Beck Center for the Arts Proudly Presents its 2008/09 Professional Theater Season

Some things old, some things new, some things Sci-Fi AND inventors of 'The Tube'

Beck Center for the Arts announces its 2008/09 season featuring the much anticipated return of some ‘oldies but goodies,’ an electrifying new drama, plenty of scandalous entertainment, and the Mother of Blues.

“I feel like we’ve hit the mark yet again!” says Scott Spence, Beck Center’s Artistic Director, referring to the eclectic mix Beck has become known for. "Beck continues its tradition of providing Northeast Ohio audiences with a great balance of titles they know, and area premieres…all directed by some of the area’s most respected directors."

The season opens with the much anticipated encore production of Tony Award winner, Urinetown The Musical, featuring the return of the original Beck cast that made the show the area’s must-see production three seasons ago! Also returning are Cleveland legends Dorothy and Reuben Silver in Talking Heads 2, Alan Bennett's (The History Boys) sequel to his acclaimed BBC monologue series. Then, with fond memories of Beck’s beloved production of Beauty & the Beast…Peter Pan, the story of the boy who didn’t want to grow up is Beck’s next amazing musical adventure for the holidays!

The season continues with two powerful pieces, Chicago blues legend Ma Rainey sets out to record her latest album in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, by Pulitzer prize-winning American playwright, August Wilson and compelling answers come to life as two ambitious television visionaries race against each other in The Farnsworth Invention. Also, premiere musical theater director, Victoria Bussert serves up the NYC Off-Broadway hit and indie favorite Grey Gardens, a musical telling the tale of the reclusive and fascinating Bouvier sisters, adding another wild chapter to the Kennedy legacy.

Closing the season, Beck Center promises a summer of larger than life – or death – entertainment with cult smash Evil Dead: The Musical and cult-gone-mainstream Little Shop of Horrors.

Theater subscriptions for the 2008/09 season are now available. For more information, contact Linda Hefner at the Beck Center Box Office at (216) 521-2540, ext. 29. Individual tickets sales begin August 1, 2008. Convenient free on-site parking is available. The Beck Center for the Arts is located just 10 minutes west of downtown Cleveland at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood. www.beckcenter.org.

Urinetown The Musical

Musical by Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis

Directed by Scott Spence

September 12 – October 12, 2008

Mackey Main Stage

2002 Tony Award winner for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical

Consider it a privilege…If you lived in Urinetown you’d have to pay to pee!

A wild and happy mix of biting satire and loving parody, Urinetown The Musical transports audiences to a Gotham-like city where ecological disaster has made the simplest human necessity, water, more precious than gold. Attempting to regulate its consumption, the government has imposed a bizarre law—the use of private restrooms is banned and an omnipotent corporation, the Urine Good Company, is charging citizens money to use the toilet! Beck's original cast reunites!

Talking Heads 2

Written by Alan Bennett

Directed by Reuben Silver and Tracee Patterson, Featuring Dorothy Silver

November 7 – December 7, 2008

Studio Theater From the author of The History Boys comes a second round of monologues created for BBC television. Bennett's magnificent style conveys British life like no other, providing actors with mini tour-de-forces. The first couple of Cleveland theater, again team up to present new pieces in this compelling night of intimate theater.

Peter Pan

Based on J.M. Barrie's tale

Music by Mark Charlap and Jule Styne

Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Directed by Fred Sternfeld

December 5, 2008 – January 4, 2009

Mackey Main Stage

This high flying musical story of Peter Pan, Wendy, John, and Michael and their adventures in Neverland is brought to life on Beck Center’s Main Stage for the holidays. Audiences of all ages will love this timeless story filled with pirates, fairies, death-defying feats of flying, and the dastardly Captain Hook. An exhilarating journey through Neverland for the whole family!

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

By Pulitzer prize-winning American playwright, August Wilson

Directed by Sarah May

January 30 – February 22, 2009

Mackey Main Stage

Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett Rainey, better known as Chicago blues legend Ma Rainey sets out to record her latest album in the only one of Wilson's 10 plays set outside Pittsburgh. The play is set in Chicago in the 1920s and deals with issues of race, art, religion, and the historic exploitation of black recording artists by white producers. Generational and racial tensions escalate among Ma Rainey’s band and producers, as the studio explodes in violence and tragedy. Beck honors this year's passing of August Wilson and the 25th anniversary of the Broadway production!

Grey Gardens

Book by Doug Wright

Music by Scott Frankel

Lyrics by Michael Korie

Directed by Victoria Bussert

February 27 – March 29, 2009

Studio Theater

2007 three-time Tony Award winner

Scandalously entertaining, Grey Gardens brings to life the alternately hilarious and heartbreaking story of two indomitable women, Edith Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter ‘Little’ Edie – the delightfully eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in Broadway's acclaimed musical smash hit with music composed by Cleveland native, Scott Frankel. Once among the brightest names in the pre-Camelot social register, these two women became East Hampton’s most notorious recluses and Jackie O’s most scandalous relatives.

The Farnsworth Invention

A new play by Aaron Sorkin

Directed by Scott Spence

March 13 – April 12, 2009

Mackey Main Stage

The turning point of the 20th Century wasn’t ON television, it WAS television!

Separated by two thousand miles, two ambitious visionaries race against each other to invent and promote a device that would one day be called the “television.” Each knowing that if he stops working the other will gain the edge. Who will unlock the key to the greatest invention of the 20th century: the ruthless media mogul or the self-taught Idaho farm boy? The answer comes to compelling life in this new play from Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing.

Evil Dead: The Musical

Based on Sam Raimi’s 1980s cult classic films

Book and Lyrics by George Reinblatt

Music by Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris, and George Reinblatt

Directed by Scott Spence

May 8 – June 14, 2009

Studio Theater

What can go wrong when five college students break into an abandoned cabin in the woods? Apparently a whole heck of a lot! They unleash evil spirits, turn into demons… and sing show tunes! Sam Raimi's cult classic 1980s films are brought to life in this hilarious, campy show that will make you crave ‘live theater’ again. With songs such as "All the Men in my Life keep getting Killed by Candarian Demons" and "Do The Necromonicon" - Evil Dead is bursting with more farce than a Monty Python skit!

Little Shop of Horrors

Written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman

Directed by William Roudebush

June 26 – August 2, 2009

Mackey Main Stage

It’s everyone's favorite boy-meets-girl, plant-eats-world phenomenon. From the producers of Hairspray and The Producers, and the songwriters of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, comes the biggest MONSTER hit! This musical comedy masterpiece is about a ‘nobody’ kinda guy, the girl he loves, and the man-eating plant that changes their lives forever. Look out! Here Comes Audrey Two!!!

Programming at the Beck Center is made possible through the generous support of The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation, The Eva L. & Joseph M. Bruening Foundation, The Abington Foundation, and the Thomas H. White Foundation. Beck Center gratefully acknowledges the citizens of Cuyahoga County for their support through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.