Celebrating Success In Season Nine

TheatreSquared continues choosing ‘five best plays’

Friday, April 18, 2014

As directors of TheatreSquared, it's up to Bob Ford and Martin Miller to balance creativity and cash flow.

Both facets of the formula seem to be successfully interacting as they announce the professional company's ninth season.

FYI

TheatreSquared

Season Nine

“One Man, Two Guvnors” — Adapted from “The Servant of Two Masters” and winner of the 2011 Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Play, the comedy follows the increasingly perilous attempts of Francis Henschall to keep his two “guvnors” straight. The play blends satire, live music, commedia and wit. Aug. 28-Sept. 21.

“Proof” — Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play, it is the story of Catherine, the caretaker for her father, a genius mathematician whose mind slowly unraveled. Upon his death, his former student Hal arrives to survey the cryptic notebooks that are left behind. A romance begins to kindle until Catherine wonders how much of her father’s genius — or madness — she has inherited. “If someone asked me, ‘What are your favorite three plays,’ ‘Proof’ would be in there,” T2 founder Bob Ford says. Oct. 16-Nov. 2.

“Around the World in 80 Days” — When Phileas Fogg makes an outrageous wager that he can circumnavigate the globe in 80 days, he sets out with his clever servant Passepartout, but his every step is dogged by a detective who thinks he’s a criminal on the run. “The reason it’s a TheatreSquared piece is the amazing amount of theatrical magic that will happen,” Ford says. Nov. 26-Dec. 21.

“Look Away” — It’s the dead of summer in Wilson, Ark., 1936. Matty and Alonzo are young black men accused of a crime they didn’t commit, and now there’s a mob on their heels. Written by Bob Ford and based on research by Jeannie Whayne, a professor of history at the University of Arkansas. Jan. 29-Feb. 22.

“Superior Donuts” — Arthur Przybyszewski, the cantankerous proprietor of a run-down donut shop in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, may have met his match in Franco, an ambitious teenager with plans to modernize the shop full circle in the new comedy/drama from the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of “August: Osage County.” “A great way to wrap up the season,” says Ford. April 2-26, 2015.

2015 Arkansas New Play Festival — June 18-28, 2015.

— Source: Staff report & theatre2.org

"I'm not sure how well known this is, but TheatreSquared will be passing the $1 million dollar budget marker by the end of this season," says Miller, T2's executive director. "It's kind of a nice marker on 'arriving.'"

And, counting educational programming, the company will reach about 28,000 people this year, he adds.

"Another marker is that when we ran 'Good People' for four weeks as a little bit of a test, that show exceeded our expectations in terms of attendance and ticket sales," says Ford, the artistic director. "We love that because it's one of those great contemporary dramas that speak to our time, beautifully written, not an out-and out-comedy or a musical, and yet our audience really ate it up. It tells us the way we identify ourselves is going over well with our audience."

What TheatreSquared promises is "an unusual, unique, remarkable live theater experience," Miller says.

"We've discovered that the best formula is to put on the five best plays that we've come across during the selection process," Ford says of meeting that goal. "Several times I've said to Martin, 'I really love this play, but maybe we should wait on it.' He always says, 'No, we need to do it now.' If you're going to do Shakespeare, 'Hamlet' is the big one, so why not wait and do something a little easier and work your way up to it? No. Let's go for 'Hamlet.' It was the same thing with a play like 'Noises Off,' which was really tricky to pull off in our space."

While "some people say" "Noises Off" is the best comedy ever, Ford and Miller plan to try to prove them wrong with the season opener, "One Man, Two Guvnors," which critics have called "the funniest show in the Western World."

"We considered other titles in that spot, and this one came in with a baseball bat and knocked them out," Miller says.

Also scheduled are "Proof," "Around the World in 80 Days," a new script by Ford titled "Look Away" and "Superior Donuts."

"Artistically, we try to create a season that will stretch us and that is balanced," Ford says. "And somewhere frustratingly late in the selection process, the 'X' factor happens, and you know it's exponentially beyond what you had even wildly dreamed of."

Miller also wants audiences to know that "we kind of love our subscribers." By reserving season tickets, playgoers have options for dining, childcare and reserved parking that single-ticket buyers do not.

"The idea of having a family of subscribers means a lot to us," Ford agrees. "It gives us a lot of confidence as we go into a season."

Season tickets are on sale now at 443-5600.

NAN What's Up on 04/18/2014