Submitted by Harlequin Productions
Harlequin Productions, one of the South Sound’s most acclaimed live theater companies, has announced the lineup of shows for its 26th season. The season runs from November 2016-October 2017, and includes five plays and two musicals. Theater patrons can purchase subscriptions to the entire season by calling 360-786-0151 or by visiting Harlequin online here. More information on all the plays can be found at www.harlequinproductions.org.
The season begins in November 2016 with The Stardust Christmas Enchantment, the latest in the company’s 22-year tradition of original holiday musicals. In January, Harlequin presents My Name is Rachel Corrie, a one-woman drama telling the story of an Olympian activist killed while protesting in the Gaza Strip in 2003. Harlequin then presents the classic Noel Coward comedy Present Laughter in March. This is followed by The Understudy in May, a modern comedy by Theresa Rebeck. In June, Harlequin offers its second musical of the season, First Date, a romantic musical comedy by Austin Winsberg, Alan Zachary, and Michael Weiner. Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County hits the stage in August before Harlequin completes its season with William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline in October 2017.
The script of My Name is Rachel Corrie was edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner and was drawn almost entirely from Rachel’s actual diaries. “To some, Rachel is a symbol, a martyr and a cynosure, and others might use less flattering language to describe her, but in all of these limited perspectives of this young woman, we lose a picture of who she was as a person,” said the show’s director, Jeff Painter. “In My Name is Rachel Corrie we get a more complete picture of who this young woman was and why she did the things that she did – told in her own words, taken from her diaries and e-mails.” Harlequin’s presentation of My Name is Rachel Corrie represents the first time that this uniquely Olympia play will receive a professional run produced in Olympia.
Harlequin’s summer 2017 musical, First Date, was workshopped in Seattle before receiving a run on Broadway. “A gentleman named Kenny Alhadeff, who works on play development and production in Seattle, suggested that we look at First Date because it would be such a good fit in our theater,” said Harlequin Artistic Director Linda Whitney. “He had helped develop the show in Seattle for The 5th Avenue Theater and ACT in 2012. After giving it a look, I had to agree it is a great fit for us. It’s intimate and funny and a charming take on contemporary dating in America.”
“Every year we strive to put together an exciting, eclectic, and thoroughly entertaining lineup of shows,” commented Harlequin Managing Artistic Director Scot Whitney. “I’d say this lineup nails it for the 26th straight year.”
