Presenting the 2013-2014 Season at the Pearl Theater
We are pleased to announce 8 fantastic productions for our upcoming season at the Pearl Theater. From classics, to new comedies and musicals, to fun and entertaining youth productions, we think you will find something for everyone! Be sure to watch for Season Passes on sale soon!
TARZAN®, The Stage Musical Based on Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan of the Apes and the smash-hit 1999 Disney animated film, TARZAN® tells the story of an infant boy orphaned on the shores of West Africa. Taken in and raised by a tribe of gorillas, the young boy strives for acceptance by his ape father while grappling with his uniqueness. When a human expedition enters their territory, Tarzan – now a man – encounters strangers like himself for the first time. TARZAN® Owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and Used by Permission |
Auditions: June 23 and 24 at 7pm |
Anne Frank and Me Written by Cherie Bennett Anne Frank and Me is the story is about the awakening of a modern teen Holocaust denier. Nicole Burns doubts the truth and cares even less, but ultimately comes face-to-face with the hell of the Holocaust, and—in an extraordinary sequence—meets Anne Frank on a cattle car to Auschwitz. We start out with Nicole in today’s teen world of MTV. Hip-hop dancing, unfinished homework assignments, and young love are all transported with her to Nazi-occupied Paris, 1942-44, and then are brought forward again to the light and hope of the present. An emotionally-charged, multiple national award-winning new American classic. “Remarkable. As heartbreaking as it is ingenious.” —The Tennessean “A triumph.” —New Times, Kansas City “Packs a fresh, solid punch. The audience was swept up into the story.” —Sun Newspapers “A masterpiece.” —The Observer, Nashville |
Auditions: Aug. 4 and 5 at 7pm |
Deathtrap Seemingly comfortably ensconced in his charming Connecticut home, Sidney Bruhl, a successful writer of Broadway thrillers, is struggling to overcome a “dry” spell which has resulted in a string of failures and a shortage of funds. A possible break in his fortunes occurs when he receives a script from a student in the seminar he has been conducting at a nearby college—a thriller which Sidney recognizes immediately as a potential Broadway hit. Sidney’s plan, which he devises with his wife’s help, is to offer collaboration to the student, an idea which the younger man quickly accepts. Thereafter suspense mounts steadily as the plot begins to twist and turn with devilish cleverness, and with such an abundance of thrills and laughter, that audiences will be held enthralled until the final, startling moments of the play. “It is a classic thriller, a genre with a style, a manner and an audience of its own. If you like thrillers, do see it. I promise you that it is vintage.” —NY Post. “The intricately fashioned plot contortions brought gasps, the comedy lines drew delighted chortles…” —The Hollywood Reporter. “Two-thirds a thriller and one-third a devilishly clever comedy…Suspend your disbelief and be delighted. Scream a little. It’s good for you.” —Cue Magazine. |
Auditions: September 15 and 16 at 7pm |
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever In this hilarious Christmas tale, a couple struggling to put on a church Christmas pageant is faced with casting the Herdman kids– probably the most inventively awful kids in history. You won’t believe the mayhem– and the fun– when the Herdmans collide with the Christmas story head on! This delightful comedy is adapted from the best selling book and the only story ever to run twice in McCall’s Magazine. “An American classic.” – McCall’s Magazine “One of the best Christmas stories ever – and certainly one of the funniest.” – The Seattle Times |
Auditions: October 20 and 21 |
Fences Winner! 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama This sensational drama starred James Earl Jones as Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro baseball leagues who now works as a garbage man in 1957 Pittsburgh. Excluded as a black man from the major leagues during his prime, Troy’s bitterness takes its toll on his relationships with his wife and his son, who now wants his own chance to play ball. Revived in 2010 starring Denzel Washington in the lead role. “One of the great characters in American drama. One of the richest experiences I have ever had in the theatre. I wasn’t just moved. I was transfixed.” – New York Post “A blockbuster and a major American play.” – New York Daily News |
Auditions: December 15 and 16 |
Music From A Sparkling Planet Whatever became of Tamara Tomorrow? In the early seventies, this local television host, in her antennae and space suit, made cheery predictions of how exciting the future was going to be. Her sudden disappearance from the public eye was one of the great mysteries of the Philadelphia area. Three fans of Tamara, all grown up and disenchanted with the “future” as she predicted, decide to go in search of this “Delaware Valley Greta Garbo.” What they find along the way teaches them more about themselves than they really thought they could know. “…a nimble escapist comedy…sweet, tasty and inebriating…The radiantly sentimental ending might have been concocted by Frank Capra.” —NY Times. “…a sweet-tempered tale…a charming comedy about friendship, the future and an obsessive nostalgia for children’s television shows of the past.” —Associated Press. “…a sentimental fable cloaked in flip, funny dialogue, with tart one-liners to offset the sugar…” —Wall Street Journal. |
Auditions: January 19 and 20 |
Wonderland!: The Musical Misadventures of a Girl Named Alice (Youth Theater Musical) Book adapted by James Davita
Wonderland! is an unabashedly silly adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. With hip-hopping music, it is an upbeat, coming-of-age story that audiences of all ages will adore! You’ll recognize some of your favorite familiar characters of Alice’s Wonderland along with meeting dozens of new ones: a baseball team, a gospel group called The Responsibilities, a train conductor, star-struck tourists, plastic light-saber wielding knights and much more. An eclectic mix of music that ranges from gypsy swing to doo-wop to bluegrass will have you grinning like a Cheshire cat! *Roles for 9-25 children. Not all roles do not require singing. |
![]() Auditions: February 23 and 24 Production fee if cast: $150. Includes instruction, script, CD, certificate, cast party, t-shirt, and two tickets to the show.
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All I Really Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten Written by Ernest Zulia and David Caldwell, based on the book written by Robert Fulghum Based on Robert Fulghum’s best-selling books, Kindergarten takes a funny, insightful, heartwarming look at what is profound in everyday life. This tightly woven adaptation has earned standing ovations from Singapore to Prague— from L.A. to D.C. It’s an evening of theatrical storytelling in revue format, with monologues, dialogues, and multiple voice narration, enhanced through the use of musical underscoring, which provides fluidity, charm, and emotional texture, and even a few original songs. If you have read Robert Fulghum’s books, you will recognize many of the delightful characters such as: a shy little boy who insists on playing the “pig” in his class production of Cinderella; a man whose dream of flying carries him high over Los Angeles … in a lawn chair buoyed by surplus weather balloons; a “mother of the bride” who’s staged a perfect wedding—until the bowling ball of fate rolls down the aisle; and a modern-day Greek philosopher who finds the meaning of life in a piece of broken mirror from World War II. If you have not read his books, you can be assured that these stories celebrate our very existence, from the whimsy of childhood to the wisdom of old age.
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Auditions: April 6 and 7
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