FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Douglas
Morrisson
Theatre
22311 N. Third St.
Hayward, CA
(510) 881-6777
www.dmtonline.org
Mailing address:
Theatre, c/o H.A.R.D.
1099 E Street
Hayward, CA
94541
Media contact: Susan E. Evans; Bob Miller
Media phone: (510) 881-6777; (510) 881-6733
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
DOUGLAS MORRISSON THEATRE ANNOUNCES UPCOMING 2015-2016 SEASON:
“REVELATIONS”
April 22, 2015 – The Douglas Morrisson Theatre (DMT) proudly announces the new
2015-2016 season “REVELATIONS,” four compelling plays including a regional
premiere and a new solo artists festival. The 36th season begins in August with the
local premiere of Lynn Nottage’s By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, directed by Dawn
Monique Williams. In November, we mount the regional debut of the high octane
new musical Love’s Labour’s Lost, based on Shakespeare’s comedy. Next up in
February 2016 is the provocative Mrs. Warren’s Profession by George Bernard
Shaw, directed by DMT’s Artistic Director Susan E. Evans. In Spring 2016 we’ll mount
a short festival of local solo artists entitled “One for All.” DMT’s “REVELATIONS”
season concludes in May 2016 with the compelling murder mystery Book of Days,
by Lanford Wilson.
Our alternative programming on Monday nights continues this 2015-2016 Season.
Alt.Mondays features the Bare Bones staged readings series, Telling Tales
storytelling evenings as well as the Fifth Annual Playwrights CageMatch and
improvisation nights from Made Up Theatre. Last year’s Holiday Open House was so
successful we’re happy to throw open the doors again this December, and host
another day of tours and good cheer for our community in celebration of the holiday
season. The Morrisson Theatre Chorus under the direction of César Cancino
presents three concerts this Season, including the ever-popular Holiday Concert in
December.
“The big reveal. Whether it’s Oedipus and his mother, Hamlet and his mother or
Harvey and the rabbit, all good theatre has a reveal, a dramatic surprise brought to
the surface through the playwright’s words, and the craft and magic of the director,
actors and designers. It might be subtle, it might be literal, but it’s always there. All
the plays this 2015-2016 Season at DMT open the curtain onto the unknown,
revealing a true identity, a romantic love, a questionable past and an evil deed, and
much more “ says DMT’s Artistic Director Evans.
The Douglas Morrisson Theatre season kicks off in August with the regional premiere
of Lynn Nottage’s biting satire, BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK.
"A satisfying screwball comedy in which Nottage uses stereotypes to expose
them, tapping into a current of rueful emotion beneath the surface." —
Vogue
The Douglas Morrisson
Theatre is a program
and facility of the
Hayward Area
Recreation and Park
District
Riffing off 1930s screwball comedy films, Pulitzer Prize–winning (Ruined) playwright
Lynn Nottage tackles and skewers the all-too-topical theme of racial stereotyping in
Hollywood. By The Way, Meet Vera Stark takes the audience on a seventy-year
journey through the life of Vera Stark. It’s 1933 and Vera, a budding AfricanAmerican actress is working as a lady’s maid for a white Hollywood self-dramatizing
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starlet known as “America’s little sweetie pie.” When they’re both cast in the same
Southern epic, (“The Belle of New Orleans”), Vera’s career is launched and we
become witness to her controversial legacy in front of and behind the cameras. By
the Way, Meet Vera Stark is inspired by the life and career of Theresa Harris, a
pioneering African-American film star.
Directed by Dawn Monique Williams.
LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST, a musical romp based on the comedy by William
Shakespeare with music by Michael Friedman and book adapted by Alex Timbers,
premiered in 2013 as part of the Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park
Program. In November, DMT is thrilled to be presenting its debut in the Bay Area as
the second show of the 2015-2016 Season.
