Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards and Managing Director Linda DiGabriele are pleased to announce Asolo Repertory Theatre’s 54th season, containing four Pulitzer Prize winning plays, Three Tony Award® winners and one world premiere, all centering around the theme The American Character.
The American Character Project will examine and celebrate the extraordinary people, culture, history and experiences that make our country unique. It will serve as a guiding, artistic principle for Asolo Rep over the next five seasons.
“The American Character Project is a five year artistic initiative that poses a series of galvanizing questions: what is the American character? How did it come to be? What is its nature? How has it evolved into what it is now? Where is it going?” said Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards. “It’s impossible to ever concretely define such a vast, far-reaching concept as the American character, but that is precisely why it is worth exploring."
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The 2012-2013 season will feature all shows centered around The American Character, beginning with the hit musical, 1776, directed by Tony Award®- winner Frank Galati. A brilliant and visionary high-spirited musical, 1776 follows John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Richard Henry Lee and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia as they attempt to convince the members of the second Continental Congress to vote for freedom from the shackles of the British monarchy by signing the Declaration of Independence.
Asolo Rep is also presenting a world premiere as part of The American Character Project. To ensure the highest quality of work is presented to our community, Asolo Rep is conducting a thorough search for just the right piece, and so cannot reveal the title at this time. Because of UNPLUGGED, Asolo Rep’s new play festival, the choices of cutting-edge work are growing, and we look forward to letting you know what piece we will be premiering soon.
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Asolo Repertory Theatre
2012-2013 Season
The American Character
Our 2012-2013 season launches a five-year project featuring select productions that explore, examine and celebrate the extraordinary people, culture, history and experiences that make this country unique.
NEW STAGES
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Asolo Repertory Theatre presents an
FSU/Asolo Conservatory Production
October 2 & 3 in the Cook Theatre
Touring October and November
Tempted by the prophecies of three witches, Macbeth’s ambition to be King of Scotland leads him into a world of evil, deceit, and murder. Shakespeare’s classic masterpiece gets a powerful and imaginative new look in this 60-minute adaptation that will tour throughout Florida, creating opportunities for performance and dialogue within our communities.
1776
Music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards
Book by Peter Stone
Directed by Frank Galati
November 16-December 22
A brilliant and visionary high-spirited musical that movingly and often hilariously captures the great galvanizing
moment in the American Story: the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As it turns out, giving birth to the U.S. wasn’t exactly easy, but Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the other original revolutionaries were determined to bring this country into being. 1776 celebrates these proud, frightened, uncertain, irritable, charming, often petty, and ultimately noble figures, who were determined to do the right thing for a fledgling nation, against all the odds.
You Can’t Take It With You
By George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
Directed by Peter Amster
January 4-April 20
When this 1937 Pulitzer Prize-winner debuted to instant acclaim during the Great Depression, it was clear that Kaufman and Hart had come up with the perfect remedy for the nation’s troubles: laughter and optimism. So it’s no surprise that in the 21st century, it’s still one of the funniest and most endearing plays around. The action centers on the zany inhabitants of the Vanderhof household–a joyous madhouse populated by lovable eccentrics, artists and anarchists. But when granddaughter Alice falls in love with the son of a Wall Street banker, mayhem ensues as values and philosophies collide.
Glengarry Glen Ross
By David Mamet
Directed by Carl Forsman
January 11-February 28
David Mamet’s scalding comedy/drama tackles one of the most elusive topics in all of American literature: the pursuit of the American dream. A contemporary classic that became a celebrated film, this 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winner examines a group of cutthroat Chicago real estate agents who will do anything to close the deal. With a gift for natural dialogue and a realistic portrayal of these men’s struggles, Mamet creates “crackling tension…ferocious comedy and drama” (New York Times). Contains strong/mature language.
