Artistic director Emily Mann will stage the world-premiere productions of Marina Carr's Phaedra and Danai Gurira's The Convert, and Sam Buntrock will direct John Guare's newest play, Are You There, McPhee?, a McCarter commission. The season will also include Tom Stoppard's Travesties and a new musical, Ten Cents A Dance, conceived and directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle.
The season will kick off Sept. 9 in the Berlind Theatre with John Doyle's Ten Cents A Dance, a song cycle featuring tunes from the Rodgers and Hart songbook. The actors will double as the orchestra in this co-production with the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
In Marina Carr's Phaedra, directed by Mann, "the mythic and the modern collide in a lyrical and fierce new adaptation of the classic Phaedra myth," according to press notes. Performances begin Oct. 18 in the Matthews Theatre.
The New Year will kick off Jan. 13, 2012, in the Berlind Theatre with U.S.-based Zimbabwean actress and playwright Danai Gurira's The Convert, directed by Mann. "Set amid the colonial scramble for southern Africa in 1895," according to the McCarter, "The Convert tells the tale of Jekesai, a young girl who escapes from a forced marriage by becoming the newest convert of a well-meaning black catechist for the Catholic Church. When a civil uprising against colonial white rule disrupts their lessons, the girl and her teacher must find their place in a new world order that threatens their heritage, history, and faith." The play is a co-production with The Goodman Theatre (Chicago, IL) and Center Theatre Group (Los Angeles, CA), who also commissioned the work.
Tom Stoppard’s classic comedy Travesties, directed by Sam Buntrock, will run March 13-April 1, 2012, in the Matthews Theatre. Rounding out the season will be the world premiere of Are You There, McPhee? by American playwright John Guare, who, according to press notes, "takes us on an epic and suspenseful ride in his newest play. Trapped in a house with a mysterious past, Edmund Gowery knows the only way to escape is to change his life—he just doesn’t know how." Performances are scheduled for May 4-June 3, 2012, in the Berlind Theatre.
For subscriptions, call (609) 258-2787 or visit www.mccarter.org. McCarter Theatre is located at 91 University Place in Princeton, NJ.
