TheatreWorks Sets 2015-16 Season: THE COUNTRY HOUSE, New Works Festival & More!

An audience of theatre enthusiasts waited in anticipation at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts tonight, when Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and Managing Director Phil Santora of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley unveiled the thrilling line-up for its 2015/2016 season. A stunning testament to the success of TheatreWorks' development of new plays and musicals, the season includes three works developed by the company: a World Premiere musical, a hit comedy from last summer's New Works Festival, and the triumphant return of the company's all-time record-breaker. The season will also give Bay Area audiences a first look at the recent Broadway hit from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies, a brand new tour-de-force musical play by acclaimed performer Hershey Felder honoring "America's composer" Irving Berlin, a Tony Award-winning drama from David Auburn, and two top comedies.

TheatreWorks' 46th season will kick off with the World Premiere of Triangle (July 8 - August 2) with music by Curtis Moore, lyrics by Thomas Mizer, book by Thomas Mizer, Curtis Moore, and Joshua Scher. Two love stories, set in the same New York City building but a hundred years apart, begin to weave together across the century when a scientist learns his New York lab was once the site of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Commissioned by the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Triangle was developed at TheatreWorks' 2012 New Works Festival and went onto other developmental productions, which have received enormous enthusiasm. Said Robert Kelley of Triangle, "We are thrilled to launch our season with this dynamic, fascinating contemporary musical."

The Summer will also play host to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's 2015 New Works Festival (August 7 - 16), at which leading playwrights and composers from across the country present new works to audiences who can participate in discussions, view works-in-progress, and attend book-in-hand readings and sing-throughs of new musicals.

Next up is the Bay Area's first look at the recent Broadway hit, The Country House (August 26 - September 20), the latest comedy from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Dinner with Friends, Donald Margulies. In this captivating riff on over-the-top actors and their off-stage foibles, a revered star and her show-biz family gather in their Berkshire home to wrestle with fame, art, and each other. Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote it "Brings to mind a frothy, theater-minded variation on The Big Chill," going on to describe the play as, "A valentine to the artists of the stage."

In the Fall, the company will present the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play Proof (October 7 - November 1) by David Auburn. This riveting masterpiece, about a mathematical genius and his brilliant daughter who is seeking legitimacy in the male-dominated world of high-level science, ran for an astounding 917 performances on Broadway (the longest running Broadway play in two decades) and was called "Rich and compelling. Full of life, laughter, and hope" by the New York News and "A beautifully put-together play" by The New York Times.

TheatreWorks presents a musical romance for the holidays, bringing one of literature's most delightful heroines to sparkling life with the triumphant return of Jane Austen's Emma (December 2 - 27), with music, lyrics, and book by Paul Gordon, adapted from the novel by Jane Austen. This musical confection was developed at the TheatreWorks New Works Initiative in 2006 and became the company's 50th World Premiere production in 2007. It received critical acclaim from local and national media, and set box office records, grossing the highest number of single ticket sales and becoming one of the most attended productions in the company's history. The San Francisco Chronicle called the production, "First rate ... a buoyant, very well-made new musical." The San Jose Mercury News said Emma was "Everything a musical should be," and Variety also gave the show high marks, calling it "A charmer. Emma is a bloomin' gem."

In the New Year, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will present the regional premiere of a brand new work by acclaimed performer/playwright/director Hershey Felder (George Gershwin Alone, Maestro Bernstein, Monsieur Chopin, Pianist of Willesden Lane). Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin (January 13 - February 6, 2016), a new musical play about one of the most remarkable composers in American history, premiered in October 2014 at the Geffen Playhouse, where it broke all box office records. In this tour-de-force, Felder brings to life the remarkable story of Irving Berlin, whose journey led from the depths of anti-Semitism in Czarist Russia, to New York's Lower East Side, and finally to a worldwide fame that epitomizes capturing the American dream. Featuring the composer's most popular and enduring songs from "God Bless America," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Blue Skies," to "White Christmas" and beyond, Felder's signature creation of character and musical performance weaves a narrative around Berlin's 101 year lifespan including his long and heartening relationship with his wife, battles against anti-Semitism and, of course, his storied music. The Los Angeles Times said, "Richly entertaining and ultimately touching," Broadway World wrote, "You do not want to miss a delicious moment of it," and the Huffington Post said Hershey Felder "dazzles as Irving Berlin."

In the Spring, TheatreWorks presents the Northern California Premiere of tokyo fish story (March 9 - April 3, 2016) by Kimber Lee. This comic drama was the hit of the 2014 New Works Festival, and describes how a Sushi Master focused on preserving ancient artistry collides with a brilliant protégé and eager apprentices. South Coast Repertory Theatre will give tokyo fish story its World Premiere in March 2015. Playwright Lee has also debuted works at the Humana Festival, LCT3, Long Wharf and other theatres around the country and is recipient of the 2014 Ruby Prize, 2013/14 PoNY Fellowship, and 2014/15 Aetna New Voices Fellowship. She was named the first TheatreWorks Leading Ladies Laureate at a ceremony on February 7, 2014.

The laughter continues with the Regional Premiere of the swashbuckling romance, Cyrano (April 6 - May 1, 2016) by Edmund Rostand, in a new translation by Michael Hollinger (Opus) adapted by Michael Hollinger and Aaron Posner (My Name is Asher Lev, The Chosen). This new take on Rostand's nose-challenged swordsman was described by DCTheatreScene as, "By far the funniest Cyrano you will ever see (and that includes Steve Martin's contemporary retelling in the 1987 movie Roxanne.)"

The season closes with the regional premiere of an explosive new dramatic comedy, The Velocity of Autumn (June 1 - 26, 2016). This tender-hearted play by Eric Coble (Bright Ideas) centers on an elderly artist in a volatile showdown with her family over where she'll spend her remaining years, as she barricades herself in her brownstone with enough homemade Molotov cocktails to blow the entire block sky-high. The play debuted in September 2013 at the Arena Stage in Washington DC, starring Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella, with Variety praising "Coble's penetrating book" and lauding "A tale that could resonate with a broad range of aud(ience)s as it touches on a sobering dilemma faced by families every day." In April 2014 The Velocity of Autumn transferred to Broadway for a limited run. Broadway World called it "Wickedly funny and wonderfully touching," and Estelle Parsons picked up her fifth Tony Award nomination for Best Actress.

Five productions will be mounted at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and three will be staged at Palo Alto's Lucie Stern Theatre.

To post a comment, you must register and login.