by John K. Alvarez, Michael Carleton, James FitzGerald

When a member of a troupe of actors refuses to do even one more performance of the ubiquitous classic, A Christmas Carol, he and his compatriots decide instead to perform every Christmas story ever told. But it doesn’t stop there. From other holiday traditions around the world, to every Christmas carol ever sung, this ambitious trio won’t stop until they’ve embodied most of the beloved characters we can’t get enough of each winter. In doing so, they also stumble upon some of the true spirit of the holidays that can get lost in the chaos and shuffle of that most wonderful time of the year.

presenting sponsor:

Al May

community partner sponsor:

Cherie Willard

by Topher Payne

The year is 1950, and two couples have found the perfect arrangement. Bob and Millie are married; so are Jim and Norma. But behind closed doors, these marriages of convenience merely hide the fact that Bob is with Jim, and Norma is with Millie. But when Bob and Norma (career public servants at the State Department) are tasked with rooting out “deviants and homosexuals” in their ranks, shenanigans and moral dilemmas abound. Inspired by the true story of the earliest stirrings of the gay rights movement, Topher Payne’s play is a smart and stylish comedy about standing up for what is just and finding oneself on the right or wrong side of history.

presenting sponsors:

Michael Miller & Robert Jenkins

Kate Tiedemann & Ellen Cotton

Bill Ward

by Lynn Nottage

Godfrey, lately widowed, moves his two daughters, Ernestine and Ermina, from Florida to Brooklyn in search of a new life and a seat at the table of Father Divine. When his communist sister-in-law appears on the scene to lend her womanly hand to the girls’ upbringing (as promised to her dying sister) tensions in the apartment escalate. Godfrey adds fuel to the flames when he falls in love with and marries a newly arrived German immigrant.  As Ernestine prepares to graduate from high school, she must decide whether to follow in the footsteps of her father or chart a course of her own.

Lynn Nottage’s funny, endearing, and magical memory play about a family navigating the choppy waters of a changing world is as entertaining as it is moving. Is inspiration and empowerment of any less value in the end if it is built on a lie?

presenting sponsors:

Fred & Aleta Fisher

show sponsor:

Marion Rich

community partner sponsor:

Cherie Willard

by Jonathan Tolins

Fact: Barbra Streisand’s Malibu mansion is not only the subject of her book, My Passion for Design, but it also houses an indoor private shopping mall styled to evoke a picturesque turn-of-the-twentieth-century-street. Here, Jonathan Tolin’s play departs into the realm of “what if.” What if a struggling actor were hired as the only employee of this shopping mall? When the diva herself finally comes calling, something like friendship develops. But can a star that burns this bright ever really be touched? Like a voyeuristic fantasy-come-true, this is an irreverent and surprising exploration of fame and its consequences.

presenting sponsors:

Kate Tiedemann & Ellen Cotton

show sponsor:

Marion Rich

community partner sponsors:

Hal Freedman & Willi Rudowsky

book and lyrics by Barry Harman, music by Grant Sturiale, based on the screenplay by Ron Shelton & Clayton Frohman

This world premiere of Harman and Sturiale’s powerful adaptation of the film that starred Nick Nolte and Gene Hackman is more topical than ever.

Russell Price is on assignment as a photographer in a war-torn Latin American country. He soon gets pulled into the story he is covering and is asked to compromise his journalistic ethics for what he feels is a just cause.

This intense political thriller with a tuneful, driving score asks important questions about the responsibilities of those who find themselves in the center of the story they are covering. And in a world where the power of a picture to say a thousand words is just a click of a smart phone and a social media post away, that responsibility could fall on anyone’s shoulders.

show sponsors:

Michael Miller & Robert Jenkins

Marion Rich

Bill Ward

community partner sponsor:

Cherie Willard