STAGES REPERTORY THEATRE
www.stagestheatre.com

STAGES REPERTORY THEATRE
2001 - 2002 SEASON

Houston, Texas - Salvador Dali. The Queen of England. A stunning hate crime. The creation of the universe. In a new season that moves freely through history and time, Stages Repertory Theatre presents a collection of plays united by their innovation and insight. With passion, poetry, music, laughter, time travel and a dancing bear, the 2001 - 2002 Season continues the Stages tradition of bringing challenging, provocative theater to Houston’s diverse audiences.

“It’s always a fun challenge to come up with the right combination of plays and then put them together in the perfect order so the season as a whole is something extraordinary,” Stages Artistic Director Rob Bundy said. “This time I think we’ve nailed it - I feel like a little kid with a bright box of new toys that I can’t wait to share.”

Bundy notes that Stages has changed a great deal since he became Artistic Director 5 years ago. “As our audiences grow and change, Stages needs to continue satisfying that developign sense of what good theater is. This season’s plays present fascinating ideas explored through images and language that only a live theatre experience can convey.”

Season subscriptions range from $84 - $216 and are now available through the Stages box office, 3201 Allen Parkway at Waugh Drive, or by calling 713-527-0123. Visit www.stagestheatre.com for directions or additional information.

Single tickets range from $32 - $42 and are available four weeks before each production opens. Single tickets for preview performances are $19 - $23. Student and senior discounts are available. Groups of 10 or more are also eligible for a discount. Post - show discussions are offered on the Sunday following the opening of each production. All plays are subject to change.

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STAGES REPERTORY THEATRE
2001 - 2002 SEASON

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ELIZABETH REX

by Timothy Findley

U. S. Premiere
Directed by Rob Bundy

September 5 - September 20, 2001

Arena Theatre

England, 1601 - Elizabeth I is torn between the obligations of a ruler and her passions as a woman. She has sentenced her lover, the Earl of Essex, to death for treason, and she alone can pardon him. In the dark hours before the headsman’s axe falls, she seeks distraction in the company of William Shakespeare and his troupe of players - and finds insight from a surprising source.

Starring Sally Edmundson, Elizabeth Rex examines questions or history, gender, art and identity with a wry humor and keen undestanding that lend this tale of Renaissance England undeniable relevance in the 21st century.

Time Magazine calls ELIZABETH REX “breathtaking” and Globe and Mail says it “lush and complex.” ELIZABETH REX premiere at Ontario’s Stratford Festival of Canada in July, 2000. Findley is known for his play THE TRIALS OF EZRA POUND an for numerous works of fiction.

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THE PAVILION

by Craig Wright

October 3 - October 28, 2001

Thrust Theatre

Southwest Premiere

Small - Town Minnesota, Present Day - At the memory filled Pavilion, a dance hall on the shores of fictional Lake Melissa, two former sweethearts meet at their high school reunion, still haunted by the anguish and regret of a decision made 20 years ago. An eloquent narrator creates their universe for us and then plays multiple parts in this comic, cosmic, lyrical look at the joys and disappointments of growing up.

Aptly called “an Our Town for our times,” The Pavilion examines the nature of what we carry with us - and what we leave behind. Highly theatrical and poignantly funny, The Pavilion is a familiar story rendered extraordinary by striking language and uncommon perception.

The St. Paul Pioneer calls THE PAVILION “a winning meditation on life and love” and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette describes it as “playful and earnest, satiric and inspirational.” Minnesota playwright Wright is the author of Orange Flower Water and Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. THE PAVILION was first performed at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in September 2000.

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ROMANCE / ROMANCE

Book and Lyrics by Barry Harman, Music by Keith Herrmann

Directed by Chesley Krohn

November 20 - December 30, 2001

Thrust Theatre

This sophisticated musical celebrates courtship, love and fidelity in two very different centuries as lovers discover the timeless truths of romantic relationships.

ACT ONE: Vienna, 1890 - A dashing aristocrat and a fierty young woman, unsatisfied with their lackluster love lives, take on new identities in hopes of finding true love. Under these false pretenses they meet and form an attachment - but can their romance survive the truth?

ACT TWO: The Hamptons, Present Day - A vacation in the Hamptons seem like the perfect setting for amour for two unhappily - married couples - but will they end up sharing more than a summer home? Find out in this upraorious study of the joys and complexities of modern romance.

The New York Times calls ROMANCE / ROMANCE “smart, bubbly and ardent” and the New York Post calls it “a double - dollop of the romantic spirit.” Hearst Newspapers says that it “knows more about entertaining an audience than most of its larger, most pretentious peers.” Harman garnered two Tony nominations, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and a Drama Desk nomination for ROMANCE / ROMANCE. The musical received a total of five Tony nominations.