“FOUR STARS! … this gleeful riff on Shakespeare is a tall, fruity drink of
intoxicating delight. … a dual sensation of silliness and heartache” – Time
Out New York
LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST is a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s loopy comedy that
manages to be fresh and contemporary while remaining lovingly faithful to the text.
Friedman and Timbers (the Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson team) create a glorious
mashup of the Bard and Boy Bands. Romance and revelry abound in this tale of the
King of Navarre and his college buddies at their five-year college reunion who take
an oath to spend the next three years devoted to study and self-improvement, and
remove themselves from worldly temptations … most especially women. Enter onto
the scene four girls from the boys’ past and all bets are off!
Directed by Lisa Tromovich, Producing Artistic Director, Shakespeare’s Associates.
The Douglas Morrisson Theatre turns next to the still controversial MRS. WARREN’S
PROFESSION, by George Bernard Shaw, in February 2016. A witty and thoughtprovoking play by the playwright of Pygmalion and Major Barbara, MRS. WARREN’S
PROFESSION tackles subjects as topical today as they were a century ago – the fate
of women in the marketplace, the choices forced upon women by economic and
social pressures and the hypocrisies of middle-and upper-class conventions.
“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. … The
people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the
circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.” ―Vivie,
Mrs. Warren’s Profession
“What is any respectable girl to do but to catch some rich man’s fancy and
get the benefit of his money by marrying him? – as if a marriage ceremony
could make any difference in the right or wrong of the thing!” ― Mrs.
Warren, Mrs. Warren’s Profession
The play centers on the relationship between Vivie, a thoroughly modern, highly
educated young woman, and Mrs. Warren, her mother – whom Vivie barely knows.
When Mrs. Warren arrives for a surprise visit, Vivie discovers what her mother does
for a living, and an epic battle of wills ensues. Directed by DMT Artistic Director
Susan E. Evans.
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In April 2016, we celebrate the amazing diversity of solo performers in the Bay Area
with a two-week solo theatre festival entitled ONE FOR ALL: A Solo Artists Festival.
The Bay Area is blessed with a myriad of exciting and inventive solo artists who
demonstrate the ability to captivate audiences with their personal, or fictional,
narratives. Such well-known names like Geoff Hoyle, Dan Hoyle, Josh Kornbluth and
Brian Copeland have sprung from The Marsh in San Francisco and Berkeley which
continues to provide a stream of nurtured talent. It’s time for Hayward to get in on
the act and be exposed to the wealth of both established and up-and-coming solo
artistry! Still in the planning stages, DMT’s ONE FOR ALL Festival will offer an
eclectic mix of local solo artists with a wide range of styles and stories.
In May 2016 DMT completes its exciting 2015-2016 lineup with BOOK OF DAYS, an
enthralling, multi-layered murder mystery by American Pulitzer Prize-winning
playwright Lanford Wilson.
…An intriguing, prismatic and thoroughly engrossing depiction of
contemporary small-town life with a murder mystery at its core…a splendid
evening of theater…" —Variety
Welcome to Dublin, Missouri, a small town in the American Heartland, dominated
by a Cheese Plant, a fundamentalist church, and a Community Theater. When a
violent murder shocks the town, Ruth Hoch goes on a one-woman crusade to root
out the truth amidst all the petty jealousies, greed and lies. With echoes of Thornton
Wilder's Our Town, the characters in BOOK OF DAYS are forced to reexamine the
world and values they thought they knew and embraced. Lanford Wilson’s
mesmerizing play unfolds like a page-turning mystery.
ALT. MONDAYS
Bare Bones Staged Readings – Douglas Morrisson Theatre is in its third year of the
Bare Bones staged readings series of provocative and compelling pieces by emerging
new theatrical voices. Past readings have included the works of Sarah Treem,
Melissa James Gibson, Rajiv Joseph, Christopher Shinn, Adam Bock, Peter Sinn
Nachtrieb, Nathan Louis Jackson, Rolin Jones and Julia Cho. Open seating and all
tickets are $10
September 28, 2015: Play TBA
January 11, 2016: TBA
March 28, 2016: TBA
June 27, 2016: TBA
Telling Tales
DMT continues the storytelling series successfully launched last Season. We invite
our lively storytelling community inside our doors to share their personal true- life
tales with no script and no notes. Each evening will have a theme announced in
advance, and an open mic for those inspired to share on the spot. Open seating and
all tickets are $5.
