2016-17 Season

2016-17 Season

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Our 24th Season


TWT’s 24th Season includes 4 Musicals and 6 Dramas, each contributing to The Weekend Theater’s mission of personally, inter-personally and educationally reducing prejudice, cruelty, and indifference through quality, live theater.

Welcome to The Weekend Theater!

We are pleased to bring you our 24th Season!  We have worked very hard to offer you a selection of plays that uphold our mission to make you Laugh, Cry, Think, Act.  Once again we offer ten productions:  six plays and four musicals.  Several very familiar titles and favorites, as well as, new and “never done in Central Arkansas” productions.

I pride TWT as being the “busiest theater in the Little Rock area”.  We can do this only because we have James Norris, our amazing Executive Director; Kim Labbate, our Board President who heads an outstanding Board of Directors; the hardest working and most dedicated Staff and volunteers anyone could hope for.  I am continually amazed and proud of the production work at TWT and thank you all.

But mostly, we cannot do all that we do at TWT without YOU – you that support us by sharing your talent, by attending our productions and by your financial support.  Thank you, thank you more than I could ever say.

I love The Weekend Theater.  It is a part of my heart and soul and I am very proud to be a part of another season of entertaining, yet thought provoking theater.  I invite you to join us for one of our most ambitions seasons ever!

With love and gratitude,

Jamie Scott Blakey, Artistic Director

 



Grey Gardens: The Musical

Book by Doug Wright
Music by Scott Frankel
Lyrics by Michael Korie
Based on the film “Grey Gardens”
by David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Mayer and Susan Froemke

June 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19 (CANCELLED), 23, 24, 25, 26, 2016

Directed by Tom Crone
Music Direction by Lori Isner

Nominated for ten Tony Awards in 2007, winning three, Grey Gardens is a musical about the lives of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale. Set at Grey Gardens, the Bouviers’ mansion in East Hampton, New York, the musical tracks the progression of the two women’s lives from their original status as rich and socially polished aristocrats to their eventual largely isolated existence in a home overrun by cats and cited for repeated health code violations.

+ More about the musical Grey Gardens at The Weekend Theater

 


The Drowsy Chaperone at the Weekend Theater

The Drowsy Chaperone: A Musical Within a Comedy

Book by Bob Martin & Don McKeller
Music and Lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison

July 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 2016

Directed by Matthew Mentgen
Music Direction by Lori Isner

Nominated for thirteen Tony Awards in 2006, winning five, The Drowsy Chaperone is a hilarious homage to early American musicals, examining the effect musicals have on the fans who adore them. The Man in Chair, a mousy, agoraphobic Broadway fanatic, seeking to cure his “nonspecific sadness”, listens to a recording of a fictional 1928 musical comedy, The Drowsy Chaperone. As he listens to his rare he is transported into the musical. The characters appear in his dingy apartment, and it is transformed into the set of the show.

+ More about the musical The Drowsy Chaperone at The Weekend Theater

 


The Library

By Scott Z. Burns

August 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 2016

Directed by Liz Clarke Butler

After Caitlin Gabriel survives a deadly shooting at her high school, she struggles to tell her story to her parents, the authorities, and anyone who will listen. But there are other narratives that gain purchase in the media and paint her in a different light. This bold and chilling play asks us to examine our relationship to the truth and the lies that claim to heal us.

 

+ More about The Library at The Weekend Theater

 


Twelve Angry Men

By Reginald Rose

September 16, 17, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, October 1, 2016

Directed by Jamie Scott Blakey and Drew Ellis

 

A 19 year old man has just stood trial for the fatal stabbing of his father. It looks like an open and shut case — until one of the jurors begins opening the others’ eyes to the facts. The deliberation becomes personal with each juror revealing his or her own character as the various testimonies are re-examined, the murder is re-enacted and a new murder threat is born before their eyes. Tempers get short, arguments grow heated, and the jurors become 12 angry men.

+ More about Twelve Angry Men at The Weekend Theater

 


Lincoln's Dream Dramatic Reading at TWTLINCOLN’S DREAM – Dramatic Reading

By Phillip H. McMath

Saturday, October 8, 2016 / One Night Only!

Tickets: $20.00

6:30 pm / Pre-Show Wine and Cheese Reception
7:30 pm / Dramatic Reading
9:30 pm / Post-show Discussion – Talk about the play with the cast and creative team, ask questions, and provide feedback.