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Stages Repertory Theatre presents a co - production with Unhinged Productions

THE LARAMIE PROJECT

by Moises Kaufman
and the Tectonic Theatre Project

Southwest Premiere
Directed by Rob Bundy

January 16 - February 10, 2002

Thrust Theatre

Wyoming, 1998 - The brutal murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard - and the onslaught of media attention that followed it - stunned the sleepy prairie town of Laramie, Wyoming. In the aftermath, Moises Kaufman’s Tectonic Theatre Project conducted over 200 interviews with the people of Laramie as they struggled to heal their wounds and face the realization that “it can happen here.” The result is a play that chronicles darkness and heroism with equal sensitivity.

ROB BUNDY directs a cast of 8 actors in over 40 roles as they express the shock, outrage, grace, courage and uncertainty of the varied residents of Laramie. Exquisitely balanced between theater and documentary, this provocative account is an unforgettable journey through tragedy to hope, forgiveness and acceptance.

The New York Times calles THE LARAMIE PROJECT a “deeply moving work of theatrical journalism” and the New York Post says that it is “an amazing piece of theater.” Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project are best known as the creators of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. THE LARAMIE PROJECT premiered at the Denver Center Theatre Company in February, 2000 and was produced Off - Broadway later that year.

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LOBSTER ALICE

Southwest Premiere
By Kira Obolensky

February 27 - March 24, 2002

Thrust Theatre

FACT: In the 1940s, Walt Disney commissioned Surrealist painter Salvador Dali to create a short animated ballet. Little is known about Dali’s six weeks in Hollywood except that he spent msot of his time with a young animator who was working on the color styling and design of Alice in Wonderland.

Hollywood, 1940 - Animator John Finch is busy creating the fanciful world of Wonderland - and falling in love with his secretary, Alice. When he’s assigned to supervise the work of Salvador Dali, Finch’s predictable life is turned upside down as he and Alice are drawn through Dali’s looking glass into the glittering world of the bizarre.

LOBSTER ALICE aptly reflects Dali’s owns aesthetic as it juxtaposes two very different people to effect a transformation that engages heart, intellect and imagination simultaneously.

The Minneapolis Star - Tribune praises LOBSTER ALICE as an “excellent new comedy” and the St. Paul Pioneer Press says that “its dry, smart wit works on many different levels.” Minneapolis playwright Obolensky won the coveted 1998 Kesselring Prize for LOBSTER ALICE.

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COMMUNICATING DOORS

by Alan Ayckbourn

April 24 - May 19, 2001

Thrust Theatre

LONDON, 2014 - A leather - clad dominatrix is summoned to a posh hotel suite to provide one final good time to an ailing billionaire who, as she soon discovers, has a fondness for killing his wives. Finding herself caught up in a web of intrigue that spans 40 years, she tries to escape into the neighboring suite through a communicating door - and steps out into the same hotel suite, 20 years earlier.

Here she meets Wife Number Two on what was to have been the eve of her murder, and hilarity ensues as the women travel back and forth through time in a race to save Wife Number One and prevent their own violent ends. A novel new take on the classic three - door farce, COMMUNICATING DOORS is a riotous whirl of laughter and suspense.

Called “a real knock - out” by the New York Post and “an inventive divesion” by the New York Times, COMMUNICATING DOORS enjoyed a successful run on Broadway and is the prolific playwright’s 46th play. Famous for his farcical dramas about the British middle class, Ayckbourn has authored such hits as Taking Steps and How the Other Half Loves and has received two Tony nominations.

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STAGES REPERTORY THEATER

Now entering its 23rd Season, STAGES is one of only three Equity theaters in Houston. Formed in 1978 in the basement of a brewery, STAGES was created to introudce innovative contemporary plays to a region often considered old - fashioned in its theatrical tastes. Rob Bundy was named artistic director in 1996, and under his guidance STAGES has moved to the forefront of American Theater and attained a new level of artistic quality and financial stability.

In addition to the Main Stages Season, STAGES also present a full season of children’s theater in the form of EARLY STAGES, dedicated to providing children and their families with intelligent, high - quality theater that educates, entertains, and inspires. STAGES fosters the cultivation of new plays and playwrights through the Southwest Festival of New Plays, an annual festival featuring the best new plays from across the country submitted in four divisions: Plays by women, Plays reflecting Texas and the Southwest, Play by Latino writers and Plays for Children. Winners are often featured in the Main Stage and Early Stages seasons.

STAGES is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for not - for - profit theaters. The theater operates under an agreement with the Actor’s Equity Association (AEA), the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.