What do John Steinbeck, Olivia Newton-John and Frank Capra have in common? There’s probably a really good punchline in there somewhere, but the answer, for now, is WaterTower Theatre’s 2012-13 season. The Addison-based theater will produce stage versions of The Grapes of Wrath, It’s a Wonderful Life and Xanadu. The three productions cover half of slated flu productions for the season along with annual Out of the Loop festival in March.
Here is the full release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 @ 6 PM
Media Contact: Greg Patterson 972-450-6227/[email protected]<mailto:972-450-6227/[email protected]>
Box Office: 972-450-6232
Addison (TX) –Terry Martin, WaterTower Theatre Producing Artistic Director, announced this evening the Company’s 2012-2013 Main Stage season at a special VIP Sneak Preview held at the Addison Theatre Centre. The season opens with The Mystery of Irma Vep (September 28 – October 21, 2012) followed by a popular holiday show It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (November 24 – December 16, 2012). The season continues in early January with Putting It Together (January 11 – February 3, 2013), the Tony Award-winning play The Grapes of Wrath (April 5 – 28, 2013), the new comedy Black Tie (May 31 – June 23, 2013) and Xanadu (July 26 – August 18, 2013). The 12th annual Out of the Loop Fringe Festival will be held March 7– 17, 2013. All productions will be staged at the Addison Theatre Centre at 15650 Addison Road, Addison, Texas 75001.
Terry Martin will direct Putting It Together and The Grapes of Wrath in addition to another show(s) to be announced at a later date.
Singer/Actress Diana Sheehan will star in Putting it Together. Sheehan has previously worked with Martin on several WaterTower Theatre productions including Grey Gardens and Black Pearl Sings!
There will be no price increase in subscriptions or single tickets for the 2012-2013 season.
Production sponsors for the 2012 – 2013 season include Frost Bank, Ackley Financial Group/Armor Wealth Management, Liberty Capital Bank, TACA, The 500 Inc., Pinnacle Family of Companies, Rainmaker Advertising, Women of WaterTower Theatre, The WaterTower Theatre Board of Directors, Atmos Energy and The Dallas Observer. The 2012-2013 season is sponsored in part by the Town of Addison, The Shubert Foundation, AT&T Real Yellow Pages and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
THE SEASON:
The Mystery of Irma Vep
By Charles Ludlum
Who is Irma Vep? That’s the mystery at the heart of this outrageously funny tour de force. On a “dark and stormy night,” Lady Enid arrives at an estate with her new husband, who is under the spell of his deceased first wife and haunted by something that’s prowling the grounds. Strange things begin to happen around her and she soon discovers the mystery of Irma Vep, whose portrait hangs over the fireplace. This hilarious comedy satirizes everything from Hitchcock’s Rebecca and Victorian Melodrama to The Mummy’s Curse.
It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play
By Joe Landry
Adapted from the original film starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, this beloved American Holiday classic brings Bedford Falls to life as a 1940’s radio broadcast. Five actors create more than fifty memorable characters to bring to life Frank Capra’s beloved film. This unique stage adaptation is performed as a radio play, broadcast on Christmas Eve in 1949. Everyman George Bailey gets the chance to see what the world would be like if he’d never been born.
Putting It Together
A musical revue by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Terry Martin
Putting It Together features the words and music of Stephen Sondheim. It’s a musical compilation from such Sondheim hits as Sweeney Todd, Company, A Little Night Music, Merrily We Roll Along, Follies and more, all linked together with an inventive storyline about the entangled relationships of five guests attending a Manhattan cocktail party as they are confronted with the troubles of marriage, infidelity and divorce. The revue first premiered in the U.K. in 1992 and opened on Broadway in 1993, with a cast including Julie Andrews. WaterTower Theatre’s production stars the incomparable Diana Sheehan.
The Grapes of Wrath
Adapted by Frank Galati
Based on the novel by John Steinbeck
Directed by Terry Martin
Having survived the drought of the 1930s Dust Bowl only to see their home repossessed by the bank, the Joad family embarks on a harrowing trek from Oklahoma to California, intending to begin anew as migrant farm workers. Their arrival in this “promised land,” however, brings its own test of the human spirit. Frank Galati’s groundbreaking adaptation of Steinbeck’s epic novel won two Tony Awards on Broadway. A plea for social justice and compassion, The Grapes of Wrath provides the perfect canvas for a vast ensemble cast and is an all too timely examination of a nation in search of itself.
