“A Season of Bravery” will be the theme for the Players by the Sea’s upcoming 2016-2017 theatre season.
Associate Director Bradley Akers said the theme reflects the company’s theatrical choices for its upcoming 51st season, which will feature nine shows, including a U.S. community theatre premiere and Southeastern U.S. premiere productions.
“After our 50th season we recognized that the work over our 50 years has been incredibly courageous and bold,” Akers said. “The 51st season is comprised of shows that are brave in the sense that they are big stories and bold stories that are important to tell.”
All of next season’s productions are productions never-before-done by PBTS, Akers added. The 2016-2017 season will also include another first for the theatre company with the theatre’s “New Voices” initiative. Through the program, two local playwrights will be selected to embark on a year-long development process during which they will write a full-length play. At the end of the year, the two full-length productions will be performed on the studio stage.
Playwrights Kelby Siddons and Drew Brown were chosen to be the first participants in the PBTS New Voices program, which Akers credits with being the first of its kind in the area.
The Southeastern U.S. premiere of “The Walls,” meanwhile, will debut next spring at PBTS. The play deals with behavioral and mental health in women over the years and how those issues have been dealt. Playwright Lisa Dillman will be present for the show and will speak with both the cast and audiences.
“We’re really proud of the is upcoming season because we think it defines us really well,” Akers said. “The work is so varied, it is so different and unique but it’s all really exciting and theatrical and has something for everybody.”
PBTS features two theatre spaces: the 150-seat John H. McManus, Jr. Mainstage Theatre and the 80-seat Grace Darling Studio Theatre. During the run of each show, an exhibition of local artists’ work will be on display in the Grune Family Gallery.
In addition to theatrical productions, the theatre offers adult acting classes, summer camps, and yearlong studios programs featuring an acting studio and musical theatre studio for elementary, middle and high school-aged students and a dance theatre for 5th-12th grade students.
Players by the Sea Theatre 2016-2017 Season:
“Into the Woods”
Sept. 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30 Oct. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8
“Hand to God”
Nov. 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19
“Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge”
Dec. 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 , 11, 15, 16, 17
“Eurydice”
Jan. 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20 and 21
“City of Angels”
Feb. 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24 and 25
“Killer Joe”
March 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31 and April 1
“The Walls”
April 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30 and May 4, 5 and 6
New Voices: Two World Premiers by Kelby Siddons and Drew Brown
May 26 and 27 and June 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17
“American Idiot”
July 21, 22, 27, 28, 29 and Aug. 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12
Summer Camps 2016
Acting Workshop - June 13-17
Musical Theatre Workshop - June 20-24
Dance Workshop – June 27-July 1
Let’s Put on a Play! – July 11-22
Let’s Put on a Musical! – July 25-Aug. 12
