on stages: 'Proof' at Riverside Arts Center, 'Brilliant Traces' at the Carriage House Theatre
June is busting out all over and so is summer theater in Washtenaw County. This week heralds the summer theater season, with The Carriage House Theater’s “Brilliant Traces.” Look for more summer venues opening their doors (or parks) in the weeks to come.
And as the summer weather hits like a wave of heat and humidity enough to make one fear what August may bring, it’s nice to know that many of the venues producing this summer are air-conditioned.
Whether you want to soak up the sunset while taking in an evening of Shakespeare or beat the heat in a dark and cool theater, Washtenaw’s theaters offer fun and enriching performances all summer long.
Show: “New Work Collage 2012: Taking Chances,” through June 3
Company: The New Theatre Project
Type of Company: Professional non-Equity
Venue/location: Mix Performance Space, 130 W. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: After an unexpected cancellation of the season's highlight, "The Tempest Project," The New Theatre Project presents a special event, the "New Work Collage 2012: Taking Chances." The evening will feature live performances from local musicians presenting experimental work, artists displaying artwork, live painting, and excerpts from the now closed Tempest. The performance will also feature musings on the nature of the Project's failure and the ultimate necessity for artistic risk at any cost.
Fun fact: TNTP will also take the opportunity to announce some exciting details for the upcoming Season 3: Reinvention. Audiences will get the first glimpse at the season lineup, get the scoop on an exciting new project, and details on TNTP’s most adventurous risk ever. For tickets and information: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/248398
Show: “The 39 Steps” by Patrick Barlow, based on the original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, through June 9
Company: EMU Theatre
Type of Company: Higher education
Venue/location: Sponberg Theatre, EMU Campus, Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: "A fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre!" Two-time Tony Award winner and recipient of the Drama Desk Award, this show is packed with 150 characters played by 4 actors. A man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she's a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organization called "The 39 Steps" is hot on the man's trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale.
Preview from AnnArbor.com
Fun fact: “The 39 Steps” is based on the 1935 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, which itself is loosely based on the adventure novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.
For tickets and information: 734-487-2282
Show: “Brilliant Traces” by Cindy Lou Johnson, through June 9
Company: Carriage House Theatre
Type of Company: Pre-professional
Venue/location: 541 Third St, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: A lost runaway bride shows up at the door of an Alaskan hermit. Both have been wounded and embittered by life, both are refugees from so-called civilization. Trapped in the snowbound cabin, they slowly must find common ground, exploring their own, and each others' lives and pasts.
More information
Fun fact: Carriage House Theatre is a recent addition to the Ann Arbor arts scene. Now in its second year, it strives to “liven up the Old West Side with an affordable, intimate, and exciting theater experience.”
For tickets and information: www.annarbor.com/events/carriage-house-theatre-presents-brilliant-traces/
Show: “Starkid Presents: Apocalyptour,” one-time event, June 4 at 7:30 pm
Company: The Michigan Theater
Venue/location: The Michigan Theater,
Recommended ages: 16+
Description: Best described as an ensemble of writers, actors, directors, designers, and producers, blending live performance with the accessibility of the internet, Starkid has taken the long-revered art of parody and fumblingly marched forward with it into the 21st century.
More information
Fun fact: In April 2009, with a budget of less than $150, an original script and score, A Very Potter Musical premiered. Three months later, writers Nick Lang, Matt Lang, and Brian Holden posted the videos to YouTube, and within days the show had gone viral. In just under two years, StarKid’s original works have garnered over 64 million views on YouTube, with a devoted international fan-base of more than 110,000 subscribers.
For tickets and information: ticketmaster.com, 800-745-3000
Show: “Proof” by David Auburn, through June 2
Company: Redbud Productions
Type of Company: Pre-professional
Venue/location: Riverside Arts Center, 76 North Huron Street, Ypsilanti
Recommended ages: 12+
Description: Emily Rogers is Catherine, a troubled young woman who spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father (Tim Grimes), a famous mathematician. Now, she must deal with her own emotions; the arrival of her embittered sister (Leslie McCarty); and the attentions of one of her father’s former students (Dave Barker), who hopes to find valuable work in her father’s notebooks - but discovers a mystery instead.
