Hay Fever

By: Noel Coward

Performance Dates: November 2-17, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM)

Hoping for a quiet weekend in the country with some guests, David Bliss, a novelist, and his wife Judith, a retired actress, find that an impossible dream when their high-spirited children Simon and Sorel appear with guests of their own. A housefull of drama waits to be ignited as misunderstandings and tempers flare. With Judith’s new flame and David’s newest literary ‘inspiration’ keeping company as the children follow suit, the Bliss family lives up to its name as the ‘quiet weekend’ comes to an exhausting and hilarious finale.

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Little Women: The Musical

Music By: Jason Howland
Lyrics By: Mindi Dickstein
Book By: Allan Knee

Performance Dates: October 5-20, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM)

Based on Louisa May Alcott’s life, Little Women follows the adventures of sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March. Jo is trying to sell her stories for publication, but the publishers are not interested – her friend, Professor Bhaer, tells her that she has to do better and write more from herself. Begrudgingly taking this advice, Jo weaves the story of herself and her sisters and their experience growing up in Civil War America.

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Terms of Endearment

Adapted for the Stage By: Dan Gordon
Based on the Screenplay By: James L. Bret

Performance Dates: August 17-September 1, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM)

Challenges in life and love test the resilience of a mother-daughter relationship in Dan Gordon’s adaptation of Terms of Endearment, based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winner Larry McMurtry and James L. Brooks’ screenplay of the Oscar-winning film. Though Emma is often exasperated by her highly-opinionated mother, Aurora, they talk every day about their problems, from Aurora finding unexpected love even as she becomes a reluctant grandmother, to Emma’s struggle in her troubled marriage. But when they need one another most, will they be able to find courage in each other? This funny and touching story captures the delicate, sometimes fractured bonds between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, and lovers, both old and new.

Karen Rose directs this stage adaptation of the emotional movie, filled with tenderness and comedy.

This show features the amazing acting works of Kerry Scanlon, Annette Fernandez, Craig Webb, Corey East, Lisa Rupple, and Austin Sasser.

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bare: A Pop Opera

Music By: Damon Intrabartolo

Lyrics By: Jon Hartmere

Book By: Jon Hartmere & Damon Intrabartolo

Performance Dates: July 13-28, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 6:30PM)

This show will include talkbacks after certain performances.

A pulsating, electric contemporary rock musical, bare follows a group of students at a Catholic boarding school as they grapple with issues of sexuality, identity, and the future. Peter and Jason have fallen in love with each other, but Jason — a popular athlete — fears losing his status if he is discovered to be gay. Unpopular Nadia, Jason’s sister, is contemptuous of Ivy, a beautiful girl with a questionable reputation. As the group attempts to put up a production of Romeo and Juliet, tensions flare, self-doubt simmers, and God’s path seems more difficult to find than ever. bare rings with the sounds of youthful repression and revolt. With a unique sung-through pop score, heart-pounding lyrics, and a cast of bright young characters, bare is a provocative, fresh, and utterly honest look at the dangers of baring your soul, and the consequences of continuing to hide

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

By: Dale Wasserman

From the Novel By: Ken Kesey

Performance Dates: May 11-26, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 6:30PM)

This show will include talkbacks after the performances of these shows:

• Saturday, May 12th
• Sunday, May 20th
• Friday, May 25th

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the story of McMurphy, a charming rogue who contrives to serve a short sentence in an airy mental institution rather than in a prison. While there, he clashes with Head Nurse Ratched, who has no time for his nonsense. McMurphy quickly takes over the yard and accomplishes what the medical profession has been unable to do for years: He leads others out of introversion, stages a revolt so that they can see the World Series on television and arranges a rollicking midnight party with liquor and women. After a tragic event occurs, Ratched and McMurphy go head-to-head – and only one of them will win this battle.

Western Reserve Playhouse is proud to partner with Portage Path Behavioral Health to bring you this show.

Dogfight

Music & Lyrics By: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul

Book By: Peter Duchan

Performance Dates: April 13-28, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 6:30PM)

It’s November 21, 1963. On the eve of their deployment to a small but growing conflict in Southeast Asia, three young Marines set out for one final boys’ night of debauchery, partying and maybe a little trouble. But, when Corporal Eddie Birdlace meets Rose, an awkward and idealistic waitress whom he enlists to win a cruel bet with his fellow recruits, she rewrites the rules of the game and teaches him the power of love and compassion.

Tomorrow Morning

Regional Premiere

Book, Music & Lyrics By: Laurence Mark Wythe

Performance Dates: March 9-24, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM)

Tomorrow Morning is an hilarious and moving show that appeals to different generations – to anyone who has ever been in a relationship, to have had one end when they thought it would last forever, and for anyone who has ever contemplated sharing their life with someone else.

Lost in Yonkers

By: Neil Simon

Directed by: Keith Stevens

Performance Dates: January 26, 2018-February 10, 2018 (Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM; Sunday at 2PM)

By America’s great comic playwright, this memory play is set in Yonkers in 1942. Bella is thirty-five years old, mentally challenged, and living at home with her mother, stern Grandma Kurnitz. As the play opens, ne’er-do-well son Eddie deposits his two young sons on the old lady’s doorstep. He is financially strapped and taking to the road as a salesman. The boys are left to contend with Grandma, with Bella and her secret romance, and with Louie, her brother, a small-time hoodlum in a strange new world called Yonkers.

Cast:

Harriet Deveto – Grandma Kurnitz

Jay Hill – Eddie Kurnitz

Shani Ferry – Bella Kurnitz

August Scarpelli – Uncle Louie

James Patrick – Arty

Robert Rush – Jay

Beth Gaiser – Gert