Looking for something to get that theatre lover in your family? Well, look no further: Western Reserve Playhouse has 2018 season tickets on sale! Season Tickets: 8 shows for $100 per ticket (does not include Disney’s The Lion King, Jr., Into the Woods, Jr. or the 80 Minute Play Festival) or a "Flex Pass": 4 shows for $55 per ticket (does not include Disney’s The Lion King, Jr., Into the Woods, Jr. or the 80 Minute Play Festival) Please visit our website at: www.westernreserveplayhouse.org<http://www.westernreserveplayhouse.org/> Lost in Yonkers By: Neil Simon Performance Dates: January 26, 2018-February 10, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM) By America's great comic playwright, this memory play is set in Yonkers in 1942. Bella is thirty-five years old, mentally challenged, and living at home with her mother, stern Grandma Kurnitz. As the play opens, ne'er-do-well son Eddie deposits his two young sons on the old lady's doorstep. He is financially strapped and taking to the road as a salesman. The boys are left to contend with Grandma, with Bella and her secret romance, and with Louie, her brother, a small-time hoodlum in a strange new world called Yonkers. Tomorrow Morning Regional Premiere Book, Music & Lyrics By: Laurence Mark Wythe Performance Dates: March 9-24, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM) Tomorrow Morning is an hilarious and moving show that appeals to different generations - to anyone who has ever been in a relationship, to have had one end when they thought it would last forever, and for anyone who has ever contemplated sharing their life with someone else. Dogfight Music & Lyrics By: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul Book By: Peter Duchan Performance Dates: April 13-28, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 6:30PM) It's November 21, 1963. On the eve of their deployment to a small but growing conflict in Southeast Asia, three young Marines set out for one final boys' night of debauchery, partying and maybe a little trouble. But, when Corporal Eddie Birdlace meets Rose, an awkward and idealistic waitress whom he enlists to win a cruel bet with his fellow recruits, she rewrites the rules of the game and teaches him the power of love and compassion. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest By: Dale Wasserman
From the Novel By: Ken Kesey
Performance Dates: May 11-26, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 6:30PM) This show will include talkbacks after certain performances The story of a charming rogue who contrives to serve a short sentence in an airy mental institution rather than in a prison. This, he learns, was a mistake. He clashes with Head Nurse Ratched. He quickly takes over the yard and accomplishes what the medical profession has been unable to do for twelve years: he makes a presumed deaf and dumb Indian talk. He leads others out of introversion, stages a revolt so that they can see the World Series on television, and arranges a rollicking midnight party with liquor and chippies. For these offenses, Ratched submits him to shock treatment. After a tragic event occurs, Ratched forces him to submit to a final correction: a frontal lobotomy. Disney’s The Lion King, Jr. Music & Lyrics By: Time Rice & Elton John Additional Music & Lyrics By: Will Van Dyke, Lebo M, Marc Mancina & Jay Rifkin Book By: Roger Allers & Irene Mecchi Performance Dates: June 22-24, 2018 (Friday & Saturday at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM) Part of our Young Artists’ Theatre Program Disney's The Lion King has captivated the imagination of audiences around the world. The African savannah comes to life on your stage with Simba, Rafiki and an unforgettable cast of characters as they journey from Pride Rock to the jungle... and back again, in this inspiring, coming-of-age tale. Into the Woods, Jr. Music & Lyrics By: Stephen Sondheim Book By: James Lapine Performance Dates: June 29-July 1, 2018 (Friday & Saturday at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM) Part of our Young Artists’ Theatre Program The musical centers on a baker and his wife, who wish to have a child; Cinderella, who wishes to attend the King's festival; and Jack, who wishes his cow would give milk. When the baker and his wife learn that they cannot have a child because of a witch's curse, the two set off on a journey to break the curse and wind up changed forever. bare: A Pop Opera Music By: Damon Intrabartolo Lyrics By: Jon Hartmere Book By: Jon Hartmere & Damon Intrabartolo Performance Dates: July 13-28, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 6:30PM) This show will include talkbacks after certain performances A pulsating, electric contemporary rock musical, bare follows a group of students at a Catholic boarding school as they grapple with issues of sexuality, identity, and the future. Peter and Jason have fallen in love with each other, but Jason -- a popular athlete -- fears losing his status if he is discovered to be gay. Unpopular Nadia, Jason’s sister, is contemptuous of Ivy, a beautiful girl with a questionable reputation. As the group attempts to put up a production of Romeo and Juliet, tensions flare, self-doubt simmers, and God’s path seems more difficult to find than ever. bare rings with the sounds of youthful repression and revolt. With a unique sung-through pop score, heart-pounding lyrics, and a cast of bright young characters, bare is a provocative, fresh, and utterly honest look at the dangers of baring your soul, and the consequences of continuing to hide. Terms of Endearment Adapted for the Stage By: Dan Gordon Based on the Screenplay By: James L. Brooks Performance Dates: August 17-September 1, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM) Challenges in life and love test the resilience of a mother-daughter relationship in Dan Gordon's adaptation of Terms of Endearment, based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winner Larry McMurtry and James L. Brooks’ screenplay of the Oscar-winning film. Though Emma is often exasperated by her highly-opinionated mother, Aurora, they talk every day about their problems, from Aurora finding unexpected love even as she becomes a reluctant grandmother, to Emma's struggle in her troubled marriage. But when they need one another most, will they be able to find courage in each other? This funny and touching story captures the delicate, sometimes fractured bonds between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, and lovers, both old and new. Little Women Music By: Jason Howland Lyrics By: Mindi Dickstein Book By: Allan Knee Performance Dates: October 5-20, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM) Based on Louisa May Alcott's life, Little Women follows the adventures of sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March. Jo is trying to sell her stories for publication, but the publishers are not interested – her friend, Professor Bhaer, tells her that she has to do better and write more from herself. Begrudgingly taking this advice, Jo weaves the story of herself and her sisters and their experience growing up in Civil War America. 80 Minute Play Festival Performance Dates: October 26-28, 2018 (Friday & Saturday at 8PM; Sunday at 6:30PM) In its second year, this annual new-works play festival promises to be even better than the first! We will be looking for submissions soon from local playwrights to continue on with our annual festival! Hay Fever By: Noel Coward Performance Dates: November 2-17, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM) Hoping for a quiet weekend in the country with some guests, David Bliss, a novelist, and his wife Judith, a retired actress, find that an impossible dream when their high-spirited children Simon and Sorel appear with guests of their own. A housefull of drama waits to be ignited as misunderstandings and tempers flare. With Judith's new flame and David's newest literary 'inspiration' keeping company as the children follow suit, the Bliss family lives up to its name as the 'quiet weekend' comes to an exhausting and hilarious finale. <http://www.westernreserveplayhouse.org/>