PRESS RELEASE: Wilbury Group Announces 2013-2014 Season
The Wilbury Theatre Group
THE WILBURY THEATRE GROUP ANNOUNCES 2013-2014 SEASON
PROVIDENCE, RI: The Wilbury Theatre Group is proudly announces their 2013-2014 season, marking the first time that the rapidly growing theatre company announces a full, 5 play season.
“From our beginning The Wilbury Group has been about selecting and presenting audiences with the most challenging, relevant plays available,” says Artistic Director Josh Short, “the aim has always been to engage and challenge our audiences and ourselves with every production. The 2013-2014 season will be our most challenging yet, and we’ve taken care to select the most cutting edge theater, new and old, by truly great playwrights.”
The Wilbury Group’s 2013-2014 season starts in September with the New England premiere of Obie Award Winning playwright Lisa D’amour’s Pulitzer prize finalist work DETROIT, a disturbing and hilarious look at the new psyche of an American suburbia embattled by a decade of war and economic strife.
Kyle Jarrow & Alex Timbers’ (of Les Freres Corbusier) A VERY MERRY CHILDREN’S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT follows as the Wilbury Group celebrates the 10th anniversary of this cult hit musical’s telling of the founding of Scientology that’s been called equal parts “adorable and creepy, hilarious and unsettling” (Variety).
A bold adaptation of Homer’s masterpiece written by Obie Award winning playwright/director Lisa Peterson & Denis O’Hare, AN ILIAD captures the grief and glory of an epic battle for Troy with a single poet with a breakneck pace that carries the audience along to its startling conclusion.
From the simple yet epic take on the story of a society in flux of An Iliad, in March we move on to our most ambitious and challenging production yet, Sarah Kane’s BLASTED. Frequently cited as a modern masterpiece yet rarely produced because of the sheer physical and emotional demands required, Sarah Kane’s play forges a potent theatrical vision of destruction, collapse, and ultimately, redemption and love.
Closing the season is Joe Masteroff’s legendary 1965 musical CABARET. Set in pre-Weimar Germany during the rise of Nazi power, the Wilbury Group transforms the theater into the Kit Kat Klub, a place to escape the rising tides of power outside and audiences are encouraged to lose themselves to a better place.
Subscriptions for the 2013-2014 season start at just $90 and are available for purchase online at www.TheWilburyGroup.org/buy-tickets, or by calling the box office at (401) 400-7100. Discounts are also available for seniors, students, artists, and military personnel.
2013-2014 SEASON PLAY SYNOPSES
DETROIT by Lisa D’Amour
September-October, 2013 | NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE
By way of Chicago’s Steppenwolf theatre comes a new x-ray of the embattled American psyche. In a “first ring” suburb outside a mid-sized American city, Ben and Mary fire up the grill to welcome the new neighbors who’ve moved into the long-empty house next door. The fledgling friendship soon veers out of control, shattering the fragile hold Ben and Mary have on their way of life. Detroit is a fresh, off-beat look at what happens when we dare to open ourselves up to something new. A finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize.
“Disturbing and bracingly funny… a smart, tart critique of the country’s fraying social fabric, Ms. D’Amour’s dark comedy is as rich and addictively satisfying as a five-layer dip served up with a brimming bowl of tortilla chips.”(New York Times)
A VERY MERRY UNAUTHORIZED CHILDREN’S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT by Kyle Jarrow & Alex Timbers
November-December, 2013 |RHODE ISLAND PREMIERE
“Just don’t ask questions, and everything is clear.” So goes the chorus in this disarmingly poignant satire from the minds of the New York experimental group Les Freres Corbusier (BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON). Winner of the Obie Award for Best Musical, this musical telling of the life and times of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology has been a hit for discerning theatre audiences off-Broadway and in cities across the country including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and has been called “equal parts adorable and creepy, hilarious and unsettling, making it way more compelling than your average holiday entertainment." (Variety).
AN ILIAD by Lisa Peterson & Denis O’Hare
January-February, 2014 | RHODE ISLAND PREMIERE
An ancient tale comes roaring back to life in a compelling new telling filled with contemporary wit and wisdom. The clash of swords and shields, the broken hearts and broken oaths, the bonds of friendship and family—An Iliad arises on a bare stage, told by a lone poet who’s seen too much. From Obie Award-winner playwright and director Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare comes this stunning show that captures the grief and glory of the battle for Troy. Homer removes his armor on behalf of all humanity and reveals the truth within each of us. A hawk, a dove…An Iliad races through time to become breathtakingly relevant today.
“Explosive, altogether breathtaking…Brilliantly meshes past and present calamity, with touches of the most caustic dark humor suddenly shifting into unimaginable pathos.” (Chicago Sun-Times)
BLASTED by Sarah Kane
March-April, 2014 | NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE
A middle-aged man, Ian, and young woman, Cate, enter a hotel room. As private and public violations collide, and personal violations open doors to progressively greater violent acts, the world fragments around them. One of the greatest and most rarely produced plays of the modern canon due to its shocking content and sheer technical demands by the most provocative and influential British playwright of her generation, Blasted forges a potent theatrical vision of destruction, collapse, and ultimately, redemption and love.
“Astounding…an extraordinary act of empathy... Ms. Kane’s chilling contention is that it’s not such a stretch for any of us.” (New York Times
CABARET by Joe Masteroff, Lyrics & Music by Fred Ebb & John Kander
May-June, 2014
The legendary 1966 musical smash with score by Kander and Ebb is set in pre-war Weimar Germany in the seedy world of a Berlin cabaret called The Kit Kat Klub. While tensions build outside with the rise of the Nazi party, the care-free abandon of the bohemian world of the club is interrupted. Battle lines are drawn and the world of the cabaret begins to parody the politics outside its doors.
“A daring and great musical that combines unforgettable songs with genuinely gripping and disturbing drama.” (Daily Telegraph)
*plays and dates are subject to change.
About The Wilbury Theatre Group
The Wilbury Group is an ever-evolving collaboration of artists committed to creating the highest quality professional theatre. Founded on the belief that quality theatre should be an affordable and accessible means of enrichment to the community; The Wilburys strive to create work that will simultaneously engage, inspire, and provoke-thought among audiences.
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