2009/2010 Season
Richard III
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Geoff Elliott
September 26-December 12, 2009
With an eye on the crown and a heart of flint, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, gleefully murders his way to the top. Fueled by unquenchable bloodlust and endowed with an uncanny ability to charm his victims, this "bottled spider" weaves a tangled web and inadvertently snares his own soul. William Shakespeare breeds ruthless ambition and a wicked sense of humor to create one of literature's most memorable villains.
A Noise Within's production of Richard III is part of Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest.
Crime and Punishment
By Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Adapted by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus
Directed by Craig Belknap
October 10-December 17, 2009
This thrilling new adaptation of a towering masterpiece--undertaken by three actors in 90 breathless minutes--explores the exquisite fragility of the mind. In a desperate quest to be redeemed for the perpetration of an unspeakable crime, brilliant Raskolnikov embodies humankind's eternal struggle between enlightened genius and the temptation of evil.
Noises Off
By Michael Frayn
Directed by Geoff Elliott
November 7-December 19, 2009
Chaos reigns both onstage and off in Michael Frayn's joyfully out-of-control British farce. Under-rehearsed and over-worked, with a penchant for drama more personal than professional, a bumbling troupe of thespians ready themselves for the world premiere of a new play with the auspicious title Nothing On. In the process they bring the house down--quite literally. A Noise Within finally does Noises Off!
Waiting for Godot
By Samuel Beckett
Directed by Andrew Traister
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! 10 PERFORMANCES ONLY!
January 16-24, 2010
Atop a blasted landscape, Didi and Gogo cling to the flickering faith that Godot will come. Godot will bring answers. Godot will bring meaning. Godot will bring happiness. When will Godot come? Irish treasure Samuel Beckett's wickedly witty treatise on the nature of human existence is considered one of the greatest plays of the 20th century.
CRITICS CHOICE -LA Times
"Top-notch production!" -LA Times
Much Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Michael Murray
February 27-May 21, 2010
The war is over and romance is in the air. But barely has the champagne cork been popped when two formidable combatants in love, Beatrice and Benedick, create fireworks of their own. Armed with razor-edged wit and struggling with the gravitational pull of mutual attraction, these battle-hardened veterans of Cupid's little game discover how disarming true love can be in William Shakespeare's effervescent comedy of the heart.
A Noise Within's production of Much Ado About Nothing is part of Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest.
Awake and Sing!
By Clifford Odets
Directed by Andrew Traister
March 13-May 23, 2010
The economic ravages of 1930s New York threaten to destroy the tenuous ties that bind the Berger family. Matriarch Besse Berger is willing to crush her children's dreams in order to keep the struggling clan in tact. But the irrepressible spirit of youth refuses to be extinguished in gifted social dramatist Clifford Odets's soaring ode to what is good and true in the American character. With Awake And Sing! A Noise Within continues its celebration of the great American classic.
The Playboy of the Western World
By John Millington Synge
Directed by Geoff Elliott
April 10-May 22, 2010
William Butler Yeats called it "picturesque, poetical, fantastical, a masterpiece of style and of music, the supreme work of our dialect theatre..." John Millington Synge, one of Ireland's most beloved playwrights skillfully weaves a multi-colored, prism-like romantic comedy, set in the remote bogs of Ireland's wild Mayo Coast. Simultaneously haunting and hilarious, Playboy is considered his greatest achievement.