| MRT CHARITY WINE TASTING March 15th, 6:00pm-8:30pm Tickets On Sale Now! The Friends of MRT invite you to join us for a Wine Tasting, with selections by Tutto Bene, at our artist and rehearsal facilities at the Richard K. and Nancy L. Donahue Center at Bagshaw Mills on Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 6:00pm - 8:30pm. Tutto Bene will select their top wines from a collection of 500 Old World and New World favorites. The fundraiser will be hosted at MRT's rehearsal and artist housing facilities, allowing you to go "backstage" while increasing your knowledge of wine in a casual, social environment. Light hors d'oeuvres will be served. Tickets are $45 per person. Purchase Tickets Online Now |
TRYST
by Karoline Leach
Final Week!
A Provocative Romantic Thriller
Down on his luck con-man George Love has just identified his next victim, a plain shopgirl named Adelaide Pinchin. His plan is simple: convince her to marry him in secret, whisk her away on a romantic honeymoon, and then the next day, run off with all her money. But what happens when things don't go according to plans and the con-man meets his match? Find out in Tryst, playing at Merrimack Repertory Theatre thru January 30. Tryst is a provocative and suspenseful drama of love and betrayal. The play contains adult content, sexual situations and nudity, and is recommended for mature audiences.
Post Show Discussions Every Thursday Sponsored by Yellowbook
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Availability Key:
Good - Limited - Very Limited January 26 at 7:30pm January 27 at 7:30pm January 28 at 8:00pm
January 29 at 4:00pm January 29 at 8:00pm January 30 at 2:00pm
Purchase Tickets Online Now!
Read The Press Release |
| 2010 ANNUAL REPORT Company Operates For Fifth Consecutive Year "In The Black" Merrimack Rep has released its Annual Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. The report highlights the organization's artistic and financial accomplishments for the 2009-2010 Season. The report is available to the public on the "About MRT" page of the Theatre's website, or simply click here. Highlights of the report and the 2009-10 Season include: - A "Best Production" nomination for The Seafarer by the Independent Reviewers of New England
- Continuing commitment to the development of new American plays with the world premiere of The Last Days of Mickey & Jean by Massachusetts native Richard Dresser
- An operating surplus for the fifth consecutive season, allowing MRT to reduce its long-term debt and strengthen working capital
- Expansion of the production season to seven productions and 191 performances for an audience of 40,233
- 42% of the theatre's revenue coming from donations and contributions from individuals, foundations, corporations and government agencies, helping to keep the theatre accessible and affordable to all
For Merrimack Repertory Theatre, and many other American theatre companies, the 2009-2010 Season marked the deepest point in the recession. MRT's dedicated and professional staff and leadership worked closely with the Board of Trustees to address projected declines in charitable giving and to develop creative and innovative ways to reduce the Company's operating budget by approximately 20% while maintaining, and in some cases expanding, MRT's core programming and commitment to quality. Despite the tremendous pressure the economy placed on MRT during the 2009-2010 Season, the Company was well prepared to address the fiscal challenges and successfully operated in the black for the fifth consecutive year. While MRT is now in the midst of the 2010-11 Season, plans are well underway for 2011-2012, the Company's 33rd season of serving the Greater Merrimack Valley. The 2011-2012 Season will be announced in April.
Merrimack Repertory Theatre's 2009-2010 season was sponsored by Lowell Cooperative Bank. Merrimack Repertory Theatre is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
Thank you to everyone that made Merrimack Rep's 2009-2010 season a success!
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| SPECIAL EVENT NIGHTS FOR THE EXCEPTIONALS
Take advantage of one of our many special events for The Exceptionals.
Pay What You Can Night February 10 at 7:30pm Patrons may purchase tickets in cash at the Box Office between 4:30PM-7:30PM and name their ticket price. Following the performance, there will also be a Director's Dialogue, where the director and designers field audience questions and describe how the play was staged. Lowell Night February 12 at 8pm Lowell residents may purchase tickets for $10 at the box office from 5PM-8PM. Proper ID required.
Cookie Matinee
February 16 at 2pm Patrons enjoy complimentary cookies and coffee in the lobby before the show, courtesy of Brew'd Awakening Coffeehaus. Post Show Forums February 17 at 7:30pm February 24 at 7:30pm March 3 at 7:30pm Audiences can stay after the performance to learn the inside scoop and chat with the actors. Sponsored by Yellowbook. |
| $5 OFF | Order tickets to Merrimack Rep's upcoming world premiere of The Exceptionals by Bob Clyman online at www.MerrimackRep.org by February 10th and save $5 off each full priced adult ticket.
