Georgia Ensemble Theatre’s 23rd season features an American premiere, a Georgia premiere and the first Shakespeare play it has ever staged.
The Roswell playhouse will produce a five-show mainstage season, three shows for family audiences, its annual Anne Frank school tour and four dates by the Joe Gransden Big Band.
The season, themed “see what’s possible,” will play at Georgia Ensemble’s performing home, the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St.
The 2015-16 season, in chronological order:
CALENDAR GIRLS. Sept. 10-Oct. 4. American premiere. A play by English dramatist Tim Firth, inspired by the 2003 movie with Helen Mirren. (Not to be confused with Firth’s forthcoming musical version of the show/movie.) Nine members of a women’s club in Yorkshire, England, pose nude (tastefully) for a calendar that will raise funds for a hospital. Sudden fame tests their bonds.
ROMEO AND JULIET. Nov. 5-22. Shakespeare’s great romance is filled with moonlight, swordplay, intrigue and poison.
CHARLEY’S AUNT. Jan. 7-24, 2016. A chestnut if ever there was one. Brandon Thomas’ 1893 comedy features young sweethearts, one of whom must dress as his aging aunt to see the girl of his dreams.
PETER AND THE STARCATCHER. Feb. 25-March 13, 2016. Georgia premiere. A grown-up’s prequel to Peter Pan from Rick Elice (Jersey Boys). Twelve actors play more than 100 characters in this swashbuckling play with music, based on the best-selling novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Winner of five 2012 Tony awards.
YESTERDAY AND TODAY, THE INTERACTIVE BEATLES EXPERIENCE. April 7-24, 2016. This musical, conceived and performed by Billy McGuigan and his brothers, takes the Beatles’ music and personalizes it with the stories and perspectives of audience members.
GET also will do single public performances of three Theatre for Young Audiences productions:
JUNIE B. JONES, THE MUSICAL. Nov. 14. Based on the books by Barbara Park about the adventures of Juniper Beatrice “Junie B.” Jones.
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. Jan. 23, 2016. Based on the C.S. Lewis story about four enterprising siblings who step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia, a place frozen in eternal winter and enslaved by the White Witch — until the great lion Aslan comes to their aid.
PROJECT STEAM! (working title). April 23, 2016. A world premiere being written by award-winning Atlanta playwright Topher Payne (Swell Party).
The Joe Gransden Big Band Series returns on Nov. 9, Dec. 14, Feb. 29 and April 11. And, finally, for the 19th season, the company will tour schools with And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank (no public performances scheduled yet).
Early-bird subscription ticket packages ($88-$143) are available through May 31. Flex passes are $125. Prices go up June 1. The Gransden series can be added to subscriptions for $100, the Young Audiences three-show series for $24. To subscribe, call the GET box office at 770.641.1260. Details HERE.
