The new season will kick off in September with A Boy and His Soul, written and performed by Passing Strange's Colman Domingo. Directed by Tony Kelly, the production is described as a "moving and hilarious new play that explores the life-experiences of a young African-American man in 1980s Philadelphia, propelled by the beat of classic soul music."
Adam Rapp's The Metal Children will follow in winter 2010. Rapp will also direct his play, which "follows the controversy created in a small town when a Young Adult novel about teenage pregnancy is banned, igniting heated emotions over abortion, religious beliefs and censorship."
In spring 2010 the Vineyard will co-produce with Playwrights Horizons (at Playwrights) the new musical The Burnt Part Boys. Penned by Mariana Elder (book), Nathan Tysen (lyrics) and Chris Miller (music) and directed by Erica Schmidt, the musical is "set in West Virginia in 1962 [and] follows a group of teenagers whose fathers were killed ten years earlier in a tragic coal mining accident. When they learn that the mine will be reopened, they set out secretly in the hopes of seeing the site, and keeping it closed."
The Vineyard will also continue its Developmental Lab Series — small-scale work-in-progress productions — with The Scottsboro Boys and The Typographer's Dream.
The Scottsboro Boys, a new musical about "the famous 1930s Scottsboro Case in which a group of innocent African American teenagers are unjustly accused of a heinous crime," boasts music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb, book by David Thompson, and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman. Adam Bock's The Typographer's Dream "follows three lonely, intertwined souls navigating the existential boundaries of their jobs, selves and one another." Anne Kauffman directs.
Vineyard Theatre is also embarking on a new collaboration with Brooklyn's St. Ann's Warehouse; members will also be offered a "bonus" show (details are to be announced).
Douglas Aibel is the artistic director of Vineyard Theatre; Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell is executive director.
For more information call (212) 353-0303 or visit www.vineyardtheatre.org.
