New Harmony Theatre opens and closes 2013 season with laughs
June 3, 2013
New Harmony Theatre opens its 2013 season on June 14, with Marc Camoletti's Tony award-winning Boeing Boeing, translatedby Beverly Cross and Francis Evans. Boeing Boeing, directed by Elliot Wasserman, producing artistic director and chair of the Department of Performing Arts at the University of Southern Indiana runs June 14-16 and June 21-23. Actors in this 1960s comical farce include Evansville native, Paula Leggett Chase, as well as Lanene Charters, Annabelle Hägg, Noreen Hughes, Joe Paparella, and Richard Price, all from the New York area.
Wasserman also will direct the second show of the season, the drama Fences, by August Wilson, which runs July 5-7 and July 12-14. The production, portraying a man struggling to survive as an individual and provide for a family in a 1950s steel town, includes actors Marvin Bell, Marcus Callender, Ronald Conner, Ron Himes, Gayle Samuels, and Lorenzo Scott. This also will mark the first professional production for two tri-state children, Jada Hoover and Jazmine Ragland, who will share the role of Raynell throughout the production.
The season draws to a close with the musical comedy Cotton Patch Gospel, by Tom Key and Russell Treyz, with music and lyrics by Harry Chapin. The production runs July 19-21, July 26-28, and August 2-4. Cotton Patch Gospel is directed by Eric Altheide, New Harmony Theatre's resident associate director and assistant professor of theatre at USI. The bluegrass musical about the birth of Jesus in Gainesville, Georgia, will be told by Larry Tobias with help from his band of disciples, including Sonny Franks, Willy Welch, and Evansville locals Jolie DeVries and Jon Isaac Lutz.
Tickets are on sale now, and season tickets may be purchased at any time through the first production. All evening performances start at 7:30 p.m. and matinees begin at 2 p.m. Individual adult tickets are $28 for Boeing Boeing and Fences and $35 for Cotton Patch Gospel. Discounted tickets are available for students and seniors. Season tickets are $63 for adults, $57 for seniors (60 and over), and $48 for groups of 20 or more.
The New Harmony Theatre is a professional Equity theatre produced by USI and is the Tri-state's only professional Equity theatre. Plays are performed in the historic Murphy Auditorium located at 419 Tavern Street in New Harmony, Indiana. For more information, or to make a purchase, visit www.newharmonytheatre.com or call the box office at 812/682-3115 or toll free 877/NHT-SHOW.