The season opens with Cuckooland, a new work by WHAT founder and associate artistic director Gip Hoppe (Jackie), who gave the company a major regional hit last year with the political satire A New War. The new comedy is drawn from Aristophanes' The Birds. "Fed up with the state of the civilized world," a press description reads, "a man and a woman take flight by escaping, hoping to wing it by living with birds. But a long history of mistrust and violence has soured the birds on humankind, making cohabitation difficult." Hoppe directs. Dates are May 26-June 26. The season concludes Sept. 30-Oct. 24 with the New England premiere of Private Jokes, Public Places, the Oren Safdie drama which took a biting look at the political world of architects, and was a critical hit Off-Broadway last fall. In the piece, a female graduate student must defend her thesis on the erection of a public swimming pool to an all-male jury. Brendan Hughes directs.
The remainder of the season runs as follows:
Peggy Shaw: To My Chagrin, June 30-July 24, in which Obie-winner Shaw "investigates the effects of gender and race as they are communicated from generation to generation in a show about her relationship to her mixed-race grandson."Glitterati, July 5-Aug. 31, a one-man play by John Kuntz "about a literary agent who's throwing a book release party for a universally reviled author."
Gizmo Love, July 29-Sept. 4, world premiere written by John Kolvenbach, directed by Sam Weisman, in which "professional screenwriter Manny McCain's latest assignment [is to] edit Gizmo Love, a masterpiece-in-the-making by Ralph, a novice writer."Immoral Imperatives, Sept. 9-Sept. 25, a regional premiere by Chicago playwright Jeffrey Sweet, directed by James Glossman, about "Hank, a retired professor, and his younger wife, Terri, [who] move to the Florida Keys, where they invite an old, free-spirited friend, Dale, to live with them after his boat is hi-jacked." Call the WHAT box office at (508) 349-6835. Tickets may also be ordered online at www.what.org.
