2010-2011 SEASON: Transformaton
DEAR FRIEND:
I am thrilled to invite you to join us for New Repertory Theatre’s 27th Season. I love my new home and am grateful for the warm welcome I have received this year, and I am eager to announce my second season with New Rep.
This past year has been an amazing journey for me. In addition to my permanent move to Boston, I have spent time with New Rep’s supporters, donors, subscribers, and Board of Directors. I have been listening to what it is you value in New Rep and what it is that engages you as theatre patrons. I will continue New Rep’s mission of producing plays that speak to the essential ideas of our time, while exploring a relevant theme through different perspectives, different theatrical styles, and different eras of theatre. I remain committed to changing people’s perspectives on what it means to go to the theatre and the impact theater can have on its audiences. I want your experience at New Rep to be engaging, meaningful, and entertaining. I want us to talk about new ideas and ask questions of old assumptions. Most importantly, I want you to crave coming to our theatre.
In addition to my work with New Rep, I serve on the Board of Directors for Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the service organization for non-profit theatres. TCG provides an incredible network to its members, which allows us to stay in touch with our field at a national level and track various trends. One of the most profound creative innovations that I am witnessing is that of transformation: global, emotional, spatial, and cultural.
As I started to plan New Rep’s 2010-2011 Season, I was drawn to strong writers who explored ideas of transformation and scripts wherein the characters have an experience that changes them in some significant way. As we emerge from these trying times, the ideas behind transformation feel particularly relevant. As we move ahead, we will not be looking to restore or return to previous ways, but rather to evolve in reflective, positive ways. Through theatre, we have the power to transform our lives and community.
The seven plays in New Rep’s 2010-2011 Season address this theme through comedy, love, loss, music, personal and artistic growth, and forgiveness. Our Season opener will be David Mamet’s comedy Boston Marriage, a biting, witty exploration of class, morals, and how sex can alter the best of relationships, that tackles societal conventions and the boundaries of good behavior. Cherry Docs is a drama about a Jewish attorney approaching midlife, who is assigned the defense of a young skinhead. This gripping script by Canadian author David Gow questions the nature of forgiveness and shows the power of mentorship and atonement. In the classic romantic comedy Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune by Terrence McNally, we witness two characters evolve by opening themselves up to the possibility of the love right in front of them. afterlife: a ghost story, a World Premiere by playwright Steve Yockey, explores emotional and spiritual shifts as a couple copes with loss and is forced to confront their grief. DollHouse is Theresa Rebeck’s compelling contemporary adaptation of Ibsen’s classic story. We follow the iconic Nora, a selfless wife and community member as she chooses to reclaim her own life. The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown is the powerful musical telling of a relationship ending and beginning, beginning and ending, and what love leaves in its wake. Finally, I am very pleased to announce the Tony Award-winning Passing Strange, a passionate musical about an epic journey to find one’s true identity, to close our Season of transformations.
I have so enjoyed meeting you all at the theatre, and I would like to thank you for choosing to subscribe to New Rep. As a subscriber, you receive the best seats and the best prices, but I would also like to remind you that you are a valuable member of New Rep’s family and have exclusive access to our staff and cast members through receptions, talkbacks, and personal interactions with us. I have appreciated our spirited conversations throughout the season, and I look forward to engaging and continuing to connect with each of you in our upcoming season.
See you at the theatre!
Sincerely,
Kate Warner
Artistic Director