FLINT, MI, July 22, 2019 – Producing Artistic Director Michael Lluberes unveiled an exciting lineup of shows for Flint Repertory Theatre’s 2019/2020 Season.
After last year’s critically acclaimed, award winning inaugural season, Flint Rep looks to the future with a season of extraordinary variety. “Expect the unexpected this season,” states Lluberes. “From world premiere musicals to bold new interpretations of theatrical
classics, this upcoming slate of plays is full of surprises as we continue to create thought provoking, entertaining and daring new work for Flint!”
The Rep kicks off the season with the deeply moving, Pulitzer Prize winning drama THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS ON MAN-IN-THE-MOON MARIGOLDS. Next up is Ionesco’s landmark theatre of the absurd play THE CHAIRS starring real life married couple and Flint theatrical duo Kay Kelly and Michael Kelly. For the holidays, The Rep reimagines Sondheim and Lapine’s shimmering musical masterpiece INTO THE WOODS.
In the New Year, the third annual NEW WORKS FESTIVAL brings playwrights and composers from all over the country to Flint for a week of staged readings and workshops of new plays and musicals.
The inventive new puppet play PACKRAT follows, a co-production with Concrete Temple Theatre. In the spring, The Rep takes a bold new approach to ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST starring Wilde Award winner Janet Haley and Michael Lopetrone. The season culminates with the World Premiere Musical THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, which explores the inner lives of the 1996 U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team as they compete for Olympic Gold.
Subscription packages are now available and can be purchased at FlintRep.org/Tickets or by calling The Whiting Ticket Center at 810.237.7333.
FLINT REPERTORY THEATRE 2019-20 SEASON:
SIGNATURE SERIES:
THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS ON MAN-IN-THE-MOON MARIGOLDS
By Paul Zindel
Directed by Kathryn Walsh
September 13-22, 2019
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Drama
The old, converted vegetable shop where Tillie lives is more like a madhouse than a home. Tillie's mother, Beatrice, is bitter and cruel, yet desperate for her daughters' love. Her sister, Ruth, suffers epileptic fits and sneaks cigarettes every chance she gets. In the midst of chaos, Tillie struggles to keep her focus and dreams alive. Tillie -- keeper of rabbits, dreamer of atoms, true believer in life, hope, and the effect of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon marigolds.
THE CHAIRS
By Eugène Ionesco, Translation by Donald M. Allen
Directed by Alex Bodine
November 1-10, 2019
Absurdist comedy starring Kay Kelly and Michael Kelly
In a house on an island, a very old couple pass their time with private games and half-remembered stories. With brilliant eccentricity, Ionesco's tragic farce combines a comic portrait of human folly with a magical experiment in theatrical possibilities.
INTO THE WOODS
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by James Lapine
Directed by Michael Lluberes
December 6-15, 2019
“Anything can happen in the woods” in Sondheim’s darkly comical, Tony Award-winning musical remix of beloved fairy tales. Cinderella, Little Red Ridinghood, Rapunzel, and other familiar characters are entangled in this reimagining of what happens after “happily ever after.” A funny and poignant exploration of the wishes we make, and what happens when they really do come true.
NEW WORKS FESTIVAL
January 17-19, 2020
Flint Rep's third annual New Works Festival is a three-day event presenting staged readings and workshops of new plays and musicals. Audience members experience this new work before anyone else and participate in post-show discussions with the playwrights and composers.
PACKRAT
By Concrete Temple Theatre
Directed by Renee Philippi
February 21-23, 2020
Packrat is an inventive new multi-media puppetry play. Set deep in the Sagebrush Desert, Packrat follows one peculiar little rodent, Bud, on his wild journey to discover the interconnectedness of us all. A co-production with Concrete Temple Theatre
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST
By Dale Wasserman, Adapted from the book by Ken Kesey
Directed by Michael Lluberes
March 13-22, 2020
Starring Janet Haley and Michael Lopetrone
When Randle P. McMurphy gets transferred to a mental institution, he encounters Nurse Ratched who runs the psychiatric ward with an iron fist, keeping her patients cowed through abuse, medication, and sessions of electroconvulsive therapy. The battle of wills between the rebellious McMurphy and the authoritarian Ratched soon escalates, leaving no one in the ward left unscathed.
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
World Premiere Musical
Book & Lyrics by Gordon Leary, Music by Julia Meinwald
Directed by Michael Lluberes
May 1-10, 2020
Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps, and Kerri Strug made up the first U.S. women’s gymnastics team to win Olympic gold in 1996. This World Premiere Musical imagines their inner lives on the two days of team competition, as they reach for their young dreams and their faces on the Wheaties box, all leading up to a star-making vault heard ’round the world. Developed in Flint Rep’s 2019 New Works Festival.
MEDIA NOTES:
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An electronic press kit with logo art and photos are available for
download
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For an interview with Michael Lluberes, Flint Rep’s Producing Artistic Director, please contact Dionanda Burnash at 810-237-3112 or
dburnash@thefim.org
