Diversionary Theatre Set for HARMONY, KANSAS, PIPPIN, THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HEDDA GABBLER & More for 2012-13 Season

Diversionary Theatre announced the company's 2012-2013 productions and presentations at an event this past Saturday. The season will include the previously announced world-premiere of Harmony, Kansas, a new musical; an imaginative staging of Pippin; the first full-scale production of the new play, when last we flew; a comedy about family, Birds of a Feather; and, the hilarious farce, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabbler.

"We are thrilled to have such an entertaining season created by some of our favorite artists from San Diego and beyond," said Diversionary Theatre Executive Director, John E. Alexander. "I'm particularly thrilled to continue Diversionary's evolution as a company that nurtures plays and musicals and the growing community who make San Diego their artistic home. With two new shows and some very smart, poignant and funny theatre, I know our audiences are in for an amazing ride."

Two new shows debuting on the Diversionary stage. Harmony, Kansas, a new musical with book and lyrics by Bill Nelson and music by Anna K. Jacobs will have its first full production at Diversionary. Harrison David Rivers' when last we flew, winner of a 2010 GLAAD Media Award for a 2010 developmental presentation at New York Fringe 2010, will have it's first full production this fall.

Marc Acito (A Room With a View) adds a "P" to the standard LGBT focused fare with the Helen Hayes Award-winning Birds of a Feather, which tells the mostly true story of two male penguins who want to raise a family in the Central Park Zoo. And, Matt McGrath (Next Fall and The Globe's The Rocky Horror Show) returns to Diversionary to direct the rollicking and irreverent farce, The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabbler, from the brilliant mind of Jeff Whitty (book writer for Broadway's Avenue Q and Bring it On!).

The season also includes James Vasquez's fresh and raw telling of the Stephen Schwartz's classic musical, Pippin.

Between main stage productions, the Diversionary Cabaret series will offer a full slate of concerts, stand-up and sketch comedy throughout the year. Artists and dates to be announced soon.

HARMONY, KANSAS World Premiere New Musical
June 14 – July 22, 2012
Book & Lyrics by Bill Nelson
Music By Anna K. Jacobs
Directed by James Vasquez
Orchestrations & Music Directions by Adam Wachter
With: Jacob Caltrider, Dylan Hoffinger, Tony Houck, Anthony Methvin, Bill Nolte, John Whitley and Tom Zohar

With a lively, soulful score, Harmony, Kansas tells the story of Heath, a gay farmer making his way in a rural community where homogeneity rules. When his city-born partner, Julian, talks him into joining a spirited group of gay guys who meet once a week to sing, Heath discovers a love for making music and a kinship he didn't expect. But his world is turned upside down when the group considers performing in public, threatening everything that matters to him, including the life he's made with the man he loves.

Diversionary's world premiere production is made possible by the generous support of
California Institute for Contemporary Arts, the National Fund for New Musicals (a program of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre with funding from the ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund), Witt Matheny Fund and Gay and Lesbian Fund for San Diego.

Performances of Harmony, Kansas begin June 14 and run through July 22, 2012.

PIPPIN
September 6 –October 14, 2012
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Book by Roger O. Hirson
Directed by James Vasquez

A reimagined, innovative staging of a musical favorite! James Vasquez gives a youthful, fresh and raw spin to iconic musicals about a young prince who longed to discover the secret of true happiness and fulfillment. Pippinis a hip, tongue-in-cheek, anachronistic fairy tale that captivated Broadway audiences and continues to appeal to the young at heart everywhere.

WHEN LAST WE FLEW – West Coast Premiere
November 8 – December 9, 2012
By Harrison David Rivers
Directed By Collette Roberts

"Before we were human. We were birds. And. We. Were. Magnificent!"

Inspired by Tony Kushner's Angels in America,when last we flew is a moving and often humorous look at life in small town America from a contemporary teenage perspective. After stealing his local library's only (and unread) copy of Angels in America, misfit teenager Paul locks himself in the bathroom and begins reading the landmark play. He soon finds that his life and the lives of those around him in his small Kansas suburb are about to take flight, and over the course of a seemingly ordinary day, extraordinary things start to happen. During its 2010 developmental presentation, when last we flew was awarded Outstanding New York Theater from GLAAD Media Awards and Winner, Outstanding Play, FringeNYC 2010.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER
January 31 – March 3, 2013
By Marc Acito
Directed By James Vasquez

Birds of a Featheris a heart-warming, smart comedy about two bird families: Roy and Silo, two penguins at the Central Park Zoo that adopt and raise a chick, and Pale Male and Lola, two hawks living and raising their own on a trendy Manhattan building. The play is based on true events and the controversial children's book, And Tango Makes Three. The play emphasizes a universal and timely message: that all types of family – conventional or not - should be celebrated.

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HEDDA GABBLER
March 21 – April 4, 2013
By Jeff Whitty
Directed by Matt McGrath

Beginning immediately after Henrik Ibsen's classic ends, The Further Adventures Of Hedda Gabler finds Hedda mired in an alternative hell: a place where death is only possible when a fictional character is forgotten by the real-life public. So what is one of drama's most famous suicides to do? After taking advice from helpful neighbor Medea, Hedda and her maid, Mammy (yes, that Mammy), set out on a perilous quest to return to the imaginative furnace of their creation. Along the way, they meet characters from science fiction, Black feminist theater, TV cop shows, Biblical dramas, as well as a couple of wisecracking, self-hating gay characters from the 1960s. Once Hedda and Mammy arrive at their fiery destination, they face a heartbreaking truth about themselves, their creators, and the forces that make them eternal.

Diversionary Theatre develops new works and produces plays and musicals that explore the issues, characters and stories of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in all its complexity and diversity. Since its founding in 1986, the company has grown into a professional theatre company producing a season of mainstage plays and musicals as well as nurturing artists in the development of new works of theatre through new play commissions, readings and workshops.

Single tickets to Harmony, Kansas are on sale now and season packages to all shows are currently available to members and patrons of Diversionary. Visit www.diversionary.com or call (619) 220-0097 for pricing and order information.

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