- By Megan Pugh
- Entertainment
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Downtown Ithaca’s year-round professional theatre begins its 19th season this month in its longtime home in the historic Clinton House. The Kitchen Theatre Company offers plays on four separate performance series: Main Stage, Counter Culture, Family Fare and Kitchen Sink. Actors, directors and designers from NYC join regional professionals to develop and produce new and recent plays and re-imagine the established repertory. Over 191 performances will happen Wednesdays to Sundays, August 2009 through July 2010.Main Stage series includes: SECRET ORDER, FIRST DAY: Suite for 4 Actors and Percussionist, LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC, SPEECH & DEBATE, IN THIS PLACE, PRIVATE LIVES, and an encore production of PRECIOUS NONSENSE. Guest Artists on the Counter Culture Series include: Vijai Nathan, Darian Dauchan, Lee Chamberlin, and Tim Miller. The Family Fare series includes two original Kitchen Theatre musicals, I HAVE A SONG TO SING O! and PARK PLAY, and guest artist Alice Eve Cohen's THE PARROT. Kitchen Sink Specials include Brian Dykstra’s HO!, LOSING MYSELF by Rachel Lampert, and a 4-performance run of the one-act opera LA VOIX HUMAINE starring Deborah Lifton. But perhaps the biggest event on the season agenda is the Kitchen Theatre Company`s anticipated move to its new space on W. State/Martin Luther King Street sometime after January 2010.
“This season was planned knowing we will pick up and move everything on short notice, and we have chosen plays that will work beautifully in either space," says Artistic Director, Rachel Lampert. “We are looking forward to a diverse and thought-provoking season with lots of humor and lots to talk about.”
August 26 -September 20, 2009
SECRET ORDER by Bob Clyman, directed by Rachel Lampert
SECRET ORDER is a psychological drama about the high-stakes world of medical research: the battles for funding, the need to stay at the top of the game, and the ends to which one will go for recognition and success. Regional premiere. Ages 16 & up
October 14 -November 1, 2009
FIRST DAY by Ted LoRusso in collaboration with and directed by Sturgis Warner
A theatrical event unlike any other, FIRST DAY follows a young man on his way to his first day of his first job in the big city. Three other actors play his thoughts and all the people and sights around him. The excitement of the city pulsing around him and his thoughts pulsing within drive this rhythmic, innovative new piece. World premiere! Ages 16 & up
November 18 -December 6, 2009
LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC by Arlene Hutton, directed by Rachel Lampert
May and Raleigh meet in 1940 on an east-bound cross-country train carrying the bodies of the great American writers Nathanael West and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Raleigh is a charming young flyer who aspires to be a writer; May is proper and bookish and wants to be a missionary. Their story is a touching portrait of two young people falling in love against the backdrop of World War II-era America. Regional premiere. Ages 16 & up
February 24 -March 14, 2010
SPEECH & DEBATE by Stephen Karam, directed by Samuel Buggeln
Sex. Secrets. Video blogs with a Casio keyboard beat. Stephen Karam’s black comedy throws together three high school misfits in a clever and contemporary portrait of the borderland between late adolescence and adulthood. Regional premiere. Ages18 & up
April 14 -May 2, 2010
IN THIS PLACE, written & directed by Ain Gordon
1830: Samuel and Daphney Oldham are the first free African-Americans to build their own home in Lexington, KY. Five years later, they disappear. Obie Award-winning writer/director Ain Gordon imagines the full story behind these bare facts in this new one-woman play starring Michelle Hurst. Regional premiere. Ages 16 & up
June 23 -July 18, 2010
PRIVATE LIVES by Noël Coward, directed by Margarett Perry
Noël Coward’s sophisticated comedy PRIVATE LIVES turns eighty this year, but it remains remarkably young for its age. The brilliant wit, barbed humor and passionate characters are the perfect ingredients for a delightful summer production. Ages16 & up
Special Events
Special Events can be added as extras to any of our subscription series or purchased as single tickets.