Enter the promo code: EXC5OFF at checkout. Promo code is case sensitive.
| | Offer Expires: 2/10/11. Cannot be combined with any other discount. |
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sponsored by Zegrahm Expeditions
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| ANNOUNCING THE CAST OF THE EXCEPTIONALS
The all-Equity cast of The Exceptionals features Carolyn Baeumler as Gwen, Judith Lightfoot Clarke as Claire, Catherine Eaton as Allie and Joseph Tisa as Tom. Catherine Eaton, Carolyn Baeumler and Joseph Tisa all make their MRT debuts, while Judith Lightfoot Clarke returns for her fourth time, having previously appeared in The Homecoming, Boston Marriage and Three Days of Rain. The creative team for The Exceptionals includes Charles Towers (director), Judy Gailen (set design), Brian Lilienthal (lighting design) and Deb Newhall (costume design).
CAROLYN BAEUMLER (Gwen) Merrimack Repertory Theatre: debut. Off-Broadway: Milk, New Georges; Creature, New Georges and Page 73; Mourning Becomes Electra, New Group; originated the roles of Marci, Lili and Nina Spicer in The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, Fourth Street and 37 Arts; Trouble in Paradise, Mae West in SEX, Hourglass; Speak Truth to Power, Culture Project; Hedda in Heddatron, Les Freres Courbusier; originated Lydia in Big Love, BAM; A Streetcar Named Desire, New York Theatre Workshop; Courtney Love in Love in the Void, Self Defense, In Betweens. Regional: Rag & Bone, Big Love, Long Wharf Theatre; Member of the Wedding, All My Sons, Westport Country Playhouse; King Lear, Playmakers; Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Cincinnati Playhouse; Marilyn Monroe in Miss Golden Dreams, ACT Seattle; Big Love, Goodman Theatre; Berkeley Repertory Theatre; A Clockwork Orange, Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Film & TV: Lights Out, New FX series; CopDoc, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Focus Group, Gypsy 83, Diminished Capacity.
JUDITH LIGHTFOOT CLARKE (Claire) Merrimack Repertory Theatre: The Homecoming, Three Days of Rain, Boston Marriage. New York: GMHC/Anyone Can Whistle Benefit, Carnegie Hall. Off-Broadway: Three Travelers, Theatre at St. Clement's; The Normal Heart, Public Theatre; Eve-olution, Cherry Lane; Communicating Doors, Variety Arts; Hamlet, Kaufman; Sacrifice to Eros, York. Regional: Hayfever, The Old Globe; Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; People's Light, Absence; Misalliance, Alley Theatre; Cloud 9, The Wilma Theater; Closer, Cincinnati Playhouse; Blithe Spirit, Indiana Repertory Theatre; Three Tall Women, Syracuse Stage; Nora, Medea in Jerusalem, Capital Repertory Theatre; Measure for Measure, Soho Repertory Theatre. Television: Credits include Outlaw (pilot episode), Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, As The World Turns, What Goes On. Education: The College of William and Mary, Virginia. CATHERINE EATON (Allie) Merrimack Repertory Theatre: debut. Regional: Corsetless, The Bohemians, Carnegie Hall; Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, Importance of Being Earnest, Venetian Twins, A Christmas Carol, Guthrie Theatre; Clocks and Whistles, Origin Theatre; Hedda Gabler, A Moon for the Misbegotten, The Cobbler, Irish Classical Theatre; Bee Luther Hatchee, Blue Heron Theatre; Comedy of Errors, Hamptons Shakespeare Festival; Child's Guide to Innocence, New Jersey Repertory Company. Television: The recurring role of Sherry on All My Children. Film: Training Day, The Collaboration, Last Seen, Miss Bertram's Awakening, Showers of Happiness, With or Without You. Awards: Katharine Cornell for acting, Field Report for writing, Emmy Award for production, and a NYFA Fellowship. She wrote and performs the solo-show, Corsetless, which has toured internationally and is being adapted for film. Other: Founding partners of the Manhattan production house, Stir.www.stirproductions.net. Education: BA, Cornell University; MFA, University of Minnesota. JOSEPH TISA (Tom) Merrimack Repertory Theatre: debut. Regional: The Fantasticks, Long Wharf Theatre; Stones in His Pockets, Beau Jest, The Dresser, Old Lyric Repertory; Oleanna, The Diary of Anne Frank, Derby Day (by Samuel Brett Williams), Blue/Orange, The Country Wife, The Birthday Party, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Cloud 9. Film: Virgin Alexander with Bronson Pinchot, Weakness with Bobby Cannavale. TV: Superego with Will Janowitz for FOX Television Studios. Education: MFA, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
Read the press release |
GO BEHIND-THE-SCENES Get the latest information about MRT, Tryst and The Exceptionals on our Facebook page and blog. |
| MERRIMACK REP RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS EDGERTON AWARD Merrimack Repertory Theatre, which has earned a national reputation for producing and developing vibrant contemporary plays, is honored to have received a prestigious 2010 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for its upcoming world premiere production of The Exceptionals by Bob Clyman, directed by Charles Towers. The Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award is given to select theatres that have demonstrated a strong and consistent track record in producing new work. This Award came with a generous $6,000 grant to support added rehearsal and development time for The Exceptionals, which will premiere February 10 - March 6, 2011.
