Third Rail Announces 2018-2019 Season

Third Rail Repertory Theatre announces three Main Stage productions and one concert staging for the company's 13th Season - a set of impactful, inclusive shows produced with rigorous commitment to excellence and an abundance of craft.

"This season lends itself to what Third Rail does best", said Maureen Porter, Third Rail's Managing Artistic Director. "Wonderfully surprising, character-driven plays that delight and challenge an audience, while courageously exploring the boundaries of theatrical style. We'll delve deep into the human heart and mind and examine the ways in which love, in all its different guises, can uplift us, break our hearts, and prove strong enough to save our very lives."

2018-2019 Main Stage Flexible Subscriptions and Memberships are on sale now. To purchase, call 503-235-1101 or visit thirdrailrep.org. Flexible subscriptions include four discounted tickets to Third Rail's Main Stage productions and concert performance and can be applied in a variety of ways, priced at $100-Student; $133-Under 30; $133-Seniors; $147-Adult. Membership includes access to all Third Rail Main Stage productions, Concert Performance, National Theatre Live Presentations, Sunday Salon Series Readings and other Member-only events for only $26.00 a month or one $312.00 upfront payment.

Anyone who subscribes or renews their Third Rail Membership by June 30, 2018 can give a free RAIL IT FORWARD subscription or membership to someone who has not been a subscriber or member before.

Third Rail Repertory Theatre
2018-2019 Season

A reimagined concert staging of
The Music Man

By Meredith Wilson
Directed by Isaac Lamb*
August 2 - August 5, 2018 at CoHo Theatre
Thursday-Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2pm

"Well there ain't no call for a boys band in this town..."

You got that right. We're assembling an all female one. In this stripped-down, reimagined staging of an American classic, we probe a question we've been asking since last season's Men on Boats: who gets to tell our most foundational stories? What if the Music Man you've been waiting for all this time wasn't a man at all...

Adjust the lens. Challenge the tradition. Hear it again for the first time.

John

By Annie Baker
Directed by Rebecca Lingafelter*
November 30 - December 22, 2018 at CoHo Theatre
Thursday-Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2pm

A Bed & Breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, decked out for the holidays. An eccentric innkeeper, with a penchant for miniatures, dolls and doilies. A young couple struggling to reconnect. A sublimely odd, yet somehow familiar, cast of characters. But who's John? Subtle and moving, Pultizer Prize winning Annie Baker uses her trademark humor to unspool a delicate, richly-detailed story, that urges us to seek meaning in the quotidian and the mysterious.

"Ms. Baker's haunting and haunted meditation on topics she has made so singularly her own: the omnipresence of loneliness in human life, and the troubled search for love and lasting connection." -NYTimes

Kiss

By Guillermo Calderón
Directed by Philip Cuomo*
March 15 - April 6, 2019 at CoHo Theatre
Thursday-Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2pm

In the midst of a Syrian city stricken by war, two young couples meet for a quiet evening at home. In an intimate theatre in America, four actors attempt to make sense of an intriguing international work of art. Guillermo Calderón's captivating play-within-a-play blazes a trail through the twists and turns of cross-cultural understanding, challenging us to reframe our notions of life, love, and what's lost in translation.

"[KISS] occupies the terrain between parody and reality, melodrama and documentary, laughter and catharsis. " -Broadway World

Arlington

By Enda Walsh
Directed by Isaac Lamb*
May 31 - June 22, 2019 at CoHo Theatre
Thursday - Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2pm

A young woman waits alone in a room for her number to be called, her destiny decided. On the other side of the wall, a young man watches her and weighs a choice that could change her destiny and his. The line between dreams and reality get blurry within this "riveting fever dream of a play" (The New York Times). In a dangerous dystopian world, what if love is the most powerful act of resistance?

"In a bleak and terrifying world that 'echoes Orwell's 1984' (The Guardian), Enda Walsh and the creative design team ... dare to imagine a strange and tender love story." -St Ann's Warehouse

****

Interesting Angles:

-This will mark Third Rail's 13th full season of plays. In the spirit of coming full circle, it will also be our first season fully performed at the CoHo Theatre, where Third Rail debuted in 2004 with Recent Tragic Events.

-This marks the first season under the leadership of longtime Company Member and new Artistic Director Maureen Porter.

-Third Rail returns to two playwrights, Annie Baker (The Aliens, The Flick) and Enda Walsh (Penelope, The New Electric Ballroom) that they have produced with great success in prior years.

-Third Rail brings the work of Guillermo Calderón back to Portland. Calderón, Chile's foremost contemporary playwright, was in Portland in 2014 in association with Boom Arts, Reed College and PICA.

-This season explores profound connection in four vivid love stories couched in vastly different theatrical styles. It gives an indication of where and how the company's tastes and interests are expanding.

*denotes Third Rail Company Member

About Third Rail Repertory Theatre: Third Rail is an artist-driven theatre company whose vitality is defined by its audience's sharp appetite for groundbreaking, innovative work. We promote new plays while exploring the edges of theatrical style. Third Rail exists to provide a home for artists and theatergoers alike, offering a range of experiences to be shared by the audience and the community.

More information about Third Rail can be found at thirdrailrep.org.

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