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The Elite Theatre Company
2019 Main Stage Season
“FAMILY”
10th Annual One-Act Festival
Various Directors
The plays will be a compilation of the winners of the 2018 One-Act Play Writing Competition chosen from 100 submissions from North American playwrights.
(NOT INCLUDED IN OUR SEASON SUBSCRIPTION)
Various Directors
The plays will be a compilation of the winners of the 2018 One-Act Play Writing Competition chosen from 100 submissions from North American playwrights.
(NOT INCLUDED IN OUR SEASON SUBSCRIPTION)
BREAKING LEGS
Written by Tom Dulack
Directed by Allan D. Noel
Feb 22 - March 24, 2019
Storyline: The action occurs in an Italian restaurant owned by a successful mobster and managed by his beautiful unmarried daughter. When the daughter’s former college professor arrives to ask for financial backing for a play he’s written about a murder, the fun begins. The three main Mafiosi are intrigued with the idea of producing a play. The daughter becomes enamored of the playwright, who is delighted to have the family’s support. His bubble bursts when he discovers, through the “accidental” death by train of a lesser thug, that his backers are gangsters. In this madcap situation, murder and menace are served up with plenty of pasta… and laughter.
Written by Tom Dulack
Directed by Allan D. Noel
Feb 22 - March 24, 2019
Storyline: The action occurs in an Italian restaurant owned by a successful mobster and managed by his beautiful unmarried daughter. When the daughter’s former college professor arrives to ask for financial backing for a play he’s written about a murder, the fun begins. The three main Mafiosi are intrigued with the idea of producing a play. The daughter becomes enamored of the playwright, who is delighted to have the family’s support. His bubble bursts when he discovers, through the “accidental” death by train of a lesser thug, that his backers are gangsters. In this madcap situation, murder and menace are served up with plenty of pasta… and laughter.
CRIMES OF THE HEART
Written by Beth Henley
Directed by Jolyn Johnson
April 12 – May 12, 2019
Storyline: The scene is Hazlehurst, Mississippi, where the three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of the family patriarch, their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital. Lenny, the oldest sister, is unmarried at thirty and facing diminishing marital prospects; Meg, the middle sister, who quickly outgrew Hazlehurst, is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast; while Babe, the youngest, is out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach. Their troubles, grave and yet, somehow, hilarious, are highlighted by their priggish cousin, Chick, and by the awkward young lawyer who tries to keep Babe out of jail while trying desperately to not fall in love with her. In the end the play is the story of how its young characters escape the past to seize the future—but the telling is so true and touching and consistently hilarious that it will linger in the mind long after the curtain has descended.
Written by Beth Henley
Directed by Jolyn Johnson
April 12 – May 12, 2019
Storyline: The scene is Hazlehurst, Mississippi, where the three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of the family patriarch, their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital. Lenny, the oldest sister, is unmarried at thirty and facing diminishing marital prospects; Meg, the middle sister, who quickly outgrew Hazlehurst, is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast; while Babe, the youngest, is out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach. Their troubles, grave and yet, somehow, hilarious, are highlighted by their priggish cousin, Chick, and by the awkward young lawyer who tries to keep Babe out of jail while trying desperately to not fall in love with her. In the end the play is the story of how its young characters escape the past to seize the future—but the telling is so true and touching and consistently hilarious that it will linger in the mind long after the curtain has descended.
VANITIES
Written by Jack Heifner
Directed by Kimberly Demmary
June 7 – July 7, 2019
Storyline: This bittersweet comedy is an astute snapshot, and sharp chronicle, of the lives of three Texas girls in 1963. Joanne, Kathy, and Mary are aggressively vivacious cheerleaders. Five years later in their college sorority house, they are confronting their futures with nervous jauntiness. In 1974, they reunite briefly in New York. Their lives have diverged; their friendship, which once thrived on assumption as well coordinated as sweater sets, is strained and ambiguous. Old time banter rings false. Their attempts at honest conversation only show they can no longer afford to have very much in common. But old bonds run deep as the past and the present collide with honor and old ties that somehow still link these three friends together.
