Curtain Players announces 2011-12 season

Posted: Thursday, April 21, 2011, 10:28pm

The Curtain Players Board of Directors has announced six productions for the 2011-2012 season, the community theatre company's 49th.

DIAL M FOR MURDER by Frederick Knott (September 9-25, 2011)
In this popular 1952 Broadway thriller (later adapted by Alfred Hitchcock into a Hollywood film), Tony Wendice married wife Margot for her money and now plans to murder her for the same reason. His efforts to execute the perfect crime are the basis for a tale of mystery and suspense.

Michael Day, who directed Burn This and Arsenic and Old Lace for Curtain Players, will direct.

THE DINING ROOM by A.R. Gurney (October 14-30, 2011)
Gurney’s play is described as a brilliantly conceived and richly humorous theatrical tour de force in which six performers portray a wide array of diverse characters as they delineate the dying lifestyle of the wealthy upper middle class, and the now neglected room which was once a vital center of family life.

James F. Petsche will direct. Petsche has directed for Theatre Daedalus and this is his first such assignment for Curtain Players.

OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS by Joe DiPietro (November 25-December 11, 2011)
Nick is a single, Italian-American guy from New Jersey. His parents retired and moved to Florida. That doesn't mean his family isn't still in Jersey. In fact, he sees both sets of his grandparents every Sunday for dinner. This is routine until he has to tell them that he's been offered a dream job — marketing executive — that would take him to Seattle, far away from his beloved, but annoying, grandparents. The news doesn't sit so well. Thus Frank, Aida, Nunzio and Emma begin a series of schemes to keep Nick around.

Michael Fusco will direct. Fusco directed Curtain’s stagings of The Sunshine Boys, A Thousand Clowns, and Barefoot in the Park.

CROSSING DELANCEY by Susan Sandler (February 10-26, 2012)
Set in New York City, this romantic comedy explores the age old traditional roles of women as expressed by Bubbie, the lovable, feisty, sharp-witted grandma contrasted by the liberated options of the "new woman" explored by her granddaughter Isabelle "Izzy" Grossman. When Bubbie and the matchmaker Hannah try to arrange a date for Izzy with Sam, the local pickle vendor, a generational and cultural clash erupts. Izzy has ideas of her own regarding her love life.

Kate Charlesworth-Miller will make her Curtain Players directing debut with this play. She has directed for Little Theatre Off Broadway.

TITANIC music and lyrics by Maury Weston, book by Peter Stone (April 13-29, 2012)
The 1997 Tony Award-winning Best Musical receives a staging on the 100th anniversary of the luxury liner’s tragic sinking.

April Olt’s directing credits for Curtain Players include Boy Gets Girl, Mauritius (Central Ohio Theatre Roundtable Award for Outstanding Production), and The Twilight of the Golds.

THE HOUSE OF YES by Wendy MacLeod (June 1-17, 2012)
Playwright MacLeod is the James E. Michael playwright-in-residence at her alma mater, Kenyon College in Gambier. In her darkly humorous comedy-drama, it's Thanksgiving, and son Marty's arrival home is greatly anticipated by his mother, Mrs. Pascal, his twin sister, Jackie-O, and his younger brother, Anthony. He arrives during a hurricane, but worse than the storm is the fact that Marty brings Lesly, his fiancée. The introduction of this young woman threatens to ruin everything for this dysfunctional family existing in its own little world.

Dr. Mark J. Seamon is an assistant professor at Denison University where he teaches acting and directing. This is his first directing assignment at Curtain Players.

Each production is scheduled for eight performances during a three-weekend run. Curtain Panels audience talkback sessions will be scheduled with each production. Details regarding a season ticket sales campaign are forthcoming. Script review sessions and audition information, including dates and venues, will be announced. Following the existing audition process, tryouts will be approximately 12 weeks before each opening night.