Playhouse on Park plans Black drama and more
West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park went ahead and announced its 2020-21 season, despite a lack of clarity of when theaters might reopen due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Everything is subject to change: dates, titles, format and location,” notes Tracy Flater, the playhouse’s executive director, in a statement accompanying the season announcement. “This may mean pivoting to streaming online, an outdoor location, different titles with smaller casts, indoors at the theatre with social distancing, shifting dates and/or a combination of all of these ideas. Our goal is to remain fluid.”
The announced season is an ambitious one, with two musicals (”Into the Woods” and “Chicago”), a one-man play about Bobby Kennedy and a topical drama about “four Black men who find themselves stuck in a cosmic waiting room in the afterlife.”
There will also be two children’s theater shows and the annual performance by the playhouse’s resident dance troupe, stop/time dance theater.
This is Playhouse on Park’s 12th season. The two shows that didn’t happen in the 11th season due to the shutdown of theaters in the spring — the drama “Ugly Lies the Bone” and the musical “It Shoulda Been You” — have been canceled and are not a part of the new season.
Other theaters in the state have announced that they will proceed with a 2020-21 season, with the understanding that circumstances could change drastically. The Long Wharf Theatre will be doing shows in public spaces around New Haven while keeping their own theater building closed. TheaterWorks Hartford has tentative dates, and is prepared to change how the shows are staged based on what size audience is allowed under state reopening guidelines.
Playhouse on Park’s season opens with a oneperson show but also includes large-cast musicals and the established stop/ time dance theater and “Mama D” revues.
The announced Playhouse on Park 2020-21 season is as follows:
Sept. 16 through Oct. 4: “Kennedy: Bobby’s Last Crusade” by David Arrow, chronicling Kennedy’s presidential campaign of 1968 and incorporating some of his actual political speeches. The director is Eric Nightengale, who’s done all the productions of the show so far.
Dec. 2-20: “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 by Peter Rothstein, dramatizing a famous incident from World War I when opposing forces took a night off from fighting and had a party. It’s directed by Sasha Bratt, who runs the Playhouse on Park playreading series and has directed at small theaters throughout the state.
Jan. 20 through Feb. 21, 2021: “Chicago,” John Kander and Fred Ebb’s musical about fame, infamy and adultery in a certain big midwestern metropolis in the 1920s. Playhouse on Park did Kander & Ebb’s “Cabaret” in 2013 and their “The Scottsboro Boys” last year. Playhouse co-founder Darlene Zolle will direct and choreograph.
March 17-28, 2021: Fresh from “Chicago,” Darlene Zoller also oversees the latest stop/time dance theater production. This year’s revue, “Divas,” didn’t happen. The company has been around for 18 years, since before Playhouse on Park was founded.
April 14 through May 9, 2021: “Kill Move Paradise ” by James Ijames, a timely drama about four Black men who have entered the afterlife. The play has been described “as an expressionistic buzz saw through the contemporary myth that “all lives matter,” which “takes the Elysium of Greek antiquity and flips the script.” The play premiered at the National Black Theatre in New York in 2017 and has been done at regional theaters around the country.
June 30 through Aug. 8, 2021: “Into the Woods,” the Stephen Sondheim fairy tale psychodrama, directed by Playhouse on Park co-founder Sean Harris with music direction by Melanie Guerin, who’s done a number of musicals at the theater.
The two Theatre for Young Audiences shows are “The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful (and Her Dog!)” by Lauren Gunderson (the popular author of adult fare like “The Revolutionists”), Oct. 27 through Nov. 12, and the musical “Dandelion,” based on the children’s book by Don Freeman with book and lyrics by Joan Ross Sorkin and music by Mary Liz McNamara, May 25 through June 10, 2021.
There’s also a saucy special event, the overdue return of burlesque hostess Mama D with “Mama D’s Outrageous Halloween Romp” Oct. 21-31.
“Subject to change” is the season’s watchword, but as it stands now, this is a bracing lineup where even the older shows (”Chicago,” “Into the Woods”) have a modernist feel. “Kill Move Paradise” in particular is a strong choice.
Playhouse on Park is offering season subscriptions, with the assurance that “We will be doing everything in our power to ensure you — our valued patrons — receive the number of shows you paid for,” according to the press release. More details are at 860-523-5900 x10 or playhouseonpark.org.