CVREP Announces 2018/19 Theatre Season
By Shari Lippman
Four Intriguing, Entertaining Plays and One Musical…
Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre (CVREP) Artistic Director, Ron Celona, has announced the upcoming 2018-2019 CVREP season to include three dynamic, entertaining plays and one rock opera musical, each with the common theme, “‘A HANDFUL OF…ISMS” – exhilarating, theatrical works that explore such topics as Socialism, Racism, Classism and Sexism (among others).
Opening the 2018-19 CVREP season and running from October 24-November 18, 2018 is Lebensraum by Israel Horovitz, an extremely bold, theatrical fable featuring three actors portraying 40 different characters. The fantasy play stems from the idea that a German Chancellor might, as an act of redemption, invite six million Jews to Germany with the promise of citizenship and jobs. However, when the “new citizens” arrive, the country explodes with anger, grief and shame. Lebensraum follows the varying outlooks of Jews and Gentiles through the eyes of a Jewish dock worker who moves both his son and Irish wife to Bremerhaven in hopes of a new life; a survivor of Auschwitz returning to find the woman who betrayed his family to the Nazis, a young German smitten by a Jewish American teenager, an unemployed German laborer, and scores of others. The logical progression of this artfully written play raises the terrifying possibility that history may repeat itself.
“Powerful and touching.” - New York Times
White by James ljames is scheduled to run from January 23, 2018-February 17, 2019. This hilarious, insightful play revolves around Gus, a not so famous artist looking for recognition. So, when a major contemporary art museum is looking for “new perspectives from artists of color,” Gus, a Caucasian man—decides to seize his opportunity by hiring Vanessa, a black actress to present his work as her own. However, as the actress gets more deeply into her role, Gus’s scheme spirals out of his control. Award-winning Philadelphia playwright James Ijames challenges assumptions about race, gender, identity and art in this seriously funny comedy.
“This funny…work draws on both life and art to examine racial tourism, power, and identity…White bursts with humor…the best of which come at the expense of the institutionalization of art…The ending adds a surreal twist, driving home Ijames’ exploration of black women’s exploitation by feminism, by contemporary culture, and by white women.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
Chess. Scheduled to run from March 13, 2019 – March 31, 2019. The collaborators of Chess (Book by Richard Nelson, Lyrics by Tim Rice, and Music by Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson) are rock music (ABBA) and rock musical giants who have created a complex rock opera that played to full houses and standing ovations on Broadway. In this musical, the ancient game becomes a metaphor for romantic rivalries, competitive gamesmanship, super-power politics, and international intrigues. The pawns in this drama form a love triangle: the loutish American chess star, the earnest Russian champion, and a Hungarian American female assistant who arrives at the international chess match in Bangkok with the American, but falls for the Russian. From Bangkok to Budapest the players, lovers, politicians, and spies manipulate and are manipulated to the pulse of a monumental rock score that includes “One Night in Bangkok” and “Heaven Help My Heart.”
Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire will be presented from May 1-19, 2019. The haves and the have-nots come face-to-face in this timeless, Tony-nominated dramatic comedy. Good People centers on Margie, a hard-luck single mother living in a shabby South Boston apartment with her disabled adult daughter. For most people, this South Boston neighborhood is a place where this month’s paycheck covers last month’s bills — and church bingo is a big night out on the town. Margie has just been let go from yet another job, and is facing eviction. Scrambling to catch a break, she is forced to turn to an old high school flame for help. But he’s now a successful physician living in the suburbs … and Margie is way out of her element there. Is this apparently self-made man secure enough to face his humble beginnings? Margie is about to risk what little she has left to find out.
“Bringing the same clear-eyed emotional observation that distinguished his Pulitzer winner, Rabbit Hole, David Lindsay-Abaire has crafted another penetrating drama about deeply relatable issues, albeit this time with more warming doses of humor.” – Hollywood Reporter.
CVREP Mid-Season Venue Change
The first two plays of the season, Lebensraum by Israel Horovitz (Wednesday, October 24 through Sunday, November 18,2018) and White by James Ijames (January 23, 2018-February 17, 2019) will run for four weeks and will be performed at CVREP’s current location at The Atrium – 69-930 Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage.
The last two plays of the season, the musical Chess, book by Richard Nelson, Lyrics by Tim Rice, and Music by Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson (March 13,2019 – March 31, 2019); and the play Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire (May 1-19, 2019) will have 3-week runs and will be performed at CVREP’s future home in Cathedral City
(Previously the iMax/Desert Cinemas) Corner of Cathedral Canyon and Highway 111.
Evening Performances begin at 7 PM. Matinee performances begin at 2 PM. CVREP is exclusively selling 3-play and 4-play subscriptions with Individual tickets going on sale Sept 5, 2018. Individual ticket prices are $53 / Previews $48 / Opening Night $63 (includes post show reception). For additional information, please call 760-296-2966 or visit the website at cvrep.org.
The Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre is a non-profit, professional regional theatre. It is the only theatre in the Coachella Valley that has Small Professional Theatre (SPT) status with Actor’s Equity.
