Whitefish Theatre Co. announces 2017-18 season

Whitefish Theatre Co., celebrating 39 years of community theater, world music and more, has announced its shows for the 2017-2018 season.

“Our season this year highlights WTC as your passport to the performing arts,” said Executive Director Gayle MacLaren. “Each year, WTC strives to engage our community with fun, relevant and thought-provoking productions and concerts. Whether you are involved with WTC as an actor, volunteer, sponsor, donor, or patron, WTC invites you to join us for a spectacular line-up this year.”

The 2017-2018 season showcases nine very different theatre selections, three diverse music concerts and two special events.

“WTC is proud to present a diverse snapshot of shows that mirror what’s going on in the performing arts nationally,” said Artistic Director Jesse DeVine. “Our year-long season has it all, including iconic classics like ‘A Miracle on 34th Street’ and ‘The Great Gatsby,’ a beautiful adaptation of the beloved book ‘The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,’ smart comedies and dramas like ‘The Liar’ and ‘Constellations,’ a fantastic contemporary circus arts company called Acrobatic Conundrum, and a cabaret-style production of the Broadway hit musical ‘Urinetown.’ Add in world-class music like Las Cafeteras, an exciting Latin American ensemble; Well-Strung, a singing string quartet who blends classical and pop music into unique ‘POPssicals;’ and a jazz tribute show to Dave and Iola Brubeck by their son’s world-renowned band the Dan Brubeck Quartet, and we promise something fun and entertaining for everyone to enjoy.”

WTC opens its season on Sept. 23 and 24 with a Black Curtain production of “The Velocity of Autumn,” a play that swirls around Alexandra, an 80-year-old artist, who has barricaded herself in her Brooklyn brownstone with enough Molotov cocktails to take out the neighborhood. In a wry, hilarious quest to “not go gentle” into a retirement home, Alexandra battles both the fears of her family and the ravages of time, negotiating the terms of her future with a long-estranged son.

WTC then begins its music series on Oct. 1 with the Dan Brubeck Quartet, an award-winning jazz ensemble who are celebrating the music of Dan’s late parents, Dave and Iola Brubeck. Drawing from the music songbook of two legendary American Jazz icons, the Dan Brubeck Quartet will play in jazz cabaret style, covering many well-known Brubeck favorites, including “Blue Rondo a la Turk,” “The Duke,” and the classic “Take Five.”

Then on Oct. 19-22 and 26-28, WTC presents “The Liar,” adapted by comedic maestro David Ives. It is 17th-century France and charming Dorante has one glaring personality quirk — he cannot tell the truth. When he hires a valet you cannot tell a lie, hilarity ensues. Mistaken identities, duels, identical-twin lady’s maids and multiple marriage proposals are all part of this hilarious urban romance.

On Nov. 3, WTC hosts Acrobatic Conundrum, Seattle’s premier contemporary circus arts company that creates exhilarating ensemble-based performances. In their show titled “Love & Gravity,” the company blends virtuosic circus skill, dance, mesmerizing juggling acts and breathtaking aerial acrobatics to create work that is poetic, a little absurd, unpredictable and deeply relatable.

Then on Nov. 10, WTC welcomes Broad Comedy, an award-winning, all-women musical comedy and sketch troupe that can do it all — sing, dance and take on an unflinching and sidesplitting look at our culture. Bringing politically-savvy, unapologetically bawdy adult comedy, this show will be the perfect place to be after shopping Ladies Night Out in Whitefish.

The winter season begins with the family-friendly classic “Miracle on 34th Street” on Dec. 7-10 and 15-17. Adapted from the cherished 1947 film, this feel-good holiday play follows Kris Kringle, a gentleman with twinkling eyes, an ample belly and a snowy beard who is hired as Santa at a Macy’s department store. But when Kringle is declared insane by his skeptical boss and put on trial, everyone’s faith is put to the test as young and old alike face the age-old question: Do you believe in Santa Claus?

WTC kicks off the New Year on Jan. 19 with Las Cafeteras, a Latin American fusion ensemble from east L.A. who are taking the music scene by storm with their urban folk sound. Remixing traditional Son Jorocho music from Veracruz, Mexico with Afro-Caribbean folk, hip-hop, and pop sounds, Las Cafeteras will bring this magnetic night of music to life with eclectic world instruments like the marimbol, cajon, jaranas, requintos, and donkey jawbone.

The end of January will then bring a second Black Curtain production to the stage of “The Shape of Things” by Neil LaBute on the Jan. 27 and 28. This bitterly funny and dangerously seductive play follows Adam, a young museum security guard, and Evelyn, a controlling art major, in an ever-changing relationship. How far will Adam go for love? What will he be willing to change? And what price might he pay? This drama pulls back the skin of modern-day relationships as it addresses our entrenched ideas about art, manipulation and love.

The family production of “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” will be performed on Feb. 22-25 and March 2-4. Based on Newberry-winner Kate DiCamillo’s beloved book, “Edward Tulane” is a breathtaking story of finding friendship, finding yourself and eventually finding your way home. Young and old alike will delight in the 20-year tale of a dapper china rabbit who shows us that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose and to love again.

On March 9, WTC will showcase Well-Strung, a New York City-based string quartet who derives their unique sound of vocal and strings by fusing classical music with the pop music of today. They meld Kelly Clarkson with Mozart, Taylor Swift with Bach, and Green Day with Pachelbel, and do it all in four-part harmony. Audiences around the world have praised their vocals, playing technique and their one-of-a-kind “POPssical” arrangements.

On March 24-25, WTC will then present “A Behanding in Spokane,” a darkly comical work that is the third Black Curtain production of the season. Mysterious, volatile Carmichael has been searching for his missing left hand for decades. Enter two bikering lovebirds with a hand to sell and a hotel clerk with an aversion to gunfire, and soon life and death are up for grabs in this “perfect, demented” story by Martin McDonagh.

Spring brings “The Great Gatsby,” with cabaret-style shows on April 19-22 and 26-28. Based on the timeless book by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the play follows Midwest native Nick Carraway as he arrives in New York in search of the American dream. Caught up in the lavish and improbable world of a man named Gatsby, Nick’s cousin Daisy, and her philandering husband Tom, Nick gets swirled up in a tale of impossible love, dreams, and scandal.

WTC will then present its final Black Curtain production on May 5-6 with “Constellations.” The odds of beekeeper Roland and quantum physicist Marianne getting together are astronomical. But when their worlds do collide, they keep on colliding, as all the possibilities of their life together — good, bad and ugly — flicker across the stage in a series of intricately-structured snapshots, from first date to farewell.

Finally, WTC’s 39th season comes to a close with a cabaret-style show of Broadway hit “Urinetown: The Musical” on May 31, June 1-3 and 7-10. This fast-paced, hilarious musical is a satire of the legal system, capitalism, corporate greed and musical theatre itself. A terrible water shortage, caused by a 20-year drought, has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single, malevolent company. Amid the people, a hero decides he’s had enough and plans a revolution to win back the people’s most basic freedom. It’s a show not to miss with its modern wit, music and ability to produce gales of unbridled laughter.

All shows are at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish. Individual tickets, Season Passes and Build-Your-Own-Season Passes, offering 10 percent to 12 percent discounts off regular ticket prices, are available by calling the box office at 406-862-5371, ordering through the brochure order form on the WTC website, or visiting the box office at 1 Central Ave. in Whitefish. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, call 406-862-5371 or visit https://www.whitefishtheatreco.org.