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Executive Producer Steven D. Morris is thrilled to begin work on Theatre Arlington’s historic 50th anniversary. It’s been five busy and exciting decades full of live performances, education, expansions, development and a commitment to bettering the community around them that has enabled Theatre Arlington to reach its Golden Anniversary. A goal that those Potluck Players back in 1973 could not have even dreamt was possible! With the theater’s recent renovations, Theatre Arlington is better than ever – with a new look, new equipment and a new cabaret stage in the lobby – all to enhance not only their production quality but also the experience of every patron, young or old. The 2023 season will offer three great musicals, family-friendly shows, a fun all-youth musical, prize-winning dramas, hysterical comedies and the return of Theatre Arlington’s Club Series, which includes Club Cabaret, Comedy Club and the Play-Reading Club. All Club Series performances are presented in the beautiful, intimate lobby space with great access to Theatre BARlington. Combined with the theater’s targeted efforts to become a more diverse theater better representing the community, onstage and in the seats, Theatre Arlington will shine even brighter as the heart of the city’s cultural district.
THEATRE ARLINGTON’S MAINSTAGE SEASON
GYPSY
Musical
Book by Arthur Laurents | Music by Jule Styne | Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Suggested by the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee
Director Steven D. Morris | Music Director Vonda K. Bowling | Choreographer Nicole Carrano
Feb. 10 - Mar. 5, 2023
The Mother of All Musicals! Regarded by many theater professionals as the finest musical ever created, Gypsy is the ultimate tale of an ambitious stage mother fighting for her daughters' success - while secretly yearning for her own. Set all across America in the 1920s and 30s, when vaudeville was dying and burlesque was born, Arthur Laurents' landmark show explores the world of two-bit show business with brass, humor, heart and sophistication.
Adult content
NOISES OFF
Comedy
By Michael Frayn
Director Cheryl Denson
Mar. 31 – Apr. 16, 2023
Called “the funniest farce ever written,” Noises Off presents a manic menagerie of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called Nothing’s On. Doors slamming, on and offstage intrigue, and an errant herring all figure in the plot of this hilarious and classically comic play.
Adult humor
ON GOLDEN POND
Drama
By Ernest Thompson
Director Steven D. Morris | Starring Deborah Brown & David Coffee
May 5 – 21, 2023
This is the love story of Ethel and Norman Thayer, who are returning to their summer home on Golden Pond for the forty-eighth year. He is a retired professor, nearing eighty, with heart palpitations and a failing memory—but still as tart-tongued, observant and eager for life as ever. Ethel, ten years younger, and the perfect foil for Norman, delights in all the small things that have enriched and continue to enrich their long life together. They are visited by their divorced, middle-aged daughter and her dentist fiancé, who then go off to Europe, leaving his teenage son behind for the summer. The boy quickly becomes the "grandchild" the elderly couple have longed for, and as Norman revels in taking his ward fishing and thrusting good books at him, he also learns some lessons about modern teenage awareness—and slang—in return. In the end, as the summer wanes, so does their brief idyll, and in the final, deeply moving moments of the play, Norman and Ethel are brought even closer together by the incidence of a mild heart attack. Time, they know, is now against them, but the years have been good and, perhaps, another summer on Golden Pond still awaits.
FLY BY NIGHT
Musical
Conceived by Kim Rosenstock | Written by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick & Kim Rosenstock
Director Major Attaway | Starring David Coffee
June 16 – July 2, 2023
A star-crossed prophecy. Two charming sisters and a luckless sandwich maker. A lot of music. Just not a lot of light. In this darkly comic rock-fable, a melancholy sandwich maker’s humdrum life is intersected by two entrancing sisters. A sweeping ode to young love set against the backdrop of the Northeast blackout of 1965, Fly By Night is a tale about making your way and discovering hope in a world beset by darkness.
SUPERIOR DONUTS
Comedy
By Tracy Letts
Directors Larry Cure & Sharon Kaye Miller
July 21 – Aug. 6, 2023
Arthur Przybyszewski owns a decrepit donut shop in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Franco Wicks, a black teenager who is his only employee, wants to change the shop for the better. This comedy-drama by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Letts explores the challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship.
Adult language
AVENUE Q
Musical
Music & lyrics by Jeff Marx & Robert Lopez | Book by Jeff Whitty
Based on an original concept by Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx
Director Bryan Stevenson | Music Director Mark Mullino | Choreographer Nik Blocker
Aug. 25 – Sept.10, 2023
A puppet-filled comedy follows a group of twenty-somethings seeking their purpose in big-city life. The laugh-out-loud musical tells the timeless story of a recent college grad named Princeton, who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q. He soon discovers that, although the residents seem nice, it's clear that this is not your ordinary neighborhood. Together, Princeton and his new-found friends struggle to find jobs, dates and their ever-elusive purpose in life. Although the show addresses humorous adult issues, it is similar to a beloved children's show; a place where puppets are friends, monsters are good and life lessons are learned.
