WESTON PLAYHOUSE THEATRE COMPANY
	Stories Told as Only Live Theatre Can
703 Main Street, Weston, Vermont  05161
www.westonplayhouse.org




	  			


Weston Playhouse Announces 70th Anniversary Theatre Season


Producing Directors Malcolm Ewen, Tim Fort and Steve Stettler proudly announce the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company’s 70th Anniversary Season, featuring a 12-week festival of world class theatre at its home in Weston, Vermont.  Prestigious Vermont premieres including recent hits from Broadway and Off Broadway and the company’s second annual musical for young audiences are among the highlights of the 2006 season.  The WPTC leadership promises three stages filled, once again, with “stories told as only live theatre can.” 

The Playhouse Mainstage season opens with two-time Tony nominee Ernestine Jackson starring in Cookin’ at the Cookery (June 20-July 8).  Marion J. Caffey’s portrait of the legendary blues artist Alberta Hunter features 22 musical numbers, from the rousing gospel favorite “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In” to Eubie Blake’s double entendre classic “My Handyman.”  Jackson will be supported by award-winning actress Janice Lorraine and a four-piece jazz band in a production that the New Yorker magazine called “electrifying.” 

Just a few days earlier, the WPTC’s intimate Other Stages venue opens in the Weston Rod and Gun Club, just a mile and a half north of the Playhouse on Route 100.  The enchanting world of one of the country’s most beloved author/illustrators comes to life in a show targeted especially at young families, Tomie dePaola’s Strega Nona.  The young and the young at heart will be charmed by Thomas Olson, Roberta Carlson and Aron Accurso’s musical about a magical Italian grandmother and her overanxious apprentice, playing June 15 through July 2.   

Two smash musical comedies will heat up the Playhouse Mainstage beginning in July: Urinetown the Musical (July 13-29) and The Mikado (August 3-19).  Winner of the 2001 Tony Award “Triple Crown” for Best Music, Lyrics and Book, Urinetown the Musical is a tale of good versus evil that pokes fun at itself and at such musical theatre greats as Threepenny Opera, Guys and Dolls and Les Mis.  Following in the tradition of Chicago, Ragtime and The Full Monty, the Playhouse will present the Vermont Premiere of this show which the New York Observer’s Rex Reed called “impudent, colorful, exciting, irreverent, surprising and wonderful.”  The Mikado is Gilbert and Sullivan’s greatest hit, set in the story-book Japanese village of Titipu and featuring such favorite songs as “A Wand’ring Minstrel,” “Three Little Maids from School” and “Tit Willow.”  Theatre fans are certain to enjoy this pairing of a fresh new musical and a time-honored classic conveniently offered at the height of the summer season.  


Weston Playhouse Announces 70th Anniversary Season/page 2


The WPTC Other Stages season continues with the Vermont Premiere of Doug Wright’s Tony and Pulitzer prize winning play I Am My Own Wife.  Dubbed “the most exquisite offering of the Broadway season” by The New York Times, this one-man show tells the true story of the extraordinary Charlotte von Mahlsdorf who cleverly and perhaps unscrupulously survived both the Nazis and the Communists.  A riveting examination of the importance – and the duplicity – of storytelling, I Am My Own Wife will play in the intimate setting of the Weston Rod and Gun Club from July 27 through August 13.

Wrapping up the Mainstage summer season is Marie Jones’ Stones in His Pockets, a sell-out in London and on Broadway.  Two out-of-work Irishmen seek fame and fortune as extras on a Hollywood movie being filmed in rural County Kerry.  The actors playing the extras also play all the other characters in the play, from the film’s mercurial leading lady to the ancient villager who remembers working on John Wayne’s The Quiet Man.  The Olivier Award winning comedy which Time magazine called “a triumph (of) breathtaking virtuosity,” runs from August 24 through September 2.  

All summer long the company’s third stage, the legendary Act IV Cabaret, caps off the evening with an ever-changing music and comedy revue. Pre-theatre dinner will be served in the Café at the Falls restaurant, under the continued management of the award-winning Inn at Weston.  Lobby exhibits, directors talks, performance guides, talkbacks with the cast, audio described and ASL interpreted performances, picnics on the Village Green or by the millpond falls, and strolls to nearby shops and galleries all contribute to an unforgettable day or night of theatre in historic Weston.  

The highlights of this special anniversary season don’t end with the summer.  The WPTC’s 2006 fall production and tour will be Metamorphoses, Mary Zimmerman’s Tony-winning adaptation of the timeless myths of Ovid.  From Midas and Aphrodite to Psyche and Apollo, these great tales are told by an ensemble of seven actors playing in and around a large onstage pool.  A limited public run (October 19-21) at the Weston Playhouse will be complemented by a series of daytime school matinees and a New England Tour.  Don’t miss what the Wall Street Journal has called “a combination of agile storytelling and enthralling stagecraft.” 

Season Subscriptions and group sales are available by phone at 802/824-5288 beginning March 14.  Ask about the theatre’s “Anytime Tickets,” a discounted package of flexible vouchers that can be applied to any combination of performances.  Singles tickets go on sale by phone May 2 and the Playhouse box office window will open May 26. For complete information about the WPTC season, online ticket sales, and how to support the theatre, visit westonplayhouse.org. 

The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company is a non-profit organization supported in part by funds from the Vermont Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and an ever growing family of individuals who believe in the impact that the performing arts can have on its community. 


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