Elephant Room
by Steve Cuiffo, Trey Lyford and Geoff Sobelle
directed by Paul Lazar
JAN 20 – FEB 26, 2012 in the Kogod Cradle



From the uninhibited minds of the “engaging” (Washington Post) absurdist performance duo Rainpan 43 (all wear bowlers) and actor/magician Steve Cuiffo comes a new theatrical experience. Three semi-pro magicians — a divorced shaman, a mentalist with a penchant for warlock acts and a ladies’ man card master — join to piece their lives together. An evening of magic born from the harsh lies we tell ourselves, Elephant Room reveals that the more we hide behind our self-made smoke and mirrors, the further we expose our own vulnerabilities.

Red
by John Logan
directed by Tony Award winner Robert Falls
featuring 4-time Helen Hayes Award winner Edward Gero
produced in association with Goodman Theatre
JAN 20 – MAR 4, 2012 in the Kreeger Theater

Winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Play, Red depicts one of the 20th century’s finest artists at his greatest moment of struggle with his painting and his mortality. The brilliant and passionate Mark Rothko has hired a new assistant to help him with his most perplexing challenge yet: to create a definitive group of murals for an exclusive restaurant. As they mix the paint, stretch the canvas, and prime the surface, Rothko must reconcile not only the mix of art and commerce he’s creating but also his relationship with the new generation of artists who threaten his very legacy. Hailed as “smart and scintillating” by the New Yorker, Red is an “electrifying play of ideas” (Variety).

Family Comedy
Ah, Wilderness!
by Eugene O'Neill
MAR 9 – APR 8, 2012 in the Fichandler
part of the Eugene O'Neill Festival

Return to an idyllic age of Americana in Eugene O’Neill’s unabashedly romantic and sweetly funny Ah, Wilderness! As the Connecticut-based Miller clan plans their traditional Fourth of July festivities, their dreamy-eyed middle child Richard is wrestling with cultural conventions, political uncertainty, the power of literature, and the exquisite pain of love. The memories of family life were never so delicately portrayed as in O’Neill’s only comedy, his coming-of-age love letter to a simpler time, that finds the master playwright “at his most wistful and serene.” (New York Times).

Heartbreaking Masterpiece
Long Day's Journey into Night
by Eugene O'Neill
directed by Robin Phillips
MAR 30 – MAY 6, 2012 in the Kreeger Theater
part of the Eugene O'Neill Festival

Delusion and disenchantment have pitted the Tyrone family members against one another for decades. One fateful day, as their increasingly drunken hours slip by, they must either confront their defeated dreams or else be forever doomed to a cycle of guilt and resentment. Eugene O’Neill’s autobiographical masterwork exposes the lies we tell, the deceptions we craft, and the undercurrent of compassion that, if uncovered, can redeem us in the end. This Pulitzer Prize-winning American treasure “restores the drama to literature and the theater to art” (New York Times).

Giant American Musical
The Music Man
book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson
story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey
directed by Molly Smith
starring Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin
MAY 11 – JULY 22, 2012 in the Fichandler

Having exhausted all 102 counties in Illinois, “Professor” Harold Hill gives Iowa a try and soon enough convinces River City of its trouble with the “sin and corruption” of the pool hall, trouble that can only be stopped by forming a boys’ band. Marian the librarian suspects he’s a con man, but she begins to trust him after seeing how he’s given confidence to her shy younger brother. Soon, this “Music Man” has transformed the entire town, not only turning the bickering school board into a barbershop quartet, but himself into an honest man. When the stage erupts with “76 Trombones,” you’ll be cheering along with River City for Harold Hill!

The Normal Heart
By Larry Kramer
Directed by George C. Wolfe
By special arrangement with Daryl Roth
June 8-July 29, 2012 in the Kreeger Theater

The story of a city in denial, The Normal Heart unfolds like a real-life political thriller—as a tight-knit group of friends refuses to let doctors, politicians and the press bury the truth of an unspoken epidemic behind a wall of silence. A quarter-century after it was written, this outrageous, unflinching, and totally unforgettable look at the sexual politics of New York during the AIDS crisis remains one of the theatre’s most powerful evenings ever. Arena Stage is proud to launch the national tour of this important and exhilarating work of theater, winner of three Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Play.