OR, BARRYMORE, & More Set for Rep Stage's Upcoming Season

Producing Artistic Director Michael Stebbins announces the lineup for the 19th season of Rep Stage, the award-winning professional theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), featuring rarely seen plays produced with the creative and quality staging that audiences have come to expect. The 2011-12 season includes a regional premiere of an historical and hysterical biographical farce directed by Michael Stebbins; an early Lynn Nottage play (Pulitzer Prize winner for "Ruined") set in the majestic French court of Louis XIV; playwright Dael Orlandersmith's poetic and compelling story of two childhood friends struggling with many issues, including race, in the Gullah community in South Carolina; and Helen Hayes Award-winner and Rep Stage favorite Nigel Reed takes to the boards as stage and screen idol John Barrymore. Also included is a new Salon Series featuring some of Rep Stage's favorite artists.

Rep Stage's 2011-12 season includes:

"Or,"
A regional premiere by Liz Duffy Adams

Directed by Michael Stebbins

August 31 to September 18, 2011

Liz Duffy Adams' 2009 Off-Broadway sleeper hit touches on the free love of the 60's - the 1660s - and is based on real life playwright Aphra Behn and her romantic spy romps through Restoration England while trying to break into the boys' playwrighting club. "Or," features Jason Odell Williams ("Two by J. M. Barrie: The New Word and The Old Lady Shows Her Medals"), Christine Demuth ("Two by J. M. Barrie: The New Word and The Old Lady Shows Her Medals," "A Dickens of a Carol," "The Glass Menagerie") and Broadway alum Charlotte Cohn in her Rep Stage debut.

"Barrymore"
By William Luce

Directed by Steven Carpenter

October 26 to November 13, 2011

William Luce's "Barrymore" reunites director Steven Carpenter with Helen Hayes Award-winning actor Nigel Reed following their successful pairing on Rep's production of "Trumbo: Red, White and Blacklisted." The play finds actor John Barrymore renting a Broadway theatre in 1942 - one month prior to his death - as he prepares to make a comeback to the stage. Haunted by ghosts, ex-wives, family, fellow thespians, and the follies of his past, he attempts to bring himself back to life through the aid of memories and a helpful stage manager.

"Yellowman"

By Dael Orlandersmith

Directed by Kasi Campbell

February 8 to February 26, 2012

Directed by Helen Hayes Award-winner Kasi Campbell, Dael Orlandersmith's 2002 Off-Broadway hit is called an "unsparing...hard and piercing drama" by The New York Times. "Yellowman" details the relationship between Eugene, a fair-skinned black man, and Alma, a dark-skinned black woman, as they struggle with issues of intraracial prejudice, domestic violence, and young love. "Yellowman" was a 2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama.

"Las Meninas"

By Lynn Nottage

Directed by Eve Muson

April 18 to May 6, 2012

Rep Stage closes the 2011-12 season with Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage's "Las Meninas." Set in the court of France's Louis XIV, it is an irreverent and incisive reconsideration of the historical scandal involving Queen Marie-Therese and a unique gift from Africa. Eve Muson, director of Rep's recent production of "Speech & Debate," helms the season closer.

Subscription Information

Season subscriptions and tickets go on sale July 1 online at www.repstage.org or by calling the Box Office at 443-518-1500.

Rep Stage's 2011-12 Salon Series will include:

"The Guys"

By Anne Nelson

September 9 to 11, 2011

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