Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Theater has announced their line-up for the 2024 season.
The first show for the acting troupe will be “Ms. Watson and Miss Holmes: Apt. 2B.” From TRW comes this description: An irreverent, darkly comic, modern take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous sleuth and sidekick, this fast-paced romp re-examines the world’s most famous detective story with a bold new feminist lens. In this highly theatrical, small-cast escapade, oddball female roommates Sherlock Holmes & Joan Watson join forces to emerge from pandemic fog as a deeply codependent, quasi-dysfunctional Odd Couple adventure duo—solving mysteries and kicking butts, until they come face to face with a villain who seems to have all of the answers.”
The play stars Rachel Korach Howell as Sherlock Holmes, Emma Kostiv as Dr. Joan Watson, Melissa Kaska as Irene Adler, Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Drebber and Brian Smith as Lestrade/Elliott Monk. The play is directed by Claire Boston. The show runs Feb. 2 through Feb. 4 and Feb. 9 and Feb. 10.
The next play on the schedule is “The Revolutionists” by Lauren Gunderson. The play will be directed by Lisa Kelly. The show’s dates are March 7-10. The troupe already started asking for a black actor to play the role of Marianne Angelle in the production, with additional casting to be announced soon.
From Dramatists Play Services — “Four beautiful, badass women lose their heads in this irreverent, girl-powered comedy set during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, former queen (and fan of ribbons) Marie Antoinette, and Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle hang out, murder Marat, and try to beat back the extremist insanity in 1793 Paris. This grand and dream-tweaked comedy is about violence and legacy, art and activism, feminism and terrorism, compatriots and chosen sisters, and how we actually go about changing the world.”
This production is one of two in the Elliott Artist series this season.
The next production is “No Exit.”
From Concord Theatricals — “Two women and one man are locked up together for eternity in one hideous room in Hell. The windows are bricked up, there are no mirrors, the electric lights can never be turned off, and there is no exit. The irony of this Hell is that its torture is not of the rack and fire, but of the burning humiliation of each soul as it is stripped of its pretenses by the cruel curiosity of the damned. Here the soul is shorn of secrecy, and even the blackest deeds are mercilessly exposed to the fierce light of Hell. It is an eternal torment.”
The production has dates of May 16-19 and is the second in the Elliott Artist Series this season.
The next production is “Perfect Arrangement,” with show dates of June 21-23, June 28 and June 29.
“It’s 1950, and new colors are being added to the Red Scare. Two U.S. State Department employees, Bob and Norma, have been tasked with identifying sexual deviants within their ranks. There’s just one problem: Both Bob and Norma are gay, and have married each other’s partners as a carefully constructed cover. Inspired by the true story of the earliest stirrings of the American gay rights movement, madcap classic sitcom-style laughs give way to provocative drama as two “All-American” couples are forced to stare down the closet door.”
In August, the troupe will be returning with another year of Uptown Cabaret. Final date has yet to be determined, but will be directed by Kami Zbanek Hill and Leslie Hyland and feature musical performances from many community members.
The final show of the season will be Neil Simon’s “Rumors.” Show dates are Oct. 18-20, Oct. 25 and Oct. 26.
From Concord Theatricals – “When they gather to celebrate a tenth wedding anniversary, four New York power couples experience a severe attack of Farce.
At a large, tastefully-appointed Sneden’s Landing townhouse, the Deputy Mayor of New York has just shot himself.
As their tenth wedding anniversary party commences, Charlie lies bleeding in another room, and his wife Myra is nowhere in sight. The first guests, lawyer Ken Gorman and his wife Chris, scramble to get “the story” straight before the other guests arrive. As the confusions and miscommunications mount, the evening spins off into classic farcical hilarity.”