, 200 shot range-model air rifle. Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself, at Goldblatt's Department Store. The consistent response: "You'll shoot your eye out." This irresistible piece of Americana is guaranteed to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone. "Thanks to Tennessee Repertory Theatre's wonderfully evocative production of the play, based on the iconic holiday movie, if I could possibly have another more satisfying theatre experience, I could scarcely dream it." -Jeffrey Ellis, broadwayworld.com

• REPaloud means "Reading Excellent Plays" aloud. Don't miss this popular series free for subscribers. The slate of plays for the 2010-2011 season includes the following: Take Me Out, by Richard Greenberg, winner of the 2003 Tony Award for Best Play; Ruined by Lynn Nottage, winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; and August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, winner of the 2008 Tony Award for Best Play and Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

For further details about season subscriptions, visit the company's website at www.TennesseeRep.org.