Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Contemporary Theatre of Dallas announces 2008-2009 season

By Shawn Parikh

Contemporary Theatre of Dallas has had quite a year, especially with Managing Director Tom Sime leaving the theater company at the end of this season. On the upside, their current show, The Oldest Living Graduate has been extended one more weekend until July 6, with a special Fourth of July performance followed by a Texas-style after-show party.

They have just announced the 6 new shows that will make up CTD's 7th season, with some great directors attached:

• On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson. From October 3 - 26, 2008. Ernest Thompson’s beloved comedy is the perfect play to launch our seventh season. Ethel and Norman Thayer return to their summer house in New England for the 48th time, after as many years of marriage, their delight in one another still evident. But their happiness contrasts with the situation of their restless, divorced daughter, who plans a trip to Europe with her latest fiancé, and leaves his teenage son to stay with Norman and Ethel. This initially awkward situation gives way to an idyllic one for the surrogate grandparents and “grandson” alike. Jerry Russell, star of Visiting Mr. Green and director of Right Ho, Jeeves, returns to CTD to play Norman. Directed by Michael Serrecchia.
• Closer Than Ever by Richard Maltby Jr. & David Shire. From December 5 - 31, 2008. Lyricist Richard Maltby Jr. and composer David Shire (the team behind the musicals Big, Baby and Starting Here, Starting Now) fashioned this delicious musical revue with songs that stand alone—each a mini-musical in itself—but also add up to a unifying theme of growing up, falling in love, and trying to hold on to happiness through life’s curves and changes, from the bawdy hilarity of “Miss Byrd” to the poignant longing of “She Loves Me Not.” Director Rene Moreno, noted for his work on major dramas including CTD’s A Streetcar Named Desire, takes a lighter turn with Closer Than Ever.
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Dale Wasserman, based on Ken Kesey’s novel. From February 6 - March 1, 2009. The stage version of Ken Kesey’s masterful novel is just as potent and intense as the Oscar-winning movie. In a mental hospital ruled with an iron fist by the soft-spoken, steely Nurse Ratched, the rebel patient McMurphy—who has faked mental illness to get out of a prison sentence—tries to rewrite the rules. Authority and freedom, sanity and madness, male and female all clash in this powerful classic. Marianne Galloway, director of Shadowlands at CTD, returns to stage Cuckoo’s Nest.
• The Cemetery Club by Ivan Menchell. From April 17 - May 10, 2009. In this poignant comedy, the basis for a hit film of the same name, three elderly Jewish widows have a standing date to visit their husband’s graves together. The contrasting personalities of sweet-tempered Ida, would-be party-girl Lucille, and uptight Doris make a solid, unified team until they meet Sam the butcher, with whom Ida becomes smitten, to her friends’ chagrin. Susan Sargeant, director of The Women and Sylvia at CTD, returns to direct this charming comedy.
• Chapter Two by Neil Simon. From June 19 - July 12, 2009. It’s never to late to fall in love again in Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical comedy about second chances. George, a recently widowed New York writer, fends off his brother Leo’s matchmaking efforts until Jennie, a lovely divorcée, wins his heart. But falling in love is just the beginning for these two, who bring heavy baggage to the dating scene. Chapter Two was made into a hit movie starring Marsha Mason and James Caan. Cynthia Hestand (Steel Magnolias, Marvin’s Room, Lone Star/Laundry and Bourbon and The Oldest Living Graduate at CTD) directs.
• The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia by Preston Jones. From August 14 - September 6, 2009. René Moreno, who directed Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander, the first foray into Preston Jones’ Texas Trilogy, returns to complete the trio with this hilarious comedy set in Bradleyville, Texas, just like Lu Ann and The Oldest Living Graduate. This time World War I veteran Colonel J. C. Kinkaid is presiding over the meeting of his socially irrelevant lodge, populated by the most eccentric, damaged and ornery citizens of this dusty West Texas town.

Three tiers of seating are available for season subscribers and for more info on season tickets ($112-160), call 214-828-0094.

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