| | | |
|---|
| | The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
By John Bishop
The creative team responsible for a recent Broadway flop (in which three chorus girls were murdered by the mysterious “Stage Door Slasher”) assemble for a backer’s audition of their new show at the Westchester estate of a wealthy “angel.” The house is replete with sliding panels, secret passageways, and a German maid who is apparently four different people — all of which figure diabolically in the comic mayhem which follows when the infamous “Slasher” makes his reappearance and strikes again — and again. As the composer, lyricist, actors, and director prepare their performance, and a blizzard cuts off any possible retreat, bodies start to drop in plain sight, knives spring out of nowhere, masked figures drag their victims behind swiveling bookcases, and accusing fingers point in all directions. However, and with no thanks to the bumbling police inspector who snowshoes in to investigate, the mystery is solved in the nick of time and the “Slasher” unmasked — but not before the audience has been treated to a sidesplitting good time and a generous serving of the author’s biting, satiric, and refreshingly irreverent wit.
May 31 - June 30 | Get Tickets |
| | tick, tick... Boom!
A Musical By Jonathan Larson
Before the revolutionary rock musical Rent, Jonathan Larson had another story to tell... his own. tick, tick... Boom! is a three-chapter pop rock musical about facing crossroads in life and holding on to your dreams that was first produced off Broadway in 2001. It tells the story of young Jonathan, a promising young composer on the eve of his 30th birthday. His girlfriend wants to get married and move out of the city (tick); his best friend is making big bucks on Madison Avenue (tick); and he's still waiting tables and trying to write the great American musical before time, and life, passes him by (Boom!).
September 6 - October 13 | Get Tickets |
| | Private Eyes
By Steven Dietz
Private Eyes is a comedy of suspicion in which nothing is ever quite what it seems. Matthew's wife, Lisa, is having an affair with Adrian, a British theatre director. Or perhaps the affair is part of the play being rehearsed. Or perhaps Matthew has imagined all of it simply to have something to report to Frank, his therapist. And, finally, there is Cory — the mysterious woman who seems to shadow the others — who brings the story to its surprising conclusion. Or does she? The audience itself plays the role of detective in this hilarious "relationship thriller" about love, lust and the power of deception.
"Steven Dietz's... Pirandellian smooch to the mercurial nature of theatrical illusion and romantic truth, Dietz's spiraling structure and breathless pacing provide enough of an oxygen rush to revive any moribund audience member... Dietz's mastery of playmaking... is cause for kudos." — Village Voice.
"The cleverest and most artful piece presented at the 21st annual [Humana] festival was Private Eyes by writer-director Steven Dietz... Dietz has created a romantic comedy in which what's real inevitably turns out to be an illusion. It's a play within a play within a play within a play within a psychiatrist's office — a Chinese box full of tricks and surprises." — Chicago Tribune.
November 8 - December 15 | Get Tickets |