Photo Credit: George Hendricks Photography
2/20-3/9 // CHARLOTTE
‘The Whipping Man’
A wounded confederate soldier comes back to his ravaged plantation following the Civil War to find his family missing and two of his former slaves still there. This play shows the interaction between these men, as no one understands how to interact since the emancipation. They are reminded that they are “family” bound by their shared faith as they get ready to celebrate Passover together. As the three men wait for the family’s return, they wrestle with their shared past as master and slave, digging up long-buried family secrets along the way, as well as new ones. Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. actorstheatrecharlotte.org.
2/21-3/23 // CHARLOTTE
‘The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity’
Professional wrestling comes to the theatre stage as Chad Deity makes his elaborate entrance in Charlotte! Mace is a great professional wrestler, but he is not the champion — that’s the impossibly charismatic Chad Deity. When Mace discovers a young Indian-American Brooklyn kid whose charisma rivals that of the champ, Mace decides to get him a job in the company. Only problem is, the boss has a very specific plan to put the duo onscreen as terrorists. Kristoffer Diaz’s “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity” is a serious minded comedy about wrestling, geopolitics and raisin bread. Carolina Actors Studio Theatre. nccast.com.
3/22-4/7 // CHARLOTTE
‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’
A dark comedy, “Who’s Afraid” portrays husband and wife George and Martha in a searing night of dangerous fun and games. By the evening’s end, a stunning revelation provides a climax that has shocked audiences for years. Theatre Charlotte. theatrecharlotte.org.
3/28-4/27 // CHARLOTTE
‘Miss Witherspoon’
Veronica found the 1990’s to be a frightening place. She was minding her own business when Skylab came crashing down to earth only feet from where she was standing. Every man she has ever dated has failed her. She has tried anti-depressants, but she is anti-depressant resistant! Giant chickens cross her path chanting “The Sky Is Falling” … and now after death when she expected just to live peacefully in heaven forever and ever, Tibetan forces there keep trying to make her reincarnate. Only now she finds the world even scarier than when she was alive! Carolina Actors Studio Theatre. nicest.com.
4/10-27 // CHARLOTTE
‘The Exit Interview’
Professor Dick Figg’s exit interview gets off to a rocky start when a masked gunman runs amok through campus. This deliriously witty play ricochets through Brechtian interludes, politicized cheerleaders, a pompous newsman and two German doctors before reaching its farcical conclusion. If you have ever wanted to know the answer to the question, “why does God hate civil servants?,” then you must see this comic look at uncertainty and isolation. Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. actorstheatrecharlotte.org.
5/9-6/1 // CHARLOTTE
‘Proof’
CAST presents the story of Catherine, a troubled young woman who has spent years caring for her father, a brilliant, but unstable mathematician. Following his death, she must deal with the arrival of her estranged sister and the attentions of her father’s former student who hopes to find valuable work in the notebooks he left behind. A burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: how much of her father’s madness — or genius — did she inherit? Carolina Actors Studio Theatre. nccast.com.
5/17-6/2 // CHARLOTTE
‘Avenue Q’
“Avenue Q” is a laugh-out-loud musical that tells the timeless story of a recent college graduate named Princeton who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q. He soon discovers that although the residents seem nice, it’s clear that this is not your ordinary neighborhood. Together, Princeton and his new-found friends struggle to find jobs, dates and their ever-elusive purpose in life. Theatre Charlotte. theatrecharlotte.org.
6/5-22 // CHARLOTTE
‘The Divine Sister’
An outrageous comic homage to all nun films, “The Divine Sister” is a gleefully twisted tale about a resolute Mother Superior. While trying to build a new school for her convent, she must cope with a young postulant who experiences “visions,” a sensitive schoolboy in need of mentoring, a mysterious nun from Berlin and a former suitor intent on luring her from her vows. Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. actorstheatrecharlotte.org.
7/10-14 // CHARLOTTE
‘Willy Wonka Jr.’
For three weeks this summer, approximately 30 participants, age 9-14, will work with professional directors, choreographers, designers, technicians and performers experiencing and creating musical theatre. This summer intensive will culminate in public performances of Roald Dahl’s “Willy Wonka Jr.” Theatre Charlotte. theatrecharlotte.org.
• • • • •
Student spring theatre
Theatre students at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and Central Piedmont Community College will present a variety of shows this spring. At the university, check out their April 11-13 performance of “romeo.juliet,” a deconstruction of the 400-year-old classic by William Shakespeare. And CPCC presents “Fences” in April, a 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winner for drama. For more information on student theatre this spring, visit arts.cpcc.edu/performing-arts/theatre and coaa.uncc.edu/academics/department-of-theatre.
— Show and performance descriptions and synopses courtesy various marketing materials.