*Press Release: **For immediate release*. Contact: info@ensemble-theatre.org Phone: 216-321-2930 <(216)%20321-2930> *ENSEMBLE THEATRE prepares to open *its* 38th consecutive Season! * *-WE THE PEOPLE-* *FEAR NOT! * *Our entire 2017|2018 Season **WILL take place in the heart of Coventry Village!!!* *So JOIN US! What stories we have to tell! * *WELL* By *Lisa Kron* *(Writer of the books and lyrics for FUN HOME).* Directed by *Celeste Cosentino* *September 29th-October22nd* MainStage Theater "This play is not about my mother and me," begins the character of Lisa. But, of course, it is about her mother, and her mother's extraordinary ability to heal a changing neighborhood despite her inability to heal herself. In this "solo show with people in it," Kron asks the provocative question: "Do we create our own illness?" The answers she gets are much more complicated than she bargained for as the play spins dangerously out of control into riotously funny and unexpected territory. Featuring* Lara Mielcarek**as Lisa* (*Courtesy of Actors' Equity Assocication).* *“Hilarious, delightful and joyously alive!" -Michael Kuchwara, A.P.* *"Wise and funny and utterly winning! Truly a beautiful play." -Michael Feingold, Village Voice* *"A drama of depth, infectious humor and great humanity. Riveting." -Michael Sommers, The Star-Ledger* *"Sly, good-natured and brutally deceptive, The revelations are both graceful and awkward, subtle and obvious, elegant and confusing. Like life." -Linda Winer, Newsday* *THE HAIRY APE* by* Eugene O'Neill * Directed by *Ian Wolfgang Hinz* *November 17th-December 10th* MainStage Theater Written in 1921 by Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill, this iconic piece of expressionist drama is a searing social commentary on the divide between the rich and poor. Yank, an unthinking laborer, embarks on a search for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the wealthy. His journey from the bowels of a transatlantic ocean liner to the wealthy neighborhoods of New York society serve as a metaphor for the struggle between the working man and the industrial complex found at the heart of the play. *"The subject here is the same ancient one that always was and always will be the one subject for drama, and that is man and his struggle with his own fate. The struggle used to be with the GODS, but is now with himself, his own past, his attempt to 'belong'." (O"Neill)* *THE LITTLE PRINCE * By *Rick Cummins & John Scoullar* from the book by* Antoine de Saint-Exupery* Directed by* Brittni Shambaugh Addison* *December 1st-December 17th. * PlayGround Theater This play with music tells the story of a world-weary and disenchanted Aviator whose sputtering plane strands him in the Sahara Desert and a mysterious, regal "little man" who appears and asks him to "Please, sir, draw me a sheep." During their two weeks together in the desert, the Little Prince tells the Aviator about his adventures through the galaxy, how he met the Lamplighter and the Businessman and the Geographer, and about his strained relationship with a very special flower on his own tiny planet. The Little Prince talks to everyone he meets: a garden of roses, the Snake and a Fox who wishes to be tamed. From each he gains a unique insight which he shares with the Aviator: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly." "What is essential is invisible to the eye." At length, both the "little man" and the Aviator must go home—each with a new understanding of how to laugh, cry, and love again. *"A multilayered tale that awakens the child tucked inside all of us." -Cape Cod Times* *"There aren't many plays in New York or anywhere else that can hold the attention of both children and serious adult theatre patrons the way this play can." -Baton Rouge Advocate* *ANGELS IN AMERICA* *PART ONE: **MILLENIUM APPROACHES.* by *Tony Kushner * Directed by *Celeste Cosentino* *January 5th-January 28th. * *MainStage Theater* In the first part of Tony Kushner's epic, set in 1980's New York City, a gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer's marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls. America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. **Winner of The Pulitzer Prize in Drama * *“A victory for theater, for the transforming power of the imagination to turn devastation into beauty. ANGELS IN AMERICA is a monumental achievement, the work of a defiantly theatrical imagination that has no parallel on television or in the movies..” -Jeremy Gerard, Variety* *“Something rare, dangerous and harrowing … a roman candle hurled into a drawing room …” -Nicholas de Jongh, London Evening Standard* *“An epic theatrical fever dream …” -Variety* *JELLY BELLY* by* Charles Smith* Directed by* Ian Wolfgang Hinz* *February 9th-February 25th.