Adult content, language and humor
AMERICAN SON
Drama
By Christopher Demos-Brown
Director Kenja Brown
Oct. 6 – 15, 2023
An estranged bi-racial couple must confront their feelings about race and bias after their son is detained by the local police following a traffic stop incident. Their disparate histories and backgrounds inform their assumptions as they try to find out what happened to their son.
Adult situations & language
A CHRISTMAS CAROL: THE RADIO SHOW
Comedy
By David Alberts
Director Steven D. Morris | Starring B.J. Cleveland
Dec. 1 – 17, 2023
It's Christmas Eve, and with the actors snowed in and unable to make it to the studios of WXMS for the live radio performance of A Christmas Carol, the sound effects person decides to take the audience through the classic tale himself. In an impressive and amusing feat, this telling is performed as a 1940s radio play with one person providing all of the characters' voices and sound effects. This rollicking, creative adaptation of Dickens' classic work is sure to warm the hearts of even the chilliest audience members.
Appropriate for ages 6+
THEATRE ARLINGTON’S FAMILY SERIES
CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, JR.
All-Youth Musical
Music & lyrics by Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman
Adapted for the stage by Jeremy Sams | Licensed script adapted by Ray Roderick
Director Cindy Honeycutt
Nov. 3 – 12, 2023
Take a fantastic musical adventure with an out-of-this-world car that flies through the air and sails the seas. Eccentric inventor, Caractacus Potts, sets about restoring an old race car with the help of his children Jeremy and Jemima. They soon discover the car is magic, and has the ability to float and take flight. When the evil Baron Bomburst desires the magic car for himself, the family joins forces with Truly Scrumptious and Grandpa Potts to outwit the dastardly Baron and Baroness and their villainous henchman, the Child Catcher.
Appropriate for audiences ages 3+
THEATRE ARLINGTON’S CLUB SERIES
CLUB CABARET
Theatre Arlington’s popular cabaret shows return with the Metroplex’s best performers for a relaxed evening of music and fun in an intimate environment.
Jan. 27, 2023
Jan. 28, 2023
Mar. 10, 2023
Mar. 11, 2023
Apr. 28, 2023
Apr. 29, 2023
May 26, 2023
May 27, 2023
Sept. 15, 2023
Sept. 29, 2023
Sept. 30, 2023
Oct. 27, 2023
Oct. 28, 2023
Nov. 17, 2023
Nov. 18, 2023
Performers and more details to be announced later
COMEDY CLUB
The second Sunday of each month, our newly formed comedy troupe will present a fun night of comedy that includes a mix of improv, sketches, musical numbers and stand-up.
Feb. 12, 2023
Mar. 12, 2023
May 14, 2023
June 11, 2023
July 9, 2023
Aug. 13, 2023
Sept. 10, 2023
Oct. 8, 2023
Nov. 12, 2023
Dec. 10, 2023
More details to be announced later
PLAY READING CLUB
Enjoy staged readings of new plays by local playwrights plus the debut of Theatre Arlington’s Playwriting Contest. All with talkbacks with cast and director.
Apr. 21 & 22, 2023
The Game by Brian George
June 2 & 3, 2023
World premiere of brand-new musical in conjunction with musicalwriters.com
July 7 & 8, 2023
TBA
Aug. 11 & 12, 2023
TBA
Sept. 22 & 23, 2023
Theatre Arlington Playwriting Contest Winner
For more information about Theatre Arlington’s 2023 Season: https://theatrearlington.org/2023-season/.
Show logos by SoloShoe Communications, LLC
ABOUT THEATRE ARLINGTON:
Located in the center of Arlington's Cultural Arts District, Theatre Arlington is one of the largest semi-professional, non-profit theaters in the Southwest with roots that date back to 1973 and a gypsy theater group known as The Potluck Players. Forty-eight years later, the staff and board of directors are still as dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in North Texas by presenting superior, diverse, artistic experiences through performance, production and education as they were during their humble beginnings.
In addition to a regular season featuring seven productions, an all-youth musical and a club series, the theater runs a year-round theater school including spring break and summer camps, and partners with the Arlington ISD and local community organizations to provide free and low-cost art enrichment programs for area children and teens. The theater is also proud to perform under an Actors’ Equity Small Professional Theatre contract. Theatre Arlington has become a key player in enriching the city’s cultural environment.
City Council District 5, Downtown Arlington, Theatre Arlington
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