In 2006, California's Edgerton Foundation piloted this program with the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles by offering plays in development an extended rehearsal period for the entire creative team including the playwrights. The goal of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Awards is to utilize up-front development time to help extend the future life of the plays. Those first two plays, Curtains and 13 both went on to Broadway. Dr. Edgerton launched the program nationally in 2007 by funding 21 plays, continued in 2008 by supporting 23 plays, in 2009 supporting 27 plays and in 2010 supported a record 38 plays. Over the past four years, 111 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Awards, totaling $3.2 million, had been granted and thirty-four of those plays had gone on to further productions, including 2009 Tony Award Winners Next To Normal and 33 Variations; and 2010 Tony Award nominees Time Stands Still and In The Next Room, Or The Vibrator Play. Next To Normal also received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The Exceptionals, a new drama by Bob Clyman, is a play that brings to the stage a deep understanding of parental devotion, placed against the unique and still not completely understood world of infertility, artificial insemination and genetics. Set in the very near future, two mothers from very different backgrounds must make some tough decisions regarding their uniquely gifted children in a situation that examines parenthood through a prism of conflicting definitions. The play explores the human and ethical contours of this world and the balance between morality and desire, asking parents how far they will they go to ensure their children have every possible opportunity to be truly exceptional. The Exceptionals will be the third Clyman play produced by Merrimack Rep. In 2006, MRT produced the regional premiere of Secret Order, which was transferred Off-Broadway to 59E59 Theaters and then to Houston's Tony Award winning Alley Theatre. MRT also produced the regional premiere of Tranced in 2009. Read the Press Release
Purchase Tickets to The Exceptionals
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(Picture of sign outside.) We were seated around quarter of eight. The band was still setting up for the night. The lights were kept low and each of the small tables had a candle and living daisies. It was very busy, since it was a Saturday night, and all of the tables were very close together. Even in this tight space, the restaurant did not feel claustrophobic. There was also two blue glasses on every table. These glasses were used for ice water, which the waitress continuously filled throughout the night.
(Picture of Freddie Elias and the drummer for the band.) Before the band was set up yet, Freddie Elias, the resident violinist, played a "Happy Birthday" tune for one of the customers. Elias was having a lot of fun, throughout the night, between customers, his fellow band mates and the belly dancer.
(Picture of Zameena in her dance.) After finishing my sandwich and ordering humus and pita bread, the belly dancer made her appearance. Her name is Zameena. On Friday and Saturday nights, the restaurant features their more talented belly dancers. Zameena was, in fact, very talented. She came out in a twirl of gold, smelling of a very wonderful flowery perfume. She had finger cymbals that she used to repeat the same beat (no matter what the band was playing). This beat never counteracted the songs she danced to, however. She wore a golden shawl over her shoulder that she used in her dance and later removed.
(Picture of the Freddie Elias Ensemble performing.) During one song, Zameena was accompanied only by the drum, Elias watched with a grin as her hips moved in small, fast gestures. During her last song of the night, Zameena danced around the restaurant, collecting tips. Since she had the finger cymbals, she was unable to hold the money in her hands. Instead, the patrons of the restaurant slipped them into the straps of her tops and some even into the waist of her skirt. She kept a positive and charming smile on the entire time she danced. With a flurry at the end of the song, she ran out of the restaurant and up the stairs to where she had been hiding previously.
