TheatreWorks New Milford Announces 2012 Season

NEW MILFORD — TheatreWorks New Milford recently announced its 2012 line-up of theatrical performances. The new season will include four mainstage shows, four children’s/young adult productions, and four free staged readings. TheatreWorks’ Senior Night and Pay-What-You-Want Night outreach programs will also continue in 2012.

“We are very proud to be able  to continue to provide Broadway-caliber theatre at ticket prices that are much more affordable than Broadway,” said TheatreWorks President Glenn R. Couture.

The company’s 45th season will kick off in March with The Irish Curse by Martin Casella. Mr Casella was in attendance during the announcement, which came at the conclusion of a party attended by more than 100 subscribers, donors and special guests including the theater’s board of directors. Tillie Page Laird, who is generously underwriting the entire production so that all proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to TheatreWorks, was also at the celebration.

The Irish Curse opened Off-Broadway in March 2010, and just two days prior, Ms Laird and Mr Casella brought the play to the TheatreWorks stage in the format of a staged reading.

The Irish Curse is a wicked, rollicking, and very funny new play in which size matters to a small group of Irish-American men who meet weekly in a Catholic church basement in New York City as part of a self-help group for guys who possess a certain anatomical “shortcoming” that they believe, right or wrong, affects men of Irish descent.

In June the theater will stage Golda’s Balcony, featuring New Milford actress Sonnie Osborne. The play is a riveting portrait of Golda Meir, one of the most fascinating and complex women of our time. From Russian immigrant to American schoolteacher to a leader of international politics as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, this tight-knit story of war and peace is an intriguing backdrop for a dramatic look at idealism, power, and the strength it takes to shape the destiny of a nation.

David Mamet’s 2008 Tony Award-winning comedy November will be the offering for the fall. November is a scathingly hilarious tale set just days before a presidential election where incumbent Charles Smith’s chances for re-election are looking grim. As per White House tradition, President Smith pardons a couple turkeys before Thanksgiving, and it is this simple PR event that inspires Smith to risk it all in a hilarious attempt to make an eleventh-hour comeback.

Wrapping up the season will be … “a roller-disco musical comedy.” Due to rights issues, the play cannot be mentioned by name until the fall, but here are a few hints: the musical comedy is based on a classic cult movie from 1980 which starred Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John. Full of 70s and 80s pop and rock hits, it is hilarity on wheels for adults, children, and anyone who has ever wanted to feel inspired. During its run on Broadway in 2008, it earned an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Best Book.

The TheatreWorks Kids’ shows announced for 2012 include the original Broadway Bedlam!, Once On This Island, Jr, and The Wizard Of Oz. For high school-aged students, Godspell is planned for the Stage 2 program in the summer.

TheatreWorks will also continues its Page to Stage series of free staged readings in 2012 with four selections: The Tale Of The Allergist’s Wife by Charles Busch, The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, The Letter by W. Somerset Maugham, and Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin.

For more information, tickets and subscriptions, visit TheatreWorks.us or call the box office at 860-350-6863.

TheatreWorks is an award-winning, regional theatre company located at 5 Brookside Avenue, just off Route 202 (next to the CVS) in New Milford.