The Heidi Chronicles
By Wendy Wasserstein
Directed by Laura Kepley
January 19-March 20
If you were a woman finding your way in the world between the 1960s and 1980s, you might think that this play was all about you. After surviving three decades of juggling her career and her personal life, baby boomer art historian Heidi Holland looks back at her quest to “have it all” and tries to figure out what’s missing now that she’s actually got it. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play, Wasserstein’s funny and touching play still mirrors the emotional trials faced by all of us as we try to figure out the big question: What should we do with our lives?
Clybourne Park
By Bruce Norris
Directed by Michael Donald Edwards
March 15-May 2
This "buzz-saw sharp new comedy" (The Washington Post) cleverly spins the events of A Raisin in the Sun to tell an unforgettable new story about race and real estate in America. In one house on two afternoons, fifty years apart, two couples pack up to move. In 1959, a white couple is confronted by neighbors who don’t want them to sell their house to a black family. Fast forward to 2009 and the stakes have changed, but the debate is strikingly familiar. This 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning social comedy reveals how far our ideas about race and gentrification have evolved–or have they?
-more- American Character 5
World Premiere (To Be Announced)
To be presented in the Historic Asolo Theater
Opening March 22, 2012
The Game’s Afoot
By Ken Ludwig
Directed by Greg Leaming
March 29-May 12
Master of comedy and mayhem Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor) fills his latest play with double-crosses, triple-crosses, gunplay, lies, deceit, disguise, and sex. What do you expect? They’re actors. As iconic American actor William Gillette takes his bows after playing Sherlock Holmes at the Palace Theatre, a shot rings out, wounding him in the arm. While recuperating at home, Gillette invites his co-stars to his elaborate Connecticut mansion for a Christmas Eve celebration. When one of the guests is found murdered, this labyrinth comedy-mystery-thriller unfolds in glorious 1930s style.
Noah Racey’s PULSE, A New Dance Musical
A World Premiere
Directed by Jeff Calhoun
May 23-June 16
From the opening breath of this 90-minute dance musical, you'll be wrapped in the artistry that is true American song and dance. Racey and his New York Song & Dance company take us on a joyous trip from the wonderfully ridiculous to the exquisitely sublime as they remind us that it isn't the smoke, mirrors, or special effects that move us most in theatre, but the simple gift of a song and a dance. Using rhythm as a common denominator, the company will sing, tap, drum and virtually float their way through American music from the classics of vaudeville to the dance hits of today, as well as original music created specifically for the production.
Summer Production (To Be Announced)
This spectacular final show of our season will be announced soon. We’ll keep you informed…you’re going to love it!
The 2012- 2013 Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory 2012- 2013 Season
The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training also announced its 2012–2013 season, which features some of the country’s most talented acting students performing in a series of four plays in The Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to the second year class season, third year Conservatory students perform on the Asolo Rep mainstage with the professional company.
Twelfth Night
by William Shakespeare
October 30-November 18
A young woman finds herself adrift in a foreign country and masquerades as a boy to keep herself safe. The only problem is she finds herself falling head over heels in love with her new employer, a wealthy young man who decides to send her as an emissary to his own beloved! One of Shakespeare’s best known comedies, full of music, laughter and the high drama of young love, starring the entire second year student body of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory.
The Aliens
by Annie Baker
January 1- January 20
In a back lot behind a Vermont coffee shop, two social outcasts befriend an innocent young employee from the shop. In doing so they teach him about friendship, commitment and what it means to grow into manhood in this very funny and ultimately very moving play.
Stop/Kiss
by Diana Son
February 19-March 10
Two young women in New York spend a quiet evening together talking about their boyfriends and life. In the process, as they sense a growing, unspoken attraction for each other, an innocent kiss results in a savage gay-bashing, resulting in a complex story about hatred, love, and the difficulties of living life fully.
Candida
by George Bernard Shaw
April 9-28
A minister’s wife must choose between a passionate young poet who is smitten with her, and her older but far more reliant husband. A sparkling comedy about love, passion and the liberated woman by one of the 20th century’s most vibrant playwrights.
For tickets, call 941-351-8000 or toll-free, 800-361-8388. Tickets are also available online at www.asolorep.org.
