The Burnin'
September 9 - September 18, 2016 @MATCH

Progress Theatre presents The Burnin'. Written and Directed by Cristal Chanelle Truscott; Original Music by Heather Christian and Cristal Chanelle Truscott; Choreography by Millicent Johnnie, Tiffany Gilbert and the Progress Theatre Ensemble.

It’s 1940 in the fictional City of Antebellum. As the African American community prepares for the return of hometown hero Band Man, scheduled to play at the local juke, the White American community organizes it’s Annual Pilgrimage Pageant; a celebration of Southern hierarchy as it was “Before the War.”

Fast forward 75 years and post-Great Migration, urban residents in the metropolis of Sittay gather to critique the policies and politics behind contemporary headlines at a spoken word/hip hop spot.

Lidless
Presented by Horse Head Theatre Co. at Spacetaker Gallery at Fresh Arts
June 2 - June 20, 2016

Horse Head Theatre Co. presents the regional premiere of Lidless by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, June 2-18, 2016, and 8 p.m. Monday, June 13, 2016.
Lidless boldly asks, what happens after war is over? What do we remember? What do we forget? What do we fabricate? Set in 2019, Lidless follows Alice, a former Guantánamo Bay interrogator who remembers nothing; Bashir, her former detainee who remembers everything; and Rhiannon, Alice's boldly imaginative daughter who is determined to understand.

Big Fish
Presented by Stages Repertory Theatre
May 18 - June 26, 2016

Stages Repertory Theatre presents the regional premiere of Big Fish. Book by John August, music & lyrics by Andrew Lippa, based on the novel by Daniel Wallace and the film by John August.
May 18 - June 26 2016.
DIRECTED & CHOREOGRAPHED BY Mitchell Greco.

Based on the celebrated novel by Daniel Wallace and the acclaimed Columbia Pictures film directed by Tim Burton, Big Fish is the extraordinary tale of Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman who lives life to the fullest…and then some!
Edward's incredible, larger-than-life stories thrill everyone around him – except, perhaps, his pragmatic son Will.

But as Will prepares for the birth of his own son, he is determined to find the real-life truth behind his father’s epic "fish stories".

ETC ROCKS WITH THE WHO’S TOMMY
March 4th through April 2nd, 2016

Island ETC (East-End Theatre Company) continues its 13th season with the explosive rock and roll musical The Who’s TOMMY. This hit musical, winner of five Tony Awards, is based on The Who’s iconic 1969 concept album written by guitarist Pete Townshend. The double album TOMMY told an exhilarating story of hope, healing and the human spirit. The telling of a full story on an album became known as a rock opera and influenced many later classic albums and eventually musicals.

In 1993, Des Anuff and Pete Townshend created the stage version of this now famous story about a young boy (Tommy) who witnesses a terrible event that leaves him ‘blind, deaf, and dumb.’ His fortunes change when he discovers a pinball machine. Led by an inner vision, Tommy becomes a worldwide sensation as “The Pinball Wizard.”

The Duck Variations
by David Mamet
Gets An Update at Frenetic Theater
Classic Play Runs March 11-26, 2016

The Duck Variations by David Mamet dramatizes the old adage that people who talk with the most authority about something are the ones most likely to know the least about it. Two women discuss the ways of ducks, making observations about life that are profoundly hilarious.
The play is traditionally written for 2 men, but Firecracker Productions has received permission from Mamet to cast women in both roles, making no other changes to the text.

Main Street Theater Presents the Regional Premiere of Caryl Churchill’s
Love and Information
February 13 – March 5, 2016
MST – Rice Village

Main Street Theater (MST) continues its 40th Anniversary Season with the regional premiere of Love and Information by Caryl Churchill, a whirlwind of 57 scenes about how we love and what we know. Director Philip Hays describes this unique play as an “onslaught of human moments” with which audiences will easily identify and through which audiences will readily engage with the piece.

Someone sneezes. Someone can’t get a signal. Someone won’t answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone’s not ready to talk. Someone hates irrational numbers. Someone told the police. Someone got a message from the traffic light. Someone’s never felt like this before. Playwright Caryl Churchill (Cloud Nine, Top Girls) has been pushing theatrical boundaries for over fifty years. Love and Information, features 57 brief yet memorable scenes that make up a world where data inspires obsession and FaceTime conversations and selfies threaten to replace human contact.