January 13 -February 7, 2010
PRECIOUS NONSENSE, book & lyrics by Rachel Lampert, music by Arthur Sullivan
Rachel Lampert’s delightful 2005 musical returns for an encore production! Love triangles, cross-dressing, and mistaken identities beset a traveling Gilbert & Sullivan troupe in this onstage/backstage, show-must-go-on musical. Ages 8 & up
December 9 -December 20, 2009
Brian Dykstra’s HO!, directed by Margarett Perry
The Kitchen’s fastest talking, most irreverent playwright and poet takes on the subject of Christmas in a new piece--one that’s not likely to be the next Hallmark holiday special. Regional premiere. Adult language and content. Ages 18 & up
March 17 & 18 and 20 & 21, 2010
Francis Poulenc’s LA VOIX HUMAINE, directed by David Lefkowich
Opera in the Kitchen! La Voix Humaine is Poulenc’s haunting one-act opera for solo soprano based on text by Jean Cocteau. Guest artists singer Deborah Lifton, director David Lefkowich and pianist Brian DeMaris will fill the theater with music and this emotional story of love and loss. Ages 16 & up
May 26 -June 6, 2010
LOSING MYSELF, by Rachel Lampert
From playwright/performer Rachel Lampert, author of THE SOUP COMES LAST, comes a new piece. Together with a multi-generational cast, she tells a story about gaining and losing all sorts of things--keys, years, and pounds. World premiere. Ages 16 & up
Kitchen Counter Culture Subscription Series
Our guest artist series bringing cutting-edge, outside-the-box artists from around the world who share their stories, humor, and extraordinary performances. This season, three of our four visiting artists are here for extended runs!
September 23 -27, 2009
McGODDESS: Big Macs, Karma and the American Dream, written and performed by Vijai Nathan
McGODDESS, the latest from comedian Vijai Nathan (creator of GOOD GIRLS DON’T, BUT INDIAN GIRLS DO), is a scavenger hunt for faith, hope, and the meaning of life in America. With a father who’s obsessed with McDonald’s and Marx, a sister who’s a born again Christian, and a mother who warns her of the legend of the “cat baby,” what’s a good Indian girl to believe? Vijai Nathan takes you on a poignant and hilarious journey in this one-woman play about understanding faith in America. Ages 16 & up
November 4 -8, 2009
ENTERTAINER’S EULOGY by Darian Dauchan
In 1918, a street performer mesmerizes the crowd and a minstrel act is born. In 1976, a soul singer signs a three-album record contract that will make him a star. In 1989, a boxer fights the bout that will determine his destiny as champ or contender. ENTERTAINER’S EULOGY is a theatrical requiem chronicling the rise and fall of African American entertainers. Extraordinary writer/actor Darian Dauchan tells a cautionary tale about the price of fame and the people whose lives are forever changed by it. Ages 16 & up.
February 10 -14, 2010
OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR (...are closer than they seem) by Lee Chamberlin
Accomplished actress Lee Chamberlin, an original cast member of the popular PBS program “The Electric Company,” has worked on stage, television and film, and for eight years played Pat Baxter on daytime’s “All My Children.” OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR… is Chamberlin’s semi-autobiographical play about family ties, family secrets, and the importance of respecting those who have passed. A montage of beginnings, middles, and ends interconnected by 6 degrees of separation or less, it tells the stories of mothers and daughters who gaze into the mirror of the self and find a universal truth. Ages 16 & up
April 1, 2, & 3, 2010
LAY OF THE LAND by Tim Miller
LAY OF THE LAND is Tim Miller’s saucy, sharp-knifed look at the State of the Queer Union during a time of trial. It friskily gets at that feeling of gay folks being perpetually on trial, on the ballot, and on the menu. Contains nudity. Ages 18 & up
Family Fare Subscription Series
Offering three wonderful music-filled performances for all ages! performances Saturdays at 1PM & 3PM and Sundays at 1PM.
Sept. 19 & 20 and 26 & 27, 2009
PARK PLAY by Lesley Greene, Nathan Hilgartner, Rachel Lampert & Thomas J. Peters
A brand new musical bursting with song, games and imagination from the team that brought you ADVENTURE IN APARTMENT G SHARP. Ages 4 & up
November 7 & 8, 2009
THE PARROT by Alice Eve Cohen
The author of last year’s hit HANNAH & THE HOLLOW CHALLAH returns to the Kitchen with THE PARROT. Alice Eve Cohen uses masks, puppets and music to bring her wonderful characters to life in this comic solo play based on an Italian folktale. Just three performances! Ages 4 & up
March 6 &7 and 13& 14, 2010
I HAVE A SONG TO SING O! by Rachel Lampert
Rachel Lampert’s wacky 50s sing-a-long Gilbert & Sullivan musical is back. We can’t wait! Ages 4 & up
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