Amphibian Productions announces 2008 season

by Shawn Parikh

Amphibian Productions, the Fort Worth theater company that produces theatrical works in FW and NYC has just revealed their new season. Their 2008 lineup includes 2 mainstage shows at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center in the late summer, and the "Phibs at the Modern" reading series, which comprises of 5 staged readings throughout the year at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Season ticket subscriptions are now available online. The 2 fully-staged shows will be:

• Gutenberg! The Musical! written by Doug Simon and Bud Davenport from July 10 - 27. In this two-man musical spoof, a pair of aspiring playwrights perform a backers’ audition for their new project: A big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg.
• Dark Play or Stories For Boys written by Carlos Murillo from September 18 - October 5. A shy, awkward teenage boy, emboldened by the anonymity of the internet assumes a false identity to deceive and seduce another teen. A cautionary tale about the power of the world wide web.

The "Phibs at the Modern" reading series begins at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium of The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, with live music and a cash bar at 6:00 p.m. The reading of Lonely Planet will take place at the Scott Theatre, as part of the Fort Worth Opera’s “More Life: the Art and Science of AIDS” festival. Here are the five staged readings to be presented:

• Full Gallop by Mark Hampton and Mary Louise Wilson on February 10 & 11. Presents the fashion icon Diana Vreeland in her New York apartment shortly after her departure from Vogue. Brutally honest and wickedly funny, Vreeland gathers her strength and rallies her allies for the next phase of her life and career.
• First Person Shooter by Aaron Loeb on April 6 & 7. Takes us inside a start-up video game company, where the hottest, most violent game on the market has brought instant success to its young tech geniuses. Their celebration fizzles when their game is blamed for a school shooting.
• Lonely Planet by Steven Dietz on May 29 & 30. Jody runs a map store. His friend Carl has been bringing chairs of dead friends into Jody's store and leaving them there. When Jody needs to take an AIDS test, Carl tries to convince him that it is not only okay to leave the store, but also that he must take responsibility for his life. At the Scott Theatre, as part of the Fort Worth Opera’s “More Life: the Art and Science of AIDS” festival.
• The Scene by Theresa Rebeck on October 12 & 13. The Scene is a scathing comedy about dating, fame, fulfillment and obsession with pop culture. It is about those who are in the dating scene; those who want to be in the scene and those who have left the scene and want to return.
• The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown on November 30 & December 1. A powerful and intimate musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. The show's unconventional structure consists of the woman telling her story backwards while the man tells his story chronologically.