HARTFORD, CT — March 23, 2018 — Hartford Stage Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak
and Managing Director Michael Stotts today announced the line-up of
classic, contemporary, thought-provoking and entertaining new work that will
comprise the Tony Award-winning regional theatre’s 55th season,
Tresnjak’s final season as Artistic Director.
The mission of Hartford Stage in the 2018-19 season
is to enlighten, entertain and educate by creating works of the highest caliber
that have a transformative impact on audiences, the community and the industry
– theatre that is Positively Hartford Stage.
Featured plays include Shakespeare’s historic
masterpiece Henry V and Dominique Morisseau’s powerful drama Detroit
’67. Compelling new plays Make Believe by Bess Wohl and The
Engagement Party by Samuel Baum will make their world premieres at
Hartford Stage. A sixth mainstage
production will be announced shortly.
The Flamingo Kid – a new musical based upon the 1984 Garry Marshall coming-of-age
film, with book and lyrics by Tony Award-winner Robert L. Freedman (A
Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) and music by Tony Award-nominated Scott
Frankel (Grey Gardens and War
Paint) – will also make its world premiere at Hartford Stage. Tresnjak will
direct.
Tresnjak
said, “From humorous to heartbreaking, from personal to political, from gritty
to glitzy, the only thing that these productions have in common is that they
pulse with the energy that is purely and positively theatrical.”
“The 2018-19 season includes plays by some of today’s
most exciting contemporary voices in Bess Wohl, Dominique Morisseau and Samuel
Baum; a revival of one of Shakespeare's most popular and inspiring history
plays about a young man’s courageous rise to glory and royalty; and a big new
musical from some of our favorite musical theatre artists, directed by Darko,
the final production of his remarkable eight-year run in Hartford,” Stotts
said.
The season opens with the world premiere of Make Believe (September 6 – 30, 2018) by Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics
Award-winning playwright Bess Wohl. Jackson
Gay (Lucy Thurber's Transfers, MCC Theater; These
Paper Bullets!, Atlantic Theatre Company, The Geffen and Yale Repertory
Theatre) will direct. Hartford Stage was awarded one of the first grants
from the Toulmin Foundation to commission new theatrical works from women – including
this uncanny, gently funny and touching play by Wohl, set in the 1980s,
following four young siblings as their childhood is upended by the mysterious
problems of the adults in their lives and tracking how moments from our
childhood resonate with us forever. Wohl's Small Mouth Sounds was
hailed as a critic’s pick by The New
York Times, New York Magazine, and Time Out New York.
Wohl’s other plays include American Hero, Barcelona,
and the original musical Pretty Filthy.
Hartford Stage Associate Artistic
Director Elizabeth Williamson will helm William Shakespeare’s epic
history Henry V (October 11 –
November 4, 2018). Shortly after he gains the throne, Henry must decide
whether or not to embark on a war that could solidify his reign – or bring his
country to its knees. In France, he grows up fast under the pressure to use all
means necessary to win a war against tremendous odds. But even if he finds
victory, how easy will it be to settle the peace? Williamson previously
directed Cloud 9 and the world premiere of Sarah Gancher’s Seder
at Hartford Stage.
Hartford
Stage Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak
will direct the world premiere of Samuel
Baum’s suspenseful contemporary drama The Engagement Party (January
10 – February 3, 2019). The play centers upon a young couple’s intimate
gathering with family and friends to celebrate their engagement; a spilled
glass of wine leads to a spiraling sequence of events and revelations that will
irrevocably change their lives. Baum is the creator of the Fox television
series Lie to Me and the co-writer of the 2017 Emmy-nominated HBO film The
Wizard of Lies, starring Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer, about the
downfall of Bernie Madoff.
American playwright Dominique Morisseau’s powerful
Detroit ’67 (February 14 –March 10, 2019) unfolds during an explosive
moment in U.S. history – the race riots that tore apart the city of Detroit.
The story centers on Chelle and her brother Lank, who make ends meet by turning
their basement into an after-hours party. When a mysterious woman makes her way
into their lives, the siblings clash over much more than family business. The New
York Post called this Edward M. Kennedy Prize winner “an endearing new play that will draw you in!” Detroit
’67 premiered at the Public Theater, in association with Classical Theatre
of Harlem and the National Black Theatre in New York City, in 2013 and has
received numerous productions throughout the country since. Jade King
Carroll (August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson and Emily Mann’s Having
Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years, Hartford Stage) directs. Detroit ’67 is a co-production
with The McCarter Theatre Center.
The 2018-19 season closes with the world premiere
of the musical The Flamingo Kid (May
9 – June 2, 2019), based on the 1984 box-office hit film
co-written and directed by the late Garry Marshall that helped make Matt Dillon
a household name. The stage musical will be directed by Tresnjak (A
Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Anastasia) and feature book and
lyrics by Robert L. Freedman (2014 Tony Award-Winner for A
Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) and music by Scott Frankel (Grey
Gardens, War Paint on Broadway). The Flamingo Kid will be Freedman’s
first musical since A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder and Frankel’s
next after War Paint, which earned him a Tony Award nomination and closed
on Broadway last November.
In the summer of ’63, against the wishes of his father,
Brooklyn teenager Jeffrey Winnick leaves behind his blue-collar roots for an
exciting job working as a cabana boy at the colorful El Flamingo — a posh private
club on Long Island. The
music, the romance, and the beach are magical – until tensions grow between
father and son when a slick club member takes Jeffrey under his wing.
Subscriptions for the six-play mainstage season are
now on sale. Visit https://www.hartfordstage.org/show/subscribe, or call the Hartford Stage Box Office at
860-527-5151. Please note that all titles and artists are subject to change.
Tickets
for A Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story of Christmas are currently on sale
to subscribers only. The annual holiday production will return for its 21st
season from November 23 to December 29, 2018. It is not part of a
subscription series.
Single ticket and group sales for all shows will go
on sale to the general public in July. For information on group sale discounts,
visit www.hartfordstage.org/group-sales or call (860) 520-7125.