TheatreWorks launches new season TheatreWorks launches new season (June 08, 2005)

TheatreWorks will open its 36th season this month with the American premiere of the Irish comic-drama "Dolly West's Kitchen," by Frank McGuinness.

The play will be presented June 15 through July 17 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. The drama deals with Allied soldiers in an Irish village during World War II.

Highlights of TheatreWorks' coming season were announced recently by Artistic Director Robert Kelley. They include the world premiere of "Pamela's First Musical" by Wendy Wasserstein and the late Cy Coleman, which will close the season with performances April 5 through 30, 2006.

The work is one of two musicals completed by composer Cy Coleman before his death last year. The coming-of-age book is by Wendy Wasserstein, who is TheatreWorks' most often-presented living playwright.

The West Coast premiere of "Harold & Maude: The Musical" is being staged July 20 through August 14 at Lucie Stern Theatre. Lyricist Tom Jones and composer Joseph Thalken will be in residence at TheatreWorks. The musical is based on the 1971 cult film "Harold and Maude," shot on the Peninsula.

The company returns to Mountain View for "Intimate Apparel," from August 24 through September 18. The work is inspired by playwright Lynn Nottage's grandmother, who was an early 20th century corset maker.

The world premiere of "Baby Taj" is set for September 28 in Mountain View. The heroine of the play is Rachel, who makes a pilgrimage to the Taj Mahal as she considers becoming a single mother.

A holiday revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" will be staged November 30 through January 7. This is a new production of the work, which received the Tony Award as the best musical revival in 2002. It was staged by TheatreWorks in 1992.

"The Clean House" by Sarah Ruhl receives its Northern California premiere January 18 through February 12 in Mountain View. The work premiered at the Yale Repertory Theater in 2004.

Another Northern California premiere, "Anna in the Tropics" by Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz, plays March 8 through April 2 at Lucie Stern Theatre. Mr. Cruz, who also wrote "Lorca in a Green Dress," won the Pulitzer Prize for "Anna," which is set in Prohibition-era Florida.

The season ends with the Coleman-Wasserstein premiere.

For more information about season subscriptions ($81-$356), call 463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.