Douglas Morrisson Theatre to Show World Premiere of CHARLEY'S AUNT '66

The Douglas Morrisson Theatre 2016-2017 37th Season continues with the World Premiere of a wonderfully silly farce: CHARLEY'S AUNT '66, freely adapted by Scott Munson from BranDon Thomas' classicCharley's Aunt. CHARLEY'S AUNT '66 will have 15 performances, including one preview, February 9 through March 5, 2017, at the Douglas Morrisson Theatre, 22311 N. Third St. in Hayward, CA. Tickets are $10-$29, and are available through the Box Office at (510) 881-6777 or online at www.dmtonline.org.

DMT's production of CHARLEY'S AUNT '66 is directed by Craig Souza and features an outstanding ensemble of Bay Area performers: Kyle Goldman as Charley Wykeham, Michael Birr as Jack Chesney, Alan Coyne as Buddy Fancourt, Samantha Rasler as Amy Spettigue, Brooke Silva as Kitty Verdun, John Baldwin as Frank Chesney, Ron Talbot as Stephen Spettigue, Dana Lewenthal as Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez and Adrian Deane as Ela Delahay.

Following the success of Scott Munson's captivatingly clever new take on An Ideal Husband, which premiered at Douglas Morrisson Theatre in 2013, Artistic Consultant, and former DMT Artistic Director, Susan E. Evans approached the San Jose-based playwright to take a fresh look at the classic 1892 farce by BranDon Thomas. Over the past nine months the playwright developed CHARLEY'S AUNT '66with the help of DMT artistic staff and a dedicated group of actors. In this World Premiere, Munson transports the original play from the hallowed halls of Oxford to Stanford University in the psychedelic '60s, but the bones of the plot remain the same: two college guys scheme to get their gals (but this time Amy is Mills pre-law!) - with a little help from a cross-dressing buddy.

Munson says, "It was great fun to take on the challenge of adapting a play that is so well-known in the English-speaking theater world, a mainstay of the stage since its inception and also a hit film with the immortal Jack Benny. I loved finding a new way to look at the play from a uniquely American perspective and to reveal something about us, as Americans, while remaining true to the spirit of the original."

Munson was struck by how the world portrayed by Thomas in Charley's Aunt was on the cusp of great change. Jack and Charley, those feather-brained privileged Oxford undergrads, would face the great issues of World War I. In a similar way, the playwright envisioned Stanford students in 1966 being on the brink of a world facing radical change, including the Vietnam War, a wave of political assassinations, a time of racial confrontation and rebellion, cultural explosion, and a revolution in the way men and women interacted.

DMT's CHARLEY'S AUNT '66 is fresh, fast-paced and audiences will especially relish how Munson has re-fashioned and re-imagined the timeless farce, completely revamping the characters and jokes, as well as the dialogue -- with the exception of one famously recognizable, recurring joke!

The creative team for CHARLEY'S AUNT '66 is comprised of designers with credits from numerous Bay Area theatres and beyond, including American Conservatory Theater, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, TheatreWorks, Marin Theatre Company, Cutting Ball, Aurora Theatre Co. and Shotgun Players: Giulio Perrone (scenic designer), Allen Willner (lighting designer), Cliff Caruthers (Sound Designer) and Daisy Neske-Dickerson (costume designer).

Scott Munson was born and raised in Hollywood, California, into a family of actors and torch-song singers. His work has been performed in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, Spokane and Chicago. He has received a Marin Arts Council Playwriting Grant and has won the Southwest Theatre Association New Play Contest, the San Francisco Bay Guardian Playwriting Competition, the Spokane Civic Theatre's Judges' Prize, the best play award at the New York's New York "Cringe" Festival, and the International Playwriting Competition of the Center Theater Ensemble of Chicago. He has been a two-time finalist for the National Play Award of the National Repertory Theater Foundation. CHARLEY'S AUNT '66 marks his second adaptation of a classic English play for the DMT, having worked with both Susan E. Evans and Craig Souza on a "fresh take" on Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband for DMT's 2013-14 season. Munson divides his time between the southwest of France and San Jose, California, with his wife Beatrice Munson, and a pond full of happy koi fish.

Craig Souza has been involved in Bay Area theatre for 25 years, performing with companies such as Theatre Rhinoceros (where he also serves as a Board Member), Eastenders Repertory Company, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Dark Room Theater and the Douglas Morrisson Theatre. He has appeared as an actor in numerous DMT productions (Mrs. Warren's Profession, An Ideal Husband, Frost/Nixon and Noises Off), and directed the staged reading of Rasheeda Speaking in last Season's Bare Bones' series. He is thrilled to be making his DMT mainstage directorial debut with CHARLEY'S AUNT '66, penned by his friend and collaborator, Scott Munson. After many years as an actor, Souza began directing with an original work by Scott Munson at the Dark Room Theatre in San Francisco, and CHARLEY'S AUNT '66 marks his fourth time directing an original work of Munson's. Souza received his undergraduate degree in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz, and lives in San Francisco with his partner Eric.

The Douglas Morrisson Theatre is a program and facility of the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District, enjoying its 72ndyear. The Douglas Morrisson Theatre is located at 22311 N. Third St. in Hayward, next to the Senior Center and the Japanese Gardens. The Box Office is open Tuesday through Friday, 1 to 5:00pm and can be reached at (510) 881-6777. Information is also available at www.dmtonline.org.

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