Black Tie
By A.R. Gurney
Father of the groom, Curtis, simply wants to make a memorable toast. But before he is able to raise his glass, he must defend the time-honored ways of his past, including his attire. Cultures clash when a surprise guest is announced, threatening to throw convention out the window. Curtis finds that balancing the standards of his late father and the needs of his future family may prove too messy for a black-tie affair.
Xanadu
Book by Douglas Carter Beane
Music and Lyrics by Jeff Lynne
Based on the Universal Pictures film
Put a bunch of smash hit songs, Tony Award nominee Douglas Carter Beane and the cutest couple in town into a Broadway musical comedy blender, and what do you get? “Heaven on Wheels” says The New York Times. Taking audiences back to 1980 California, this hilarious new musical follows the beautiful Kira, who travels to Earth to inspire a struggling young artist named Sonny, as she helps this aspiring painter to find his voice, discover true love and build the world’s first roller disco (not necessarily in that order).
SUBSCRIPTION SERIES:
WaterTower Theatre is offering a host of new subscription options, in addition to the standard five-play, full series subscription which offers the best seating and deepest discounts over individual tickets. New this coming season will be:
Enhanced Theatre Experience Series:;
Behind-the-Scenes: a five-play series the first Friday night of the run that includes a pre-show conversation/talk with an artist (held at WaterTower Theatre).
Conversation with the Artists: a five-play series on all Wednesday nights and Sunday matinees that includes a post-show discussion with the actors.
Centennial Wine Lover’s Series: a series with a pre-show wine tasting experience every time a patron attends. A three-play series that includes The Mystery of Irma Vep, Putting It Together and Black Tie.
Comedy Series: a three-play subscription that includes The Mystery of Irma Vep, Black Tie and Xanadu.
Sample Series: an introduction to theatre, three-play package that includes The Mystery of Irma Vep, The Grapes of Wrath and Xanadu.
Music Lover’s Series: a three-play subscriptions that includes two great musicals: Putting It Together and Xanadu, and the Tony-Award winning The Grapes of Wrath.
In addition, WaterTower Theatre will offer, for the second season, its Design Your Own series.
Student Subscription Series:
• A student subscription series will be offered, including a special student Design Your Own Series.
Hero’s Subscription:
• Men and women in uniform: fire, police, EMTs, veterans, current members of the armed forces and their immediate families will be offered a special subscription of 50% off any five-play subscription package (excluding DYO, special affinity programs, special miniseries).
SEASON OVERVIEW:
The Mystery of Irma Vep
Sept. 28 – Oct. 21, 2012
Previews: Sept. 28 and 29
Pay What You Can: Sept. 30
Opening Night: Oct. 1
It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play
Nov. 24 – Dec. 16, 2012
Opening Night: Nov. 24
Putting It Together
Jan. 11 – Feb. 3, 2013
Previews: Jan. 11 and 12
Pay What You Can: Jan. 13
Opening Night: Jan. 14
Out of the Loop Fringe Festival
March 7 – 17, 2013
The Grapes of Wrath
April 5 – 28, 2013
Previews: Apr. 5 and 6
Pay What You Can: Apr. 7
Opening Night: Apr. 8
Black Tie
May 31 – June 23, 2013
Previews: May 31 and June 1
Pay What You Can: June 2
Opening Night: June 3
Xanadu
July 26 – Aug. 18, 2013
Previews: July 26 and 27
Pay What You Can: July 28
Opening Night: July 29
2012-2013 Season Ticket Prices:
Five-play season subscriptions range in price from $75 (Previews) to $150 (Saturday evening/Sunday matinee).
About Terry Martin
Multi-award winning Director Terry Martin is in his 15th season as Producing Artistic Director of WaterTower Theatre where he has overseen more than 75 productions. During the 2011-2012 season, he directed WaterTower Theatre’s productions of Spring Awakening, The Diary of Anne Frank and he is set to direct Smokey Joe’s Café this summer. In his role as WaterTower Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director, Terry oversees both the administrative and artistic aspects of the Company.
