Town Players Announce 2003 Season

Town Players of Newtown is proud to announce its 2003 season.

The season opener, to be directed by Evelyne Thomas, is the Neil Simon classic Barefoot in the Park, one of the longest-running comedies in Broadway history. The play is set in a Greenwich Village apartment and looks at the lives of newlyweds Corie and Paul, and how the two must reconcile their different personalities and learn to live together.

According to the playwright, much of the plot was taken from his memories of the early weeks of his own marriage. Under the experienced direction of veteran director Ms Thomas – who traditionally directs the season-opener at The Little Theatre – the play will be a delightful way to welcome spring.

Barefoot in the Park will run May 2-24, with Friday and Saturday evening performances at 8 pm, and a Sunday matinee on May 18 at 2 pm. Town Players shows are always at The Little Theatre, on Orchard Hill Road in Newtown.

Heralding in the summer months is Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well. The tale pits chivalry and courtesy against opportunism and pragmatism, female solidarity and wisdom against male boasting and selfishness, and the worth of a human being, of whatever social standing, against class prejudice and aristocratic snobbery.

Ruth Anne Baumgartner will again direct a “cast of thousands,” and audiences will not be disappointed in the wealth of characters complementing lovers Helena and Bertram: the kindly King, the braggart soldier Parolles, the clown Lavatch, the shrewd Lord Lafew, and the Countess of Rossillion, a rich role for an older woman, coveted by such Shakespeare veterans as Dames Peggy Ashcroft and Judi Dench.

All’s Well That Ends Well will run July 11 through August 2, with its Sunday matinee on July 17. Auditions for All’s Well That Ends Well are scheduled for May 5 and 6 from 7 to 10 pm.

In September, be ready for another evening of David Ives’ nonsense and mayhem with Lives of the Saints. Variety calls it “…witty…entertaining…laugh-out-loud.”

Among the evening’s one-acts are The Mystery at Twicknam Vicarage (a murder mystery with philosophical quandaries), Lives of the Saints (presenting two women preparing a funeral breakfast in a church basement as they muse on life, death, and the meaning of Polish Jokes), and Captive Audience (a cautionary fable that tells how Rob and Laura face a menace in their living room: a television that talks back to them and threatens to swallow them whole.

After having undertaken two successful Ives evenings within the past few seasons, Mary Poile and Rob Pawlikowski are ready to present another hilarious evening for the uninhibited. Lives of the Saints will run September 5-27, with a Sunday matinee on September 21.

Auditions for Lives of the Saints will be held Sunday, July 13, from 2 to 4 pm, and Monday, July 14, from 7 to 9 pm.

Finally, Death Trap by Ira Levin will round out the season. Suzanne Kinnear will direct the story of Connecticut Professor Sidney Bruhl, a successful Broadway thriller writer, who is currently in the throes of a “dry spell.” He receives a script from a student in a seminar he is conducting, which he immediately recognizes as a potential Broadway hit. Sidney, with the aid of his wife, devises a plan to offer collaboration to the young man. This thriller should satisfy all who love a good mystery.

Death Trap will run November 7-29, with a Sunday matinee on November 23.

Auditions for Death Trap will be on Sunday, September 7, from 1 to 4 pm.

Tickets for all Friday and Saturday performances are $12; tickets for all Sunday matinee performances are $10. Season tickets are also available for $40.

Reservations for all shows, as well as the purchase of season tickets, can be made by calling 270-9144. Season ticket holders are strongly urged to make definite reservations for each show, as seats are general admission and cannot be guaranteed.