The eight titles of the season were recently revealed.
Rent — the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical about love, friendship and artistic expression in the age of AIDS — is an "additional production" that Pioneer subscribers can add to their season package if they wish.
"Rent is a landmark musical, but it is very different from our traditional musicals," PTC managing director Chris Lino said in a statement. "Because it has a pop-rock score and edgier themes, we know it appeals to a younger audience, but we also know that some audiences might be uncomfortable with it. We decided to let our audience have the option of including Rent in their season package or not. Season patrons can select their regular seven play subscription without including Rent if they like. Patrons who want to include Rent can add it, at a discounted rate, to their seven play package…"
In is part of PTC's New Plays Project. Wohl's Touch(ed) was produced by PTC in 2009-10. Here's how PTC characterizes In: "Sara, a recent Harvard graduate and aspiring novelist, is working as a tutor helping the children of wealthy families prepare for their SAT tests in order to improve their chances of getting into elite colleges. She is hired to tutor Jordy, the charming but under-achieving son of Pammie, a driven socialite who is determined to see her son admitted to Harvard. As Sara tutors Jordy and interacts with Pammie — who turns out to have many friends in the publishing world — we see the dreams, ambitions and loneliness of all three characters as each struggles to get 'in' — to belong to something or someone greater than themselves."
The theatre's traditional seven-play season opens with Hamlet (Sept. 17-Oct. 2), followed by Bram Stoker's Dracula, adapted by PTC artistic director Charles Morey (Oct. 22-Nov. 6); Irving Berlin's White Christmas (Dec. 3-24); Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer (Jan. 14-29, 2011); In by playwright Bess Wohl (Feb. 18-March 5, 2011); The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, adapted by Wendy Kesselman (March 18-April 2, 2011); and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard (April 29-May 14, 2011). Following the close of Sunset Boulevard, Rent will run June 10-25, 2011.
For more information, visit PioneerTheatre.org.
