John Cariani, Mary Testa, and More Set For Transport Group's 2024-25 Season

Transport Group has announced its 2024-25 season, which will include two previously-announced works: William Inge's Bus Stop, co-produced with Classic Stage Company (CSC) and National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), and the developmental production, Split, a new musical by Michele Lowe and Zoe Sarnak, in collaboration with New London Barn Playhouse.

The season also includes two three-week workshops: Beautiful Jolie Gabor, Her Glamorous Three Daughters, and Always the Happiness Is Life, a new musical by Michael John LaChiusa, and 1939, a new work conceived by Artistic Director Jack Cummings III.  In addition to the workshops, Transport Group will give readings to four works currently in development: two musicals—Mourning Songs by Ryan Langer and The Pet Project by Laurie Graff and Nancy Shayne—and two plays—Our Table by Kirsten Guenther, and The Sea & The Stars by Harrison David Rivers.  Transport Group's development of new plays and musicals is made possible by The Joanna & Steven Sanders New Works Program.

The season will be capped by a return to Carnegie Hall on June 26, 2025, for a one-night-only concert of a classic American musical performed by an all-star cast and a full orchestra as part of the ongoing Anne L. Bernstein Concert Series and following the sold-out success of Follies this past June.

“Perhaps our most robust season to date, Transport Group's upcoming slate focuses sharply on the American experience, allowing audiences and artists the chance to explore its many meanings together,” said Artistic Director Jack Cummings III.  “This season will showcase eight works, three of them commissioned projects, in different stages of what it takes to bring a play or musical to fruition, from reading to opening night, culminating in our mainstage production Bus Stop next May, continuing our collaborations with venerable companies CSC and NAATCO.”

Bus Stop

Written by William Inge

Directed by Jack Cummings III

Co-produced with Classic Stage Company and NAATCO

May - June 2025

On a snowy night in Kansas, a diner can be an oasis, a prison, a place to hide, or a place to discover yourself.  When a bus is forced to take shelter from stormy weather outside, a mismatched group of dreamers and cowboys, waitresses and outcasts finds unexpected warmth in one another.  In William Inge's 1955 classic, the great playwright of the American Midwest gives voice to memorable characters who will linger in the mind like the perfect cup of diner coffee.

 

In 2018 Transport Group partnered with CSC on a critically acclaimed production of Tennessee Williams's Summer and Smoke—and with NAATCO on productions of The Trial of the Catonsville Nine and Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance in 2019 and 2022, respectively.  Bringing the three companies together is the next organic step in the collaborations: CSC focuses on classic, particularly European, plays; Transport Group has a long history producing classic American plays; and NAATCO specializes in producing European and American classics with all Asian-American casts.  This intersection of the companies' missions presents an ideal opportunity for one of America's most revered playwright's enduring plays.  

 

Additionally, Bus Stop marks the conclusion of Transport Group's decades-long examination of Inge's work, making it the only theatre company in New York to have produced all of his major plays, including OBIE-winning productions of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Picnic, and Come Back, Little Sheba.

 

Split

A new musical with book by Michele Lowe; music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak

Directed by Jack Cummings III

Commissioned by Transport Group

Produced in collaboration with The New London Barn Playhouse

Starring Grace Beaudet, Legna Cedillo, J. Antonio Rodriguez, David Rowen, Katie Thompson, Jacob Keith Watson

September 5-8, 2024

Split tells the story of Lilian, a former research scientist at Los Alamos during WWII, and her daughter Amy as they embark on a road trip to the Grand Canyon in the summer of 1953.  Though bound by family ties and a love of science, mother and daughter have different ideas about their futures: Lilian's secret goal is to set her daughter's life on a new course.  But by the end of the journey, it will be Amy who changes her mother's life forever. 

 

Beautiful Jolie Gabor, Her Glamorous Three Daughters, and Always the Happiness Is Life

A new musical with words and music by Michael John LaChiusa

Starring Mary Testa

Commissioned by Transport Group

Expansive and lush, Beautiful Jolie Gabor, Her Glamorous Three Daughters, and Always the Happiness Is Life is a musical fantasy that traces the history of the first family who became famous for being famous.  Examining society's fascination with celebrity culture, Beautiful Jolie Gabor… centers on family matriarch Jolie Gabor, a Hungarian WWII immigrant who voraciously creates a life where persecution can never affect her family again.  In the choices she makes and the not-so-truthful stories she spins, Jolie must answer the most telling question: What is the cost along the way?  And, then, what is the cost at the end?  Much like the real-life Gabor Family, Michael John LaChiusa's newest work, starring Mary Testa as Jolie Gabor, absolutely mesmerizes.

 

1939

A new work conceived by Jack Cummings III

Starring John Cariani and Kelly McAndrew

This experimental work tells the story of a middle-aged couple trying to escape Europe at the beginning of the Second World War.  Using only dialogue from major Hollywood films of the most revered year in cinema history, 1939 explores the psychological fractures that occur when human beings are stranded indefinitely between life and death.

 

The Sea & The Stars

A new play by Harrison David Rivers

Commissioned by Transport Group

Simon is a lifeguard.  Finn is terrified of water.  Both are adrift, with broken hearts, returning to the tiny beach town of Jupiter and to families who need them.  A story about love, karaoke, and the sea, The Sea & The Stars is a romantic comedy that examines the universal need for connection and closeness.

 

Mourning Songs

A new musical by Ryan Langer

An autobiographical one-man musical, Mourning Songs tells the story of a 35-year-old composer who, after the tragic murder of his father, must move back home to help his mother and family heal–and to grow up, possibly for the very first time.

 

Our Table

A new play by Kirsten Guenther

Stranded on a table in the wings of the McCarter Theatre in 1938, a group of props attempt to process some devastating news: They've just been fired from up-and-coming playwright Thornton Wilder's new play Our Town.  What will they do now?  Where will they go?  Will Wilder see the error of his ways and change his mind?  A whimsical new take on an American classic, Our Table explores what happens when we're no longer deemed necessary or useful.

 

The Pet Project

A new musical with book by Laurie Graff; music and lyrics by Nancy Shayne

On the coldest night of the year, a handful of New Yorkers brave the elements to attend a pet bereavement meeting, each reeling from the recent loss of a warm, furry friend, but grief gets derailed when the group sniffs out the truth about its leader.

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