Wheaton Drama is excited to announce our 2011-2012 Season Lineup! We’ve got comedies a la Steve Martin and Monty Python, heart-warming tales, suspense and big musical finale, chosen to keep our audiences entertained all season long….
2011 Summer Studio Show
Picasso at the Lapin Agile*
By Steve Martin
July 15 – 24, 2011
Director: Peter Lemongelli
Production Manager: Steve Schroeder
Licensed by Samuel French, Inc.
When a beloved American comedian plays with fact, fame and fortune, this wonderful comedy is the result! It is 1904 in a Parisian café and the clientele and conversation are anything but common. Sitting at the bar are Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso. Einstein is pondering his theory of relativity and Picasso is about to turn the art world on its head with Cubism. These geniuses reflect on the century’s achievements and prospects with infectious dizziness. Bystanders include the bartender, his mistress, an agent, an inventor, an elderly philosopher, and a mysterious visitor from another time.
2011-2012 Season
Incorruptible
By Michael Hollinger
Sept.16 – Oct. 9, 2011
Director: Tom Walker
Production Manager: TBD
Licensed by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
This hilarious Monty Python style farce is set in 1250 A.D. France. Things are indeed dark in the Dark Ages! The river has flooded again, the chandler’s shop has gone up in smoke, and Sainte Foy, the monastery’s patron saint, has not worked a miracle in 13 years. Facing competition from a local church claiming miracles from their holy relics, the destitute monks turn to a larcenous one-eyed minstrel for assistance. An outrageous new way to pay old debts and a possible visit from the Pope offers hope that the abbey will be restored to its former glory. Incorruptible will tickle your funny bone!
On Golden Pond
By Ernest Thompson
Nov. 18 – Dec. 11, 2011 (No show Thanksgiving Day)
Director: Dee Hicks
Production Manager: Rebecca Poole
Licensed by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Ethel and Norman Thayer have returned to their summer home in Golden Pond, Maine. Norman is a retired professor, nearing his eightieth birthday with heart palpitations and a failing memory, but he is still tart-tongued and ready for a tête-à-tête with any available challenger. Ethel is ten years younger and the perfect foil for Norman. When their only child visits with her fiancé and his 10 year-old son, Billy, Norman gains a young companion for the summer. Billy learns from Normanand vice versa, making the Thayers’ 48th summer at the cottage a memorable one. You don’t want to miss this warm, delightful story.
Bad Seed
By Maxwell Anderson, from the novel by William March
Jan. 27 – Feb. 19, 2012
Director: Jeni Dees
Production Manager: Ben Aylesworth
Licensed by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Christine Penmark seems to have it all: a lovely home, a loving husband, and the most “perfect” daughter in the world. However, this charming life is darkened by a cloud of worry and suspicion. Since childhood, Christine has suffered from the most terrible recurring nightmare. It also appears that her “perfect” daughter’s talents include lying, theft, and possibly much, much worse. Only Christine suspects the truth about her daughter, and only Christine’s father knows the truth about her nightmare. This popular thriller is packed with suspense.
Black Comedy*
By Peter Shaffer
March 23 – April 15, 2012 (No show Easter Sunday)
Director: Randall W. Knott
Production Manager: Don Dumper
Licensed by Samuel French, Inc.
Brindsley Miller is expecting a visit from his fiancée’s father and a wealthy art dealer. Desperate to impress, Brindsley decorates his apartment with objects d’arte and furniture “borrowed” from an antique collector neighbor who is out of town. A blown fuse plunges the apartment into darkness just as the neighbor returns. Unexpected guests, an aging spinster, errant phone cords, and other snares impede Brindsley’s attempts to return the purloined items before light is restored. This spirited comedy features joyfully farcical situations.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Book by Jeffrey Lane
Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek
Based on the film
May 25 – June 17, 2012
Director: Steve Schroeder
Production Manager: Jo-Ann Ledger
Music Director: David Belew
Choreographer: Harmony Barry
Licensed by Music Theatre International
This Tony® Award winning musical is based on the 1988 movie. When brash conman Freddy decides to set up shop on the French Riviera, he clashes with the town’s established con, the polished and suave Lawrence. There’s only room for one conman in town, so the men set a challenge: Whomever can first con Christine Colgate out of $50,000 will stay; the other will have to seek his fortune elsewhere. The show’s humor escalates along with the challenge as the men try to outwit each other and their mark. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels will close the season with romance, comedy, and great music!
For all shows, performances are Thursdays – Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 3pm.
*Confirmation of rights pending