Under his leadership WTT has grown from a small local theatre company to one of the leading regional theatres in Texas. While consistently maintaining the artistic integrity of the work WTT produces and gaining much critical acclaim, he has – through keen business acumen – managed to keep the theatre in the black and maintain a large paid capacity for the past many seasons.
Some of his 45 directing credits at WTT include As You Like It, Almost, Maine, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Man of La Mancha, Humble Boy, The Crucible, Take Me Out, A Country Life (which he adapted from Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and won the 2005 Rabin Award – Best New Play), Cabaret, It Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues, Company, An Inspector Calls, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Laramie Project, You Can’t Take It With You, Book of Days, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2002 Rabin Award – Director of a Play), Sweeney Todd (2002 Rabin Award Nomination – Director of a Musical), Desire Under the Elms, Ravenscroft, Rockin’ Christmas Party (2000, 2001), Enter the Guardsman (2001 Rabin Award Nomination – Director of a Musical), Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill and Little Shop of Horrors (2000 Rabin Award Nomination – Director of a Musical) among others. For Plano Repertory Theatre, he has directed Journey’s End (2000 Rabin Award – Director of a Play), Dracula, La Bête, Little Shop of Horrors and Pump Boys and Dinettes. Terry was named “Best Theater Director” in the Dallas Observer’s “Best of Dallas 2002.”
He has appeared on stage recently at WTT in Our Town, and previously in Blackbird (2008 Dallas Fort Worth Theatre Critics’ Forum Award), The Woman in Black, Dinner with Friends, The Guys, Bash: Latter-day Plays (2002 Rabin Award Nomination – Actor in a Play) and at PRT in The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me… (1998 Rabin Award – Actor in a Play, 1998 Dallas Theater Critics Forum Award), The Woman in Black (2000 Rabin Award Nomination – Actor in a Play), and Lonely Planet.
After growing up in south Alabama, Terry spent 12 years in New York City working in theatre, television and film. While there, he directed and acted at The Village Theatre Company, Carnegie Hall Studios and Theatre at St. Marks as well as television appearances on ABC’s One Life to Live and NBC’s To Serve and Protect. He holds a BFA from the University of Alabama and has trained professionally with Sanford Meisner, Fred Kareman, Wynn Handman, Sally Johnson and Lehmann Byck. Terry presently teaches on-going acting classes in the Sanford Meisner Technique at WTT, as well as having served as Adjunct Professor of Acting at the University of Texas at Dallas.
About WaterTower Theatre:
WaterTower Theatre is one of the leading regional theatres in North Dallas and Texas. The Company’s 2012-2013 season will be its 17th season. It is consistently recognized for its artistic excellence by the Dallas Theatre League, Dallas/Fort Worth Theatre Critics Forum, The Dallas Morning News, The Dallas Observer, D Magazine and The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, among others. WaterTower Theatre has a subscription base of more than 2,000 subscribers and serves an audience of over 32,000 patrons annually.
WaterTower Theatre gratefully acknowledges the support of The Town of Addison, TACA, Texas Commission on the Arts, the 500 Inc., and the National Endowment for the Arts. WaterTower Theatre is supported, in part, through the generosity of Ackley Financial Group, Inc./Armor Wealth Management, Addison Business Association, Atmos Energy, AT&T Yellow Pages, Don and Barbara Daseke, Bob and Barbara Bigham/The Baylor Oral Health Foundation, Frost Bank, Liberty Capital Bank, Robert Mayer, Jr., Million Air Dallas, Rainmaker Advertising, The Shubert Foundation, Target Corporation, Women of WaterTower Theatre, and the WaterTower Theatre Board of Directors.
Ticket Information:
Current subscribers are able to renew their season subscriptions by mail, fax (972.450.6244) or by calling the Box Office at 972.450.6232. Online ordering will be available mid-June.
New subscriptions are on sale now. However, seating will not be assigned until mid-July.
It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play and the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival are non-subscription events.