Written by Jack Heifner
Directed by Kimberly Demmary
June 7 – July 7, 2019
Storyline: This bittersweet comedy is an astute snapshot, and sharp chronicle, of the lives of three Texas girls in 1963. Joanne, Kathy, and Mary are aggressively vivacious cheerleaders. Five years later in their college sorority house, they are confronting their futures with nervous jauntiness. In 1974, they reunite briefly in New York. Their lives have diverged; their friendship, which once thrived on assumption as well coordinated as sweater sets, is strained and ambiguous. Old time banter rings false. Their attempts at honest conversation only show they can no longer afford to have very much in common. But old bonds run deep as the past and the present collide with honor and old ties that somehow still link these three friends together.
TO GILLIAN, ON HER 37th BIRTHDAY
Written by Michael Brady
Directed by Rolland Petrello
August 16 – Sept 15, 2019
Storyline: David loves his wife, Gillian. Unfortunately, she died two years ago. Unable to move on, David deals with his grief by continuing his romance with Gillian during walks with her "ghost" on the beach at night. While David lives in the past, other family problems crop up in the present. During a family reunion to celebrate Gillian’s upcoming birthday Esther and Paul, David’s sister and brother-in-law, come for a visit to try to help their niece Rachel. It is clear that David needs to move on for the sake of his daughter and his own sanity. It is also obvious that Rachel has lost her mother and needs her father to snap back into the real world and help her deal with her new path of growing up without the guidance of her head-strong mother. Bringing along a friend from the past, David is lead to face some honest truths about his much loved deceased wife, and what an unexpected future without her might hold.
Written by Michael Brady
Directed by Rolland Petrello
August 16 – Sept 15, 2019
Storyline: David loves his wife, Gillian. Unfortunately, she died two years ago. Unable to move on, David deals with his grief by continuing his romance with Gillian during walks with her "ghost" on the beach at night. While David lives in the past, other family problems crop up in the present. During a family reunion to celebrate Gillian’s upcoming birthday Esther and Paul, David’s sister and brother-in-law, come for a visit to try to help their niece Rachel. It is clear that David needs to move on for the sake of his daughter and his own sanity. It is also obvious that Rachel has lost her mother and needs her father to snap back into the real world and help her deal with her new path of growing up without the guidance of her head-strong mother. Bringing along a friend from the past, David is lead to face some honest truths about his much loved deceased wife, and what an unexpected future without her might hold.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Bill Fisher
In cooperation with the California Shakespeare Company
Oct 4 – Nov 3, 2019
Storyline: A young Venetian, Bassanio, needs a loan of three thousand ducats so that he can woo Portia, a wealthy Venetian heiress. He approaches his friend Antonio, a merchant. Antonio is short of money because all his wealth is invested in his fleet, which is currently at sea. He goes to a Jewish money lender, Shylock, who hates Antonio because of Antonio’s anti-Semitic behavior towards him. Shylock nevertheless agrees to make the short-term loan, but, in a moment of dark humor, he makes a condition – the loan must be repaid in three months or Shylock will exact a pound of flesh from Antonio. Antonio agrees, confident that his ships will return in time. Because of the terms of Portia’s father’s will, all suitors must choose from among three caskets, one of which contains a portrait of her. If he chooses that he may marry Portia, but if doesn’t he must vow never to marry or court another woman. The Princes of Morocco and Arragon fail the test and are rejected. As Bassanio prepares to travel to Belmont for the test, his friend Lorenzo elopes with Shylock’s daughter, Jessica. Will Bassanio chooses the correct casket?
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Bill Fisher
In cooperation with the California Shakespeare Company
Oct 4 – Nov 3, 2019
Storyline: A young Venetian, Bassanio, needs a loan of three thousand ducats so that he can woo Portia, a wealthy Venetian heiress. He approaches his friend Antonio, a merchant. Antonio is short of money because all his wealth is invested in his fleet, which is currently at sea. He goes to a Jewish money lender, Shylock, who hates Antonio because of Antonio’s anti-Semitic behavior towards him. Shylock nevertheless agrees to make the short-term loan, but, in a moment of dark humor, he makes a condition – the loan must be repaid in three months or Shylock will exact a pound of flesh from Antonio. Antonio agrees, confident that his ships will return in time. Because of the terms of Portia’s father’s will, all suitors must choose from among three caskets, one of which contains a portrait of her. If he chooses that he may marry Portia, but if doesn’t he must vow never to marry or court another woman. The Princes of Morocco and Arragon fail the test and are rejected. As Bassanio prepares to travel to Belmont for the test, his friend Lorenzo elopes with Shylock’s daughter, Jessica. Will Bassanio chooses the correct casket?