* *MainStage Theater* A powerful story of a convict returning from a brief prison stay to resume his position as the neighborhood kingpin. In the New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote “*Jelly Belly offers an unremittingly bleak portrait of inner-city life and the enormous pressure on working-class black men to be gangsters.”* The Chicago Defender wrote* “Employing gritty poetry of the streets, Smith introduces us to Jelly Belly, who attempts to regain the service of Kenny, a former drug runner who has gone straight. Kenny is torn between the hope of prosperity through hard work shared with his friend Mike, or the opportunistic life of a drug pusher Jelly Belly offers.”* *2018 COLOMBI NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL. * Titles of WORLD PREMIERE(s) *TBA.* March 2018. *Stay Tuned for more information on a revamping of our new play initiatives! * *ANGELS IN AMERICA* *PART TWO: **PERESTROIKA.* by *Tony Kushner * Directed by *Celeste Cosentino* *April 27th-May 20th. * *MainStage Theater* In the second part, the plague of AIDS worsens, relationships fall apart as new ones form, and unexpected friendships take form. America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. *“A vast miraculous play … provocative, witty and deeply upsetting … a searching and radical rethinking of American political drama … PERESTROIKA is not only a stunning resolution of the rending human drama of MILLENIUM APPROACHES, but also a true millennial work of art, uplifting, hugely comic and pantheistically religious in a very American style.” -Frank Rich, New York Times* *“Playful and profound, extravagantly theatrical and deeply spiritual, witty and compassionate, furious and incredibly smart … It’s impossible to imagine anyone captivated by the beginning not wanting — needing — to go back for the end.” **-Linda Winer, Newsday* *MainStage shows tickets are $12-$25* *TheatreCLE or PlayGround Theatre shows are $15 (unless otherwise posted). * *Single tickets will go on sale soon!* *Please Note that shows, dates and times are subject to change! Always check our website for updates! * *SEASON PASSES are on sale now! $65-$185. * *Ensemble Season passes are FLEX TICKET PACKAGES that can be used in any combination for any production! * *Visit our website for more information! Or Click Below!* *EARLY BIRD SPECIAL! * *Buy a season pass by August 31st and we will throw-in TWO FREE TICKETS for you to give to a friend who is new to Ensemble! * *Introduce new audiences to Ensemble Theatre! * *CLICK HERE <http://www.ensembletheatrecle.org/season-tickets/> to buy a season pass or visit www.ensembletheatreCLE.org <http://www.ensembletheatrecle.org/> to purchase online! * *Call 216-321-2930 <216-321-2930> or email info@ensemble-theatre.org <info@ensemble-theatre.org> for more information! * *Ensemble Theatre **is located at **2843 Washington Blvd. Cleveland Hts., OH 44118. I**n the heart of **Coventry Village! * *We look forward to seeing you in our audience! * *Some exciting news for the Playground Theater!* Ensemble is proud to support the next generation of Cleveland Theater artists by welcoming Cleveland's newest theatre company, *Shahrazad Theatre Company* (STC), to the PlayGround theater. STC's inaugural production will be a new adaptation of *The Caucasian Chalk Circle* by Bertolt Brecht, running October 27th through November 12th. *A divided post-war village shares the story of Grusha, a woman who is given an abandoned and noble child whom she chooses to raise. Suddenly the child's mother decides she wants him back and Grusha is put on trial. In this "golden age", law and justice will be tested, what might it take to bend it?* STC is co-Founded by Ensemble staff members Kyle Huff, Kayla Davis, and August Scarpelli. Ensemble will serve as fiscal agent and mentor organization for STC's inaugural season in residence. *For more info, look for their Facebook and Twitter pages, coming soon! * -- *Information* info@ensemble-theatre.org 2843 Washington Blvd. Cleveland Hts., OH 441118 216-321-2930/216-202-0938 *www.ensembletheatrecle.org <http://www.ensembletheatrecle.org>*