Directed by Matthew Mentgen

SPECIAL EVENT: NOT PART OF OFFICIAL 2016-17 SEASON

“Lincoln’s Dream” is a Two-Act tragedy which takes place in the last week of President Abraham Lincoln’s life. On April 3rd, 1864, after some of the bloodiest fighting in our Civil War, General U.S. Grant forced General Robert E. Lee to abandon Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate Capital. On April 4th, Lincoln came in a small boat up the James River to the city, and, escorted by a small detachment of sailors and Marines, he ambled through the streets of the devastated capital where he was greeted with amazement by whites and jubilation by blacks. Soon, he found what he was looking for — the “Confederate White House.” Shown into the office of Jefferson Davis, the erstwhile president of the Confederacy who had fled, Lincoln went to Davis’s desk and sat in his chair. He requested a glass of water, drank deeply, and asked to be alone. Then he fell asleep. Did he dream? Lincoln was a great believer in dreams, and the play performs the dream he might have dreamed as Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist and friend of Lincoln, appears like an apparition with his Chorus of friends and performs “Lincoln’s Dream.” Meanwhile, John Wilkes Booth, a tortured and talented actor from a great family of actors, plots his assassination of Lincoln. Awakened, Lincoln returns to Washington to learn of Lee’s surrender on April 9th, Palm Sunday, at Appomattox, then on Good Friday, April 14th, while attending the popular comedy “Our American Cousin” at the Ford Theater, he was murdered by Booth.

+ More about Lincoln’s Dream – Dramatic Reading at The Weekend Theater

 


The Wiz: A Classic Musical with Soul

Book by William F. Brown
Music and Lyrics by Charlie Smalls
From the story “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum

Oct 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30, Nov 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 2016

Directed by Danette Scott Perry
Music Direction by Leah Thomas

This beloved Broadway musical sets Dorothy’s adventures in the Land of Oz to a dazzling, lively mixture of rock, gospel and soul music. Dorothy, a restless Kansas farm girl eager to see the world, is transported by a tornado to a magical world of Munchkins, witches and a yellow brick road. On her way to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz, who she believes can help her get back home to Kansas, she encounters the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and cowardly Lion — friends who help her battle the Wicked Witch of the West and eventually learn that there is “no place like home”.

+ More about the musical The Wiz at The Weekend Theater

 


Sordid Lives

By Del Shores

December 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 2016

Directed by Allison Pace

Del Shores ’ “black comedy about white trash” is a wildly clever and campy tale of one man ’s growing up gay in conservative, small -town Texas. Shores’ script takes political incorrectness to the next level, giving the audience leave to laugh as they watch this collection of family and friends grow to forgive, accept, and even celebrate their differences.

+ More about Sordid Lives at The Weekend Theater

 

 


Intimate Apparel

By Lynn Nottage

January 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 2017

Directed by Felecia Richardson

The time is 1905, the place New York City, where Esther, a black seamstress, lives in a boarding house for women and sews intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. Esther’s life is beset with disappointment and betrayal, but she is determined to use her gifted hands and her sewing machine to refashion her dreams and make them anew from the whole cloth of her life’s experiences.

+ More about Intimate Apparel at The Weekend Theater

 


TitanicTitanic: The Musical

Book by Peter Stone
Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeston

February 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, March 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 2017

Directed by Jamie Scott Blakey and Sarah Scott Blakey
Music Directed by Jeannie Scott Cross

Winner of five Tony Awards including Best Musical, Titanic is set on the ocean liner RMS Titanic which sank on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. So many dreams; humankind striving after great artistic work and technological feats, 3rd class to immigrate to America for a better life, 2nd class to live a leisured lifestyle in imitation of the upper classes, 1st class to maintain their privileged position all dashed simultaneously in the collision with the iceberg to bring about the transformation of character of the passengers and crew.

+ More about Titanic: The Musical at The Weekend Theater

 


Bad Seed

By Maxwell Anderson
Based on the novel by William March

March 31, April 1, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 2017

Directed by Tommie Tinker

The scene is a small Southern town where Colonel and Christine Penmark live with their daughter, Rhoda. On the surface Rhoda is sweet, charming, full of old-fashioned graces, loved by her parents, admired by all her elders. But Rhoda’s mother has an uneasy feeling about her. When one of Rhoda’s schoolmates is mysteriously drowned at a picnic, Mrs. Penmark is alarmed; for the boy who was drowned was the one who had won the penmanship medal that Rhoda felt she deserved. You may remember the movie by the same name… A real thriller at TWT!

+ More about Bad Seed at The Weekend Theater

 


Silver Anniversary Celebration25thcelebration

April 29, 2017 at 6:00 p. m.
Dreamland Ballroom

800 W 9th Street, Little Rock

 

 

More about The Weekend Theater 25th Anniversary Celebration

 

 

 

 

 


In The Blood

By Suzan-Lori Parks

May 5, 6, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 2017

Directed by Jermaine McClure

In this modern day riff on The Scarlet Letter, Hester, a homeless mother of five, lives with her kids on the tough street of the inner city. Her eldest child is teaching her how to read and write, but the letter A is, so far, is the only letter she knows. While Hester’s kids fill her life with joy — lovingly comical moments amid the harsh world of poverty — the adults with whom she comes into contact only hold her back.

+ More about In the Blood at The Weekend Theater

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