2007-2008 Season
2007-2008 Season
The Atheist
by Ronan Noone
Directed by Justin Waldman
Sep. 12 — Sep. 30, 2007
The Huntington Calderwood/BCA
Every good news story needs a good storyteller. Augustine Early, a crooked journalist, has made an art of clawing his way up the professional ladder. When he turns a prominent politician’s tawdry predilections into front page news, the scandal threatens to undo the one person he thought was immune – Augustine himself. A searing and hilarious new play about catching the perfect front-page headline, whatever the cost.
Actor and director Campbell Scott (whose numerous film credits include The Secret Lives of Dentists and Roger Dodger, as well as the title role in Hamlet for the Huntington) performed a reading of this one-man show during the Huntington’s 2006 Breaking Ground Festival, before The Atheist premiered in both New York and London earlier this year. The Atheist is written by Huntington Playwriting Fellow Ronan Noone, whose play Brendan is also part of the Huntington’s 2007-2008 Season, and will be directed by Huntington Artistic Associate Justin Waldman.
Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps
Adapted by Patrick Barlow
Based on an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon
Based on the book by John Buchan
Directed by Maria Aitken
Sep. 14 — Oct. 14, 2007
The Huntington Theatre
Mix an Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of vintage Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a hilarious whodunit, part espionage thriller and part slapstick comedy, adapted for the stage from the famous film and novel. Shots ring out across a crowded theatre and Richard Hannay is lured into a world of intrigue by a mysterious woman claiming to be a spy. When she winds up dead in his flat, he flees London with the police hot on his trail. A runaway hit in London and the winner of the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, this tongue-in-cheek thriller features four actors taking on more than 150 roles.
Brendan
by Ronan Noone
Directed by Justin Waldman
Oct. 12 — Nov. 17, 2007
The Huntington Calderwood/BCA
A recent Irish immigrant, Brendan now calls Boston home. He misses his family, but works hard to fit-in in his adopted country, earn his American citizenship, and find love and meaning in his new life in this funny and touching premiere by acclaimed Boston writer Ronan Noone.
Born and raised in Ireland, Huntington Playwriting Fellow Ronan Noone is quickly becoming one of America’s top young playwrights. His recent play The Atheist was part of the Huntington’s 2006 Breaking Ground Festival, and premiered in both New York and London. His other works include the acclaimed trilogy The Lepers of Baile Baiste (National Playwriting Award), The Blowin of Baile Gall (Elliot Norton Award for Best New Play), and The Gigolo Confessions of Baile Breag. Directed by Huntington Artistic Associate Justin Waldman.
Streamers
by David Rabe
Directed by Scott Ellis
Nov. 9 — Dec. 9, 2007
The Huntington Theatre
In this powerful American masterpiece, four young soldiers fresh from boot camp wait anxiously in 1965 Virginia, watching the Vietnam conflict escalate. As they struggle to make sense of their new life in the army, tensions rise over race, sexuality, and class, culminating in an explosive act that changes them forever.
David Rabe is the Tony Award-winning author of In the Boom Boom Room and Hurlyburly, and screenwriter for the films The Firm, Casualties of War, and I’m Dancing as Fast as I can. Director Scott Ellis has received numerous Tony Award nominations, including Best Director for his Broadway revival of Twelve Angry Men, and was recently nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on the television series “30 Rock.”
25 Questions for a Jewish Mother
by Kate Moira Ryan
with Judy Gold
Directed by Karen Kohlhaas
Dec. 18 — Dec. 31, 2007
The Huntington Calderwood/BCA
Actress/comedienne Judy Gold and award-winning playwright Kate Moira Ryan embarked on a five-year journey across the United States, interviewing Jewish mothers of different ages, ethnicities, and occupations. Gold weaves their alternately hilarious and emotional stories with her own experiences as a mother, daughter, and Emmy Award-winning writer. The result is a moving and humorous performance that everyone and their mothers will love.
Third
by Wendy Wasserstein
Directed by Richard Seer
Jan. 4 — Feb. 3, 2008
The Huntington Theatre
Meet Laurie Jameson, a revered, 54 year-old professor at an elite New England college. A pioneer in her field, Laurie’s well-ordered life and career slowly become unhinged when she meets Woodson Bull III (whos friends call him “Third”), an articulate and conservative student wrestler. Laurie and Third face off in a series of confrontations over politics, ethics, and Shakespeare, forcing her to reevaluate long-held beliefs. Are the differences between us really as clear as we think?
Shakespeare’s Actresses in America
by Rebekah Maggor
Directed by Karin Coonrod
Jan. 27 — Feb. 11, 2008
The Huntington Calderwood/BCA
This one-woman tour-de-force brings to life the vocal and physical styles of the finest actresses America has known. Evoking stage stars from Sarah Bernhardt, Ellen Terry, and Margaret Webster, to film stars Elizabeth Taylor and Claire Danes, Rebekah Maggor’s beautifully crafted show reveals the varied interpretations of Shakespeare’s heroins and explores how these women have shaped our understanding of the world’s greatest playwright.
Shining City
by Conor McPherson
Directed by Robert Falls
March 3 — April 6, 2008
The Huntington Theatre
A struggling Dublin therapist treats a man haunted by the ghost of his recently deceased wife, while at the same time his own relationship teeters on the brink. This beautifully written psychological mystery was on every list of Broadway’s best in 2006. Original Broadway director Robert Ralls returns to restage this production, presented in association with Chicago’s acclaimed Goodman Theatre.
The Cry of the Reed
by Sinan Ünel
Directed by Daniel Goldstein
March 28 — May 3, 2008
The Huntington Calderwood/BCA
A journalist and her colleague find themselves unexpectedly detained by a band of insurgents, as bombs rain down on a war-torn landscape. Her captors offer one telephone call — a chance to reconnect with the mother she hasn’t seen in ten years, who’s now living in Turkey and preparing a celebration of the great Sufi poet Rumi. History, religion, and the beauty of whirling dervishes collide in this powerful, ripped-from-the-headlines portrait of a world at war.
Ennio!
Created and performed by Ennio Marchetto
Costume Design by Sosthen Hennekam
May 13 — June 1, 2008
The Huntington Calderwood/BCA
Perfect for the whole family! Ennio Marchetto is the original quick-change artist who turns origami into hilarious theatrical magic. Watch in amazement as a world of celebrity icons unfolds before your eyes, where Pavarotti becomes all three tenors, Eminem morphs into a disco diva, and an ancient mummy’s unraveling reveals the secret to Cher’s eternal youth. Don’t miss this internationally acclaimed, family-friendly show — back in Boston for the first time in 14 years!
She Loves Me
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Book by Joe Masteroff, Sheldon Harnick, & Jerry Bock
Directed by Nicholas Martin
The Huntington Theatre
May 16 — June 15, 2008
She Loves Me has everything you want from a musical — warmth, humor, and one of the most beautiful scores in the American theatre. The story of two lovesick, anonymous pen pals who work together during the day, but are blissfully unaware that they are writing to each other at night. An endearing tale of unlikely sweethearts and the eccentric colleagues who aid and abet them, She Loves Me is based on Parfumerie, the Hungarian play that also inspired the Jimmy Stewart classic The Shop Around the Corner, and the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan film You’ve Got Mail.