October 5, 2015
November 16, 2015
February 22, 2016
March 21, 2016
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Improvisation Evenings
DMT welcomes back Made Up Theatre for hilarious evenings of improvisational
comedy. Made Up Theatre is an official five-time participant in the San Francisco
Improv Festival and voted one of the Best Comedy Venues in the South Bay by CBS.
DMT’s shows will feature an all-star cast of improvisers who use nothing but
audience suggestions to create fresh and hilarious improvised scenes.
Dates to be announced.
Playwrights CageMatch
FREE EVENT
June 13, 2016
DMT’s Fifth Annual Playwrights CageMatch challenges playwrights from far and wide
to square off – and only one will emerge victorious! DMT’s artistic staff picks a
theme, sends it out into the playwright’s universe and then narrows the field to a
few short plays we present as staged readings. The audience takes part in the action
by voting for its favorite play. One night only and admission to the CageMatch is
free.
DMT’s Holiday Open House
FREE EVENT
December 19, 2015
Douglas Morrisson Theatre hosts an open house in celebration of the holiday
season. Come make merry with our theatre staff – tour the theatre, enjoy carol
singing, give Santa Claus your wish list, listen to seasonal stories and much more!
Morrisson Theatre Chorus
THREE CONCERTS
Holiday Concert: December 10-13, 2015
Spring Concert: March 18-20, 2016
Summer Concert: July 22-24, 2016
Full season subscriptions and package options will soon be available and offer
amazing savings, benefits and personalized customer service. Subscribers save
substantially off non-subscriber prices and subscriber benefits include exchange
privileges, and a choice of the best seating in the house. Discounts for seniors,
students, educators and groups are also available as DMT is committed to making
theatre affordable to its community.
About The Douglas Morrisson Theatre
The Douglas Morrisson Theatre is a program and facility of the Hayward Area
Recreation and Park District, enjoying its 71st year. The Douglas Morrisson Theatre is
located at 22311 N. Third St. in Hayward, next to the Senior Center and the Japanese
Gardens. The Box Office is open Tuesday through Friday, 12:30 to 5:30 and can be
reached at (510) 881-6777. Information is also available at www.dmtonline.org.
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CALENDAR
2015-2016 SCHEDULE:
BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Dawn Monique Williams
Preview: August 27, 2015
Opening night: August 28, 2015
August 27 –September 20, 2015
LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST
Musical Based on play by William Shakespeare
Music by Michael Friedman, book adapted by Alex Timbers
Directed by Lisa Tromovich
Preview: November 5, 2015
Opening night: November 6, 2015
November 5-29, 2015
MRS.WARREN’S PROFESSION
By George Bernard Shaw
Directed by Susan E. Evans
Preview: February 11, 2016
Opening night: February 12, 2016
February 11 – March 6, 2016
One For All: A Solo Artists Festival
April 8 – 17, 2016
BOOK OF DAYS
By Lanford Wilson
Preview: May 19, 2016
Opening Night: May 20, 2016
May 19 – June 12, 2016
Bare Bones (four staged readings)
September 28, 2015
January 11, 2016
March 28, 2016
June 27, 2016
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Telling Tales (four evenings of storytelling)
October 5, 2015
November 16, 2015
February 22, 2016
March 21, 2016
Made Up Theatre Improvisation Evenings
Dates to be announced
Playwrights CageMatch
FREE EVENT
June 13, 2016
Holiday Open House
FREE EVENT
December 19, 2015
Morrisson Theatre Chorus
Holiday Concert December 10-13, 2015
Spring Concert March 18-20, 2016
Summer Concert July 22-24, 2016
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