Agnes of Godby John Pielmeier
Feb. 20-24 & Feb. 28-Mar. 3
"The cast is completely, totally committed and we, the audience are, too. It is rare and powerful to experience work like “Agnes of God,” but when we do, we know, however terrifying, we are actually in the presence of a divine moment of inspiration—something greater than one, than the cast or the audience. But, together, it creates an ephemeral experience whose impact will linger." Encore Pub
Full Review "...compelling moments that, while often outsize, match its big revelations and even bigger issues of faith, family and the corruption of both. " Star News Full Review 
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The Revolutionistsby Lauren Gunderson
Mar. 27-31, April 4-7, & 11-14
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"Historical comedy ‘The Revolutionists’ will make you laugh, think and even cheer." Big Dawg Productions, “The Revolutionists” is driven by outstanding performances from the show’s quartet of actresses." Star News Full Review Here "“The Revolutionists” is wonderful, shaped by professionals and performed to perfection. " Encore Pub Full Review here 
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The Explorers Clubby Nell Benjamin
April 24-28, May 2-5, & 9-12
"On a quest for laughs, ‘The Explorers Club’ strikes gold."
"an excellent cast keeps the pace quick" "silly-smart humor to deliver a lively, laugh-filled evening." Star News Full Review Here "The Explorers Club brings forth hilarious performances amidst a lot of action.” "Anyone trying to decide where to invest their hard-earned money with a theatre ticket should look no further than “The Explorers Club.” It is priceless." Full Review Here 
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Circle Mirror Transformation
How I Learned What I LearnedBy August Wilson
May 22-26, 30-June 2, & 6-9
"The first master is August Wilson, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright (for “Fences” and “The Piano Lesson”) whose one-man show recounts, like the world-class raconteur that he is, formative moments from his youth and young adulthood growing up in Pittsburgh. The second master is the actor Fracaswell Hyman, who brings Wilson’s words to vivid life in an often gripping performance filled with humor, emotion and insight." Star News
Full Review Here "With each character, it is not just his posture and gait that change, but he really manages to give at least the impression of a different visage for each character. So we slowly meet the people who comprised Wilson’s teachers and fine-tuned his ear to the poetry around him—the poetry of life. The beautiful songs of people living life and sorting out the path through the labyrinth. Wilson talks about himself as a poet in this show; he only obliquely references theatre. When he talks about writing, it is about poetry. What he and Hyman both communicate with subtle beauty is a love of language—nuanced, accentuated, phrased and blended in speech and dialogue to tell a story of their own." Encore Pub Full Review Here |
by Annie Baker
July 17-21, 25-28 & Aug. 1-4
Presented for the first time in Wilmington as well! Marty, an acting teacher, holds an "Adult Creative Drama" class at the local community center. Her students include a recently divorced carpenter, a reserved high school junior, a former actress and Marty's husband. Marty takes her "students" through various acting exercises, where they act like trees, beds and baseball gloves. Through these harmless games, hearts are quietly torn apart, and tiny wars of epic proportions are waged and won. In one exercise, they act as one another and tell their life stories. As a possible romance begins, each of the group slowly reveal themselves. A beautifully crafted diorama, a petri dish in which we see, with hilarious detail and clarity, the antic sadness of a motley quintet.
"Annie Baker's play is an absolute feast. CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION is the kind of unheralded gem that sends people into the streets babbling and bright-eyed with the desire to spread the word.” —NY Times. "…orchestrated with a subtlety and unfailing naturalness that make the play's small revelations disarming and unexpected. The characterizations display a miniaturist attention to detail that goes down to the bone…Baker is never blind to their weaknesses and faults, yet regards them all with a warm, empathetic eye." —Variety. "Smartly, sneakily, Baker gives us the rare theater centric play that's not self-obsessed. [CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION] is about real people exploring their lives through tiny leaps of faith and creativity." —BackStage. "Reverberates with seduction and sorrow…the play's final scene is devastatingly gentle." —Village Voice. |
Men on Boatsby Jaclyn Backhaus
Aug. 14-18, 22-25, & 29-Sept. 1
Another Wilmington debut. Ten explorers. Four boats. One Grand Canyon. MEN ON BOATS is the true(ish) history of an 1869 expedition, when a one-armed captain and a crew of insane yet loyal volunteers set out to chart the course of the Colorado River. This astounding play casts all women to portray these intrepid conquerors of nature, in a wonderful blend of comedy, adventure, history and movement. An exhilarating take on the first official U.S. government-sponsored passage through the Grand Canyon, told through a brand new lens, as well as an exploration of how we look at history, and who we allow to tell it.
“…off-the-canyon-walls funny…” —Variety. “…marvelously destabilizing both as history and theater. The stalwartness and selfishness of the adventurers—their cockiness and cluelessness—become biting satire when sent up by women." —New York Magazine. “…you will surely want to spend time with the hearty title characters of MEN ON BOATS…[a] rollicking history pageant… makes canny use of the obvious distance between performers and their roles to help bridge the distance between then and now…The tone is comic, but never cute or camp. And ultimately, you feel, the play respects its bold if fallible pioneers, in all their natural bravery and fearfulness.” —The New York Times. |
The Exoneratedby Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen
Sept. 11-15, 19-22, & 26-29
Also an inaugural Wilmington production. Culled from interviews, letters, transcripts, case files and the public record, THE EXONERATED tells the true stories of six wrongfully convicted survivors of death row in their own words. Among others, we are introduced to Kerry, a sensitive Texan brutalized on death row for twenty-two years before being exonerated by DNA evidence; we meet Gary, a Midwestern organic farmer condemned for the murder of his own parents and later exonerated when two motorcycle-gang members confess. Robert, an African-American horse groomer who spent seven years on death row for the murder of a white woman before evidence emerges that the victim was found clutching hair from a Caucasian attacker. And we meet Delbert, a poet who serves as the play's center, convicted of a rape/murder in the Deep South of the 1970s and later freed when evidence surfaced showing that he was not even in the town when the crime occurred. Moving between first-person monologues and scenes set in courtrooms and prisons, the six interwoven stories paint a picture of an American criminal justice system gone horribly wrong—and of six brave souls who persevered to survive it. Winner 2003 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards.
"The #1 play of the year…intense and deeply affecting…" —NY Times. "Riveting. Simple, honest storytelling that demands reflection." —Associated Press. "Artful and moving…pays tribute to the resilience of human hearts and minds." —Variety. "Stark…riveting…cunningly orchestrated." —The New Yorker. "Hard-hitting, powerful, and socially relevant." —Hollywood Reporter. |
