SEASON AT A GLANCE
Artists Repertory Theatre
1515 Southwest Morrison Street
Portland, OR 97205-1814
2011-2012 Season's Playbills
Duchess of MalfiPrevious Season's Playbills
GOD OF CARNAGE
August 6 – September 9 2011 – Alder Stage
Circulation: 15,000 Ad Due: 8/4
What's so funny about parents acting like children?
This 2009 Tony winner for Best Play, tells the story of two sets of parents who meet to discuss a bullying incident in what they hoped would be a "civilized manner. " As the evening wears on that intent goes awry, and the play turns ferociously hilarious, shocking and disturbing, as the parents battle for ethical superiority. Roman Polanski is directing the film adaptation currently shooting in Paris and starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly.
No Man's Land
October 4 – November 6, 2011 – Morrison Stage
Circulation: 5,000 Ad Due: 8/27
Is what you remember ever what really happened?
In this enigmatic tumble through time, two men circle each other in the limbo of logic, recovering memory and reconciliation as their lives hurtle toward their end. With the aid of libation lubrication, the two of them discover the possible truth behind their success, adventures and women won and lost. A poignant comedy steeped in ambiguity, Pinter's No Man's Land explores the space between what is known and what is imagined.
Sherlock Holmes and the
Case of the Cristmas Carol
November 15 – December 24, 2011 – Alder Stage
Circulation: 5,000 Ad Due: 8/27
Will Sherlock Holmes crack his own case?
Literature's favorite quirky inquisitor is infused with the spirit of a crotchety Ebenezer Scrooge in an unusual holiday show crafted by Seattle veteran playwright John Longenbaugh. After failed attempts by Dr. Watson to cheer Holmes into celebrating the holiday season, the unrepentant, ill-tempered detective is forced to deduce the facts and solve the most important mystery of his life – past, present and future. The play premiered at Taproot Theatre Company in Seattle and this is its second production nationally.
(I Am Still) The Duchess of Malfi
January 10 – February 12, 2012 – Morrison Stage
Circulation: 5,000 Ad Due: 8/27
Is the desire of love or power the most alluring?
Edgy and visceral, this contemporary adaptation of Webster's classic Jacobean revenge tragedy is a world-premiere production. In this re-imagined classic, the Duchess of Malfi defies her brother's chess game of power, manipulation and morality. Laced with violence and shocking wit, this macabre, plot-twisting, back-stabbing saga of murder, sex and betrayal doesn't come to a pretty end. Written by former Portland playwright, Joseph Fisher, whose Artists Rep credits include adaptations of Chekhov's The Seagull (2006) and Carlo Goldoni's The New House (2003).
Circle Mirror Transformation
February 7 – March 11, 2012 – Alder Stage
Circulation: 5,000 Ad Due: 2/1
Can a drama class change lives forever?
In this funny, curiously potent play, five people enroll in an adult creative drama class at a small-town community center. Over the course of six weeks they are led through theater games and exercises into murky and dangerous psychological waters. By the end of the class, layers of emotional baggage are stripped off to reveal how truth, change and public performance can possibly "set the body and spirit free." A Northwest premiere, critically acclaimed playwright Annie Baker's Circle Mirro, Transformation won the 2009 Obie Award for Best New American Play and garnered accolades Off Broadway and beyond.
Next to Normal
April 24 – June 3, 2012 – Morrison Stage
Circulation: 5,000 Ad Due: 2/27
So what is it that defines "crazy" anyway?
Called a groundbreaking, powerhouse rock musical, Next to Normal, is a heart-swelling, searingly painful dissection of a mother's mental illness and her suburban family trying to hold it all together. This multiple award-winning smash hit is a brave, powerfully emotional musical that takes on new territory with mix of raw energy and grace. "Like all good musicals, it breaks your heart without crushing your hope" says reviewer Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times. Next to Normal was nominated for 11 and won three 2009 Tony Awards and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize. Susannah Mars plays the lead in this West Coast regional theater premiere.
Race
March 6 – April 8, 2012 – Alder Stage
lder Stage – World Premiere
Circulation: 5,000 Ad Due: 4/7
When it comes to race is justice blind?
In this complex, complicated world acknowledging prejudice is an ugly venture into discomfort.
In Race, two lawyers (one black, one white) take on a case that gets under the skin and turns into a minefield of deep divisions, resentments and bigotry. Mamet's rapid-fire dialogue, gripping plot and blunt language, thoroughly stripped of polite social convention and rife with provocative humor, spotlights how discrimination is stained with guilt and shame. Playwright David Mamet is a Pulitzer Prize-winning and Academy Award-nominated writer.