Emerald City Players
is pleased to announce the
shows in our 2010 Season:

Leading Ladies
by Ken Ludwig
Samuel French, Inc.
Performances: January 15^th – January 30^th, 2010
Auditions: November 15-16, 2009
January 15, 16, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30 @ 8:00 PM
January 24 @ 2:00 PM

 Synopsis: In this hilarious comedy by the author of “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Moon Over Buffalo”, two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, find themselves so down on their luck that they are performing "Scenes from Shakespeare" on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. When they hear that an old lady in York, PA is about to die and leave her fortune to her two long lost English nephews, they resolve to pass themselves off as her beloved relatives and get the cash. The trouble is, when they get to York, they find out that the relatives aren't nephews, but nieces! Romantic entanglements abound, especially when Leo falls head-over-petticoat in love with the old lady's vivacious niece, Meg, who's engaged to the local minister. Meg knows that there's a wide world out there, but it's not until she meets "Maxine and Stephanie" that she finally gets a taste of it. 

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks
by Richard Alfieri
Samuel French, Inc.
Performances: March 4^th – March 14^th, 2010
Auditions: January 17-18, 2010
March 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13 @ 8:00 PM
March 14 @ 2:00 PM

 Synopsis: In roles originated by Uta Hagen and David Hyde Pierce, this two-character comedy opens as a aging but still formidable woman hires an acerbic dance instructor to give her lessons in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. Antagonism between a gay man and the widow of a Southern Baptist minister gives way to profound compatibility as they swing dance, tango, foxtrot and cha-cha while sharing more than dance steps. During the sixth and final lesson, she reveals a closely guarded secret-she is terminally ill-and he shares his greatest gifts-loyalty and compassion. As Michael takes Lily in his arms on the final meeting, they both transcend fear and mortality while the sun sets on their last dance.

RENT
Book, Music, and Lyrics by: Jonathan Larson
Musical Theatre International, Inc.
Performances: April 23^rd - May 8^th, 2010
Auditions: February 21-22, 2010
April 23, 24, 30, May 1, 6, 7, 8 @ 8:00 PM
May 2 @ 2:00 PM
 Synopsis: Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer-prize winning Broadway musical based loosely on Puccini's opera La Bohème. It follows a year in the lives of seven friends living the disappearing Bohemian lifestyle in New York's East Village. AIDS and both its physical and emotional complications pervade the lives of Roger, Mimi, Tom, and Angel; Maureen deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne, wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble; Benjamin has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for a hefty income and is on the outs with his former friends; and Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general, always behind the camera recording the events but never playing a part.

Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure
adapted by Steven Dietz,
based on the original 1899 play
 by William Gillette and Arthur Conan Doyle
Dramatist Play Service, Inc.
Performances: June 11^th – June 26^th, 2010
Auditions: April 25-26, 2010
June 11, 12, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26 @ 8:00 PM
June 20 @ 2:00 PM
 Synopsis: The world's greatest detective has seemingly reached the end of his remarkable career when a case presents itself that is too tempting to ignore: The King of Bohemia is about to be blackmailed by a notorious photograph, and the woman at the heart of this crime is the famous opera singer, Irene Adler. With his trusted companion, Doctor Watson, at his side, Sherlock Holmes pursues first the case, and then the affections of Miss Adler—and in doing so, marches right into the lair of his longtime adversary, that malevolent genius of crime: Professor Moriarty. In this spirited, fast-moving and thoroughly theatrical adaptation, Steven Dietz presents Holmes at the height of his powers—surrounded by all the elements that fans of his exploits have come to expect: danger, intrigue, wit, humor and surprise. "The game is afoot, Watson—and it is a dangerous one!"

A Little Murder Never Hurt Anybody
by Ron Bernas
Samuel French, Inc.
Performances: July 30^th – August 14^th, 2010
Auditions: June 13-14, 2010
July 30, 31, August  6, 7, 12, 13, 14 @ 8:00 PM
August 8 @ 2:00 PM
 Synopsis: It’s New Year’s Eve at the Perry mansion, and Julia and Matthew Perry seem to have it all. But Matthew wants something more -- to be rid of his wife Julia so he can have some real fun! He resolves to murder Julia by the new year’s end, and tells her so. She vows to stay alive, and tells him so. And so the game begins -- a hilarious year-long match of wits and the witless. While Julia cleverly dodges Matthew’s devious murder attempts, the Perry friends and staff are dying off mysteriously. It seems Matthew is successful in murdering everyone but Julia. As the bodies are falling, dim-witted daughter Bunny contemplates calling off her wedding to unwitting Donald since all the intended gift-bearing guests are dying. Enter Detective Plotnik -- a Sam Spade reincarnation who suspects everyone, but hasn’t a clue. That is, not until Donald stumbles upon Julia and gentlemanly butler Buttram in what Donald mistakenly perceives as a compromising situation. Donald jumps to the conclusion that Julia is the murderer -- trying to murder Matthew!

A Streetcar Named Desire
by Tennessee Williams
Dramatist Play Service, Inc
Performances: September 24^th - October 9^th, 2010
Auditions: August 8-9, 2010
September 24, 25, October 1, 2, 7, 8, 9 @ 8:00 PM
October 3 @ 2:00 PM
 Synopsis: The play reveals to the very depths the character of Blanche du Bois, a woman whose life has been undermined by her romantic illusions, which lead her to reject—so far as possible—the realities of life with which she is faced and which she consistently ignores. The pressure brought to bear upon her by her sister, with whom she goes to live in New Orleans, intensified by the earthy and extremely "normal" young husband of the latter, leads to a revelation of her tragic self-delusion and, in the end, to madness.

 

Program Schedule Subject to Change.