More information
Fun fact: Proof also became a critically acclaimed film with Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal and Hope Davis
For tickets and information: 734-663-7167
Special ticket offer: Dine at Haabs before the show and bring your receipt to the box office and receive $4 off each ticket - per ticket per entree.
Show: “White Buffalo” by Don Zolidis, through June 2
Company: The Purple Rose Theatre Company
Type of Company: Professional Equity (SPT)
Venue/location: The Purple Rose Theatre Company, 137 Park Street, Chelsea
Recommended ages: 14+ (contains some adult language and content)
Description: When Carol Gelling discovers that a buffalo born on her farm is pure white, she thinks it’s nothing more than a curiosity. She soon learns that the birth of the white buffalo fulfills an ancient Sioux prophecy -- the coming of peace on earth and unity of mankind. Almost overnight, her small farm becomes a hotbed of spiritual outpouring -- from Native American pilgrims to the Dalai Lama. When a mysterious businessman offers to buy the calf, Carol must decide whether the white buffalo signals the end of her financial hardships or the beginning of her own spiritual enrichment.
Review from heritage.com
Fun fact: Don Zolidis has written over 44 plays, which have been produced more than 3,000 times. His newest play, "Miles & Ellie" will receive its world premiere production at the Purple Rose in Summer 2013.
For tickets and information: 734-433-7673, www.purplerosetheatre.org
Show: “Red” by John Logan, through June 3
Company: Performance Network Theatre
Type of Company: Professional Equity (SPT)
Venue/location: Performance Network Theatre, 120 East Huron, Ann Arbor
Recommended ages: 16+, Contains adult themes and language.
Description: For two years from 1956-58, the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko worked feverishly in his Bowery St. studio on Manhattan's lower East side, on what was at the time the highest paid commission since the Sistine Chapel. A Russian immigrant from humble beginnings, he worked on a series of enormous murals that would adorn that bastion of capitalism - the famous Four Seasons Restaurant in Mies Van der Rohe's Seagram Building. John Logan's Tony-winning play paints a picture of the fiery artist as he works intensely on the paintings, with the help of his apprentice Ken, and struggles with his personal demons to bring forth what would ultimately be his life's greatest achievement.
Review from the Oakland Press
Fun fact: Chicago Playwright John Logan achieved notoriety for his plays, before gaining an Academy Award nomination for co-writing the Best Picture-winner, Gladiator in 2000. He gained another nomination for 2004's The Aviator. Other notable films include The Last Samurai, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, for which he received a Golden Globe Award.
For tickets and information: 734-663-0681, www.performancenetwork.org/
Show: “Nunsense” book and music by Dan Goggin, through June 10
Company: The Encore Musical Theatre Company
Type of Company: Equity Special Appearance Contract
Venue/location: The Encore Musical Theatre Company, 3126 Broad Street, Dexter
Recommended ages: All ages!
Description: When the Little Sisters of Hoboken discover that their cook has accidentally poisoned 52 of their fellow sisters, the sisters decide that the best way to raise the needed money for their burial is to put on a variety show, so they take over the school auditorium. Here we meet Reverend Mother Regina, a former circus performer; Sister Mary Hubert, the Mistress of the Novices; a streetwise nun from Brooklyn named Sister Robert Anne; Sister Mary Leo, a novice and wannabe ballerina; and the delightfully wacky Sister Mary Amnesia, a nun who lost her memory when a crucifix fell on her head. Featuring star turns, tap and ballet dancing, and comic surprises, “Nunsense” has become an international phenomenon with more that 5000 productions worldwide.
Review from A2view.com
Fun fact: The show's success prompted six sequels, including Nunsense 2: The Second Coming, Sister Amnesia's Country Western Nunsense Jamboree, Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical, Meshuggah-Nuns!, Nunsensations: The Nunsense Vegas Revue, and Nunset Boulevard
For tickets and information: 734-268-6200, www.theencoretheatre.org
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