January 12 — February 18
Beau Jest
By James Sherman
Sarah is a nice Jewish girl with a problem: her parents want her married to a nice Jewish boy. They have never met her boyfriend, a WASP executive named Chris Kringle. She tells them she is dating a Jewish doctor and they insist on meeting him. She plans a dinner party and, over the heated protests of Chris, employs an escort service to send her a Jewish date to be Dr. Steinberg. Instead, they send Bob Schroeder, an aspiring actor who agrees to perform the impersonation. Happily, he is extremely convincing in the role and Sarah’s parents are enraptured. Soon, even Sarah falls for Bob.
March 29 — April 28
A View from the Bridge
By Arthur Miller
As told by the New York Daily News, “… is a tragedy in the classic form and I think it is a modern classic… the central character is a longshoreman who, though his mind is limited and he cannot find words for his thoughts, is an admirable man…When two of his wife’s Italian cousins — submarines they are, in the waterfront argot — are smuggled into this country, he makes room for them in his home. Gratefully they move in among his wife, his children and the teen-age niece whom he has brought up and whom he has come to love, he thinks, as a daughter. And now the stage is set for tragedy. One of the illegal immigrants has a family in Italy for whom he is working; the other young, extraordinarily handsome and exceedingly blonde, is single. He wants to become an American, and he falls in love with his benefactor’s niece. If he marries the girl he will no longer have to hide from immigration officials. A monstrous change creeps up on the kind and loving uncle. He is violently opposed to this romance and is not intelligent enough to realize that this opposition is not motivated, as he thinks, by a dislike of the boy and a suspicion that he is too pretty to be a man, but by his own too intense love for his niece. Not even the wise and kindly neighborhood lawyer can persuade him to let the girl go. This is an intensely absorbing drama, sure of itself every step of the way. It makes no false moves, wastes no time and has the beauty that comes from directness and simplicity.”
May 31 — June 30
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
By John Bishop
The creative team responsible for a recent Broadway flop (in which three chorus girls were murdered by the mysterious “Stage Door Slasher”) assemble for a backer’s audition of their new show at the Westchester estate of a wealthy “angel.” The house is replete with sliding panels, secret passageways, and a German maid who is apparently four different people — all of which figure diabolically in the comic mayhem which follows when the infamous “Slasher” makes his reappearance and strikes again — and again. As the composer, lyricist, actors, and director prepare their performance, and a blizzard cuts off any possible retreat, bodies start to drop in plain sight, knives spring out of nowhere, masked figures drag their victims behind swiveling bookcases, and accusing fingers point in all directions. However, and with no thanks to the bumbling police inspector who snowshoes in to investigate, the mystery is solved in the nick of time and the “Slasher” unmasked — but not before the audience has been treated to a sidesplitting good time and a generous serving of the author’s biting, satiric, and refreshingly irreverent wit.
September 6 — October 13
tick, tick… Boom!
A Musical By Jonathan Larson
Before the revolutionary rock musical Rent, Jonathan Larson had another story to tell… his own. tick, tick… Boom! is a three-chapter pop rock musical about facing crossroads in life and holding on to your dreams that was first produced off Broadway in 2001. It tells the story of young Jonathan, a promising young composer on the eve of his 30th birthday. His girlfriend wants to get married and move out of the city (tick); his best friend is making big bucks on Madison Avenue (tick); and he’s still waiting tables and trying to write the great American musical before time, and life, passes him by (Boom!).
November 8 — December 15
Private Eyes
By Steven Dietz
Private Eyes is a comedy of suspicion in which nothing is ever quite what it seems. Matthew’s wife, Lisa, is having an affair with Adrian, a British theatre director. Or perhaps the affair is part of the play being rehearsed. Or perhaps Matthew has imagined all of it simply to have something to report to Frank, his therapist. And, finally, there is Cory — the mysterious woman who seems to shadow the others — who brings the story to its surprising conclusion. Or does she? The audience itself plays the role of detective in this hilarious “relationship thriller” about love, lust and the power of deception.
“Steven Dietz’s… Pirandellian smooch to the mercurial nature of theatrical illusion and romantic truth, Dietz’s spiraling structure and breathless pacing provide enough of an oxygen rush to revive any moribund audience member… Dietz’s mastery of playmaking… is cause for kudos.” — Village Voice.
“The cleverest and most artful piece presented at the 21st annual [Humana] festival was Private Eyes by writer-director Steven Dietz… Dietz has created a romantic comedy in which what’s real inevitably turns out to be an illusion. It’s a play within a play within a play within a play within a psychiatrist’s office — a Chinese box full of tricks and surprises.” — Chicago Tribune.