VIDEO: Signature Theatre Announces 2017/18 Season!

Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and Managing Director Maggie Boland announce the full lineup for Signature Theatre's 2017/18 season.

Check out the video!

The 2017/18 season reaffirms Signature's passion to stage inventive new productions of classic musicals. To kick off the season, Signature presents a brand new production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music (August 15 - October 8, 2017), directed for the first time by Eric Schaeffer (Signature's Titanic, Broadway's Follies). In 1900 Sweden, on a magical night that smiles three times, and aging actress, a married virgin, a sex-starved divinity student and a buffoonish count find themselves tangled in a web of love affairs. Directed by Signature Theatre Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer, the show features DC favorite Holly Twyford (Ford's Theatre's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Signature's The Little Dog Laughed) in her Washington DC musical theater debut, along with Bobby Smith, Florence Lacey, Will Gartshore, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Maria Rizzo and many more. This Sondheim classic will mark the 27th production of a Stephen Sondheim musical in Signature Theatre history.

In the fall, Signature will present the DC premiere of An Act of God (October 3 - November 26, 2017). In this comedy, by Daily Show writer David Javerbaum, God is back and he's got a lot to say. Inhabiting the body of DC favorite Tom Story (Round House Theatre's Angels in America, Metro Stage's Fully Committed), the Supreme Being gifts his mortals with an entirely new set of Ten Commandments. Directed by Eleanor Holdridge (Olney Theatre Center's Fickle), the ARK Theatre will be transformed into comedy heaven.

For the holiday season, Signature Theatre Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's West Side Story, Jelly's Last Jam) will direct the Gershwins' and Ken Ludwig's Crazy For You (November 7, 2017 - January 14, 2018). A musical-loving banker sent to foreclose on a small-town theatre decides to revive it instead with the magic of the Follies. Featuring an iconic score by George and Ira Gershwin that includes "I've Got Rhythm," "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "Nice Work If You Can Get It," Signature's production will include choreography by Denis Jones (Broadway's Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas).

In the winter, Signature will launch two world premiere productions. In the ARK Theatre, Signature kicks off the Heidi Thomas Writers' Initiative with 4,380 Nights (January 16 - February 18, 2018) by DC playwright Annalisa Dias and directed by Kathleen Akerley (Longacre Lea's Bones in Whispers). For the last 12 years, or 4,380 days, Malik Djamal Ahmad Essaid has been held without charge by the United States government at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. As he languishes in his cell, his interactions with those on the outside are juxtaposed with historical events in an exposé into the most dangerous prison of all - fear. 4,380 Nights is presented as part of the 2018 Women's Voices Theater Festival. In the MAX Theatre, Eric Schaeffer directs Light Years (February 6 - March 4, 2018), a new musical by Robbie Schaefer of the acclaimed folk/rock/indie band Eddie from Ohio. Light Years is a deeply personal tale of immigration, musical gifts and the steadfast bond between father and son.

In the spring, Signature will present three Washington DC premieres. In the MAX Theatre, Resident Director/Director of New Works Joe Calarco (Signature's The Flick) directs Annie Baker's John (April 3 - 29, 2018). Elias and Jenny, a young Brooklyn couple, escape on a much needed getaway to a cozy bed-and-breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. However, under the watchful eye of the cheery, if slightly off, innkeeper, a ghost seems to haunt their crumbling relationship. In the ARK Theatre, Matthew Gardiner directs the coming of age musical Girlfriend (April 17 - June 10, 2018) by book writer Todd Almond and featuring the music of Matthew Sweet. Set in small-town Nebraska in 1993, college-bound jock Mike and self-assured but aimless Will find themselves drawn to each other. Their rush of first-time love is captured by the power-pop precision and frayed guitar emotion of Mathew Sweet's iconic alternative rock album "Girlfriend."

To close the season, Joe Calarco will direct John Kander and Fred Ebb's final musical collaboration The Scottsboro Boys (May 22 - July 1, 2018). On March 25, 1931, nine young African-American teenagers were ripped off a train, falsely accused of a crime, hastily tried and sentenced to death in an outrageous disregard of due process. Featuring choreography from Jared Grimes (Signature's Jelly's Last Jam), The Scottsboro Boys was heralded as "an absolute marvel" by The Associated Press when it premiered on Broadway in 2010.

Season Subscription package prices begin at $193. Benefits of subscribing include first choice of seats, savings over individual ticket prices, fee-waived ticket exchanges and discounts on extra tickets. Call Signature's Box Office at 703 820 9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.

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