The Theatre at Arts Garage raises the curtain on a provocative new season as Keith Garsson of Primal Forces takes the helm to explore dark, controversial themes. Theatre Arts Garage is taking new risks with the 2015-2016 season. Building upon its critically acclaimed foundation, the theatre program will now explore new emotional territory. Alyona Ushe has tapped Primal Forces’ Keith Garsson as Producing Director who will be joined by Genie Croft of the Women’s Theatre Project as Resident Director. With a lengthy list of lauded productions between them, the duo will shift the Delray Beach venue towards edgier and darker material. The buzz-worthy season launches in October and will make use of the both Arts Garage’s traditional theatre stage and the new Black Box space. For season subscriptions, single ticket sales and further information, please call 561-450-6357 or visit www.artsgarage.org.
“I am so excited to begin this new partnership with Keith,” said Alyona Ushe, President and CEO. “Our music programs consistently break new barriers exposing our audiences to diverse forms of artistry, and now I am proud to say our theatre program will explore new realms of emotions and relationships.” While Primal Forces will be absorbed into Arts Garage, neither Garsson nor Ushe rule out a Primal Forces’ future at other related locations. But for now the focus is on the new Delray Beach collaboration that will offer dynamic opportunities for all involved.
“The dark-themed material of Primal Forces is a natural fit for the off-Broadway feel of Arts Garage,” claims Garsson. “Boca Raton Theatre Guild and the Willow Theater served us well for many years, but it’s time to move on from our standard fare at the park into a venue more attuned to the material we’ve presented at Primal Forces.” Keith Garsson (Producing Director) was the Artistic Director for Primal Forces in Ft Lauderdale where he produced and directed David Mamet’s The Anarchist, Dominique’s Morisseau’s Sunset Baby and Lanford Wilson’s Redwood Curtain. At the Boca Raton Theater Guild he oversaw their transition into a professional company by producing Sylvia, Other People’s Money, Chapter Two, Sweet Charity, Chicago, They’re Playing Our Song and Pippin. In his prior life in New York City he was the Production Chairman for St Bart’s Playhouse, an off-Broadway theater that specialized in musical revivals.
“The move to the Arts Garage will allow us to unleash new artistic visions as we create imaginative, and thought-provoking plays and musicals” says Croft. “We look forward to new energies and rhythms on the stages of Arts Garage Genie Croft (Resident Director) recently directed the Southeastern premieres of Everyday Rapture, Red Hot Patriot – The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, The Lyons, Delval Divas and The Interview. Genie was the Artistic Director, president and founding member of the multi-Carbonell nominated Women’s Theatre Project and directed all of their main stage productions. Among her directing credits are many world and Southeastern premieres such as The Anastasia Trials in the Court of Women, Necessary Targets, Hold Please, If We Are Women, Bold Girls, Dancing the God, Memory House, Sister Cities, Shiloh Rules, Jar the Floor, Playhouse Creatures, The Year of Magical Thinking, Speaking Elephant, Sunday on the Rocks, Bridge & Tunnel and Eclipsed. She also recently directed Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Sylvia and Tuesdays with Morrie for the Boca Raton Theater Guild.
2015-2016 Season
Sex with Strangers by Laura Eason: Main Stage
Previews: Sat 10/24 8pm | Sun 10/25 2pm | Thurs 10/29 8pm
Gala Opening followed by cocktail reception and live band, Fri 10/30 8pm
Show runs through 11/15 –Thurs & Sat nights ONLY 8pm; Sat and Sun 2pm
From one of the writers of House of Cards, Laura Eason, the comedy Sex with Strangers opened in New York in 2014 to great acclaim. When twenty-something star sex blogger and memoirist Ethan tracks down his idol, the gifted but obscure 40s novelist Olivia, he finds they each crave what the other possesses. As the attraction turns to sex, and they inch closer to getting what they want, both must confront the dark side of ambition and the near impossibility of reinventing oneself when the past is only a click away.
Reborning by Zayd Dohrn: Black Box
Previews Sat 1/23 7pm, Sun 1/24 2pm, Thurs 1/28 8pm
Opening night Fri 1/29 8pm
Show runs through 2/14. Thurs & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sat & Sun 2pm
The 2010 psychological thriller by Zayd Dohrn, Reborning, tells the tale of a sculptor with an unusual specialty. She meets a woman desperate to recreate her past leading to some frightening revelations. Art and life become disturbingly interchangeable in this dark comedy that takes an unsettling look at work, latex and the power of creation.
The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith by Angelo Parra and Joe Brancato: Main Stage
Previews: Sat 2/27 2pm, Sun 2/28 2pm, Thurs 3/3 8pm
Opening night: Fri 3/4 8pm
Show runs through 3/20. Thurs & Fri 8pm, Sat & Sun 2pm
Theatre Arts Garage, is proud to present their own home-grown version of this musical by Angelo Parra and Joe Brancato. The show features such standards as T’aint Nobody’s Bizness If I Do and There’s Gonna Be A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight. A dramatization of the turbulent story of the legendary “Empress of the Blues,” whose life was as large and as outrageous as her talent. The play re-imagines Bessie’s final electrifying evening after she and her band are turned away by a whites-only theatre. It all takes place in 1937 in a Memphis “buffet flat,” where the partying, laughter, and bawdiness all come together to deliver an entertaining, unforgettable, and surprisingly touching evening. The Devil’s Music explodes with best of the songs that Bessie Smith made famous.
Smoke by Kim Davies: Black Box
Previews: Sat 3/26 7pm, Sun 3/27 2pm, Thurs 3/31 8pm
Opening night: Friday 4/1 8pm
Show runs through 4/17. Thurs & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sat & Sun 2pm
A thriller, set in New York City, where Julie an entitled college student and John, a jaded wannabe artist – with more in common than they thought – engage in a series of mind games, both erotic and humorous. But who gets the last laugh on whom?
Tickets: $30-40-45
Previews: $5 discount
Limited Season Subscription discount: 15%
