Third Rail's Complete 13-14 Season Announced

Third Rail has announced the addition of the final show to our 2013-14 season: Midsummer (a play with songs) by David Grieg and Gordon McIntyre.

A smash hit in Edinburgh and Off-Broadway, MIDSUMMER is a smart, bouncy, surprising, and joyous comedy about fighting tooth and nail to NOT fall in love. This song-filled musical play joins our season in the spring slot, show number 4 out of 5, and will be the second show of Third Rail's season to be performed in the intimate CoHo Theatre. The now-completed full season is listed below.

Sweet and Sad
by Richard Nelson
Sep 27 - Oct 20
Winningstad Theatre

We open with part two of our four-year Apple Family Project, SWEET AND SAD by Tony Award-winner Richard Nelson. It's the 10th Anniversary of September 11 and the Apple family find themselves gathered together in Rhinebeck, NY for an impromptu lunch before heading off to an afternoon memorial service. While Uncle Benjamin rehearses for a reading, emotions run the gamut as the Apples catch up on politics (both familial and political), tell ghost stories, tease each other mercilessly, and confront the difficulties of loss. Filled with humor and sorrow, SWEET AND SAD celebrates the challenges of life in 21st century America and features the returning cast from last season's hit show, THAT HOPEY CHANGEY THING.

Noises Off
by Michael Frayn
Dec 6 - Jan 5
Winningstad Theatre

Next up, we bring you Third Rail's version of a holiday show. Just in time to battle the winter doldrums, we open Michael Frayn's NOISES OFF. It's been three years since we tackled a farce and now we're back with a vengeance! In the ultimate backstage comedy, Dottie has lost her sardines, Garry has lost coherence, Brooke has lost her contact lens (not to mention her clothes), Freddie has lost his funny bone, Belinda has lost her composure, Selsdon has lost his booze, Tim has lost sleep, Poppy has lost her man, and Lloyd has lost control of the worst sex farce in history...and it's all a race to the bottom from there. In what is arguably the funniest play ever written, NOISES OFF + Third Rail = the best holiday gift ever!

Gidion's Knot
by Johnna Adams
Feb 21 - Mar 15
Coho Theatre

Things take a decided turn toward the intimate with our third production of the year, our first of two to be staged at the Coho Theatre, and one of the hottest new plays in the country, GIDION'S KNOT by Johnna Adams. 5th-Grader Gidion has been suspended for reasons that his teacher, Heather, is reluctant to explain. His mother, Corryn, shows up for her scheduled Parent/Teacher conference and what begins as an uncomfortable exchange evolves into a confrontation that will expose both women to their core. Questioning the limits of freedom of expression, the power of language, parental vs societal responsibility, and the complex nature of love and loyalty, GIDION'S KNOT is a stunning new play that leaves no one unscathed.

Midsummer (a play with songs)
Mar 28 - Apr 19
Coho Theatre

Helena has a high-paying job with benefits, a taste for good wine, and a no-nonsense take-no-prisoners attitude. Bob has a low-paying job that could get him killed, a taste for dark stout, and the world's most forgettable nickname. Helena and Bob. Oil and Water. Fire and Ice. Could a rainy weekend of poor decisions, drunken seductions, crashed weddings, Japanese bondage failures, and mob run-ins put a song in their hearts and bring these two lovebirds together? MIDSUMMER is a smart, bouncy, surprising, joyous, and song-filled comedy about fighting tooth and nail to not fall in love.

Middletown
by Will Eno
May 30 - June 22
Winningstad Theatre

We wrap up our season back at the Winningstad Theatre with a play that Third Rail has been dying to produce since it was the hit of Portland Center Stage's 2009 JAW Festival, MIDDLETOWN by Will Eno. The residents of Middletown lead lives that are probably not too different from ours. They wake up, go to work, say hello to their neighbors, fix the plumbing, seek advice on parenting, and try to live lives that are as rewarding as possible. It's all fairly ordinary. And yet...ordinary doesn't even begin to scratch the surface in this quirky, word-frenzied, refraction of OUR TOWN. MIDDLETOWN is a quizzical fable about life in all its sweetness and pain, joy and wonder, beginnings and endings.

From our humble beginnings at the IFCC to our current home at the Winningstad, from one-off productions to a season of 5 shows, the story of Third Rail is a story of growth. We've never been willing to settle for good enough. Why should you? Join us next season and see what all the fuss is about.

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