‘Guys & Dolls,’ ‘Glass Menagerie’ on tap for 2015 Weston season

Pointing to its new slogan – Celebrating the Classics, Nurturing the New – Steve Stettler, resident producing director of the Weston Playhouse, introduced the theater company’s 79^th season at the new Manchester Community Library on Saturday Nov. 29. Stettler also announced the expansion of discount programs to encourage locals and families to attend this summer’s plays.

On the Weston Playhouse main stage, the company will present:

Steve Stettler, at the podium, announces the 2015 season of dramas, musicals and children’s plays by the Weston Playhouse. Chester Telegraph photo.

Pump Boys and Dinettes – June 30 to July 11 — A Tony nominated musical set on Highway 57 in North Carolina where the employees of a gas station and a diner play and sing songs of love, loss, fishing, pie and the “farmer tan” in a country rock genre.

Peter and the Starcatcher – July 16 to July 25 — Inspired by a popular children’s book, this play with music is billed as a “grownups prequel to Peter Pan” in which a company of 12 actors play more than 100 characters to explain how Peter became the boy who would never grow up.

Guys and Dolls – July 30 to Aug. 22 — With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, this classic musical based on Damon Runyon’s colorful underworld characters tells the story of the oldest established permanent crap game in New York with songs like If I Were a Bell, Luck Be Lady, Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat and Fugue for Tinhorns.

The Glass Menagerie – Aug. 27 to Sept. 5 — Tennessee Williams’ first critical success is an personal – even autobiographical – “memory play” about the relationship of a of a fading southern belle, her emotionally fragile daughter and restless son.

At the Other Stage at the Weston Rod and Gun Club, the playhouse will present:

Junie B. Jones. The Musical – June 25 to July 12 — Adapted from the popular childrens’ books, this musical explores life through the eyes of a precocious first-grader in her “Top Secret Personal Beeswax Journal.”

The Other Place – July 23 to Aug. 9 — Played by Weston veteran Susan Haefner, Juliana’s life is falling apart. Her marriage to Ian (Weston veteran David Bonanno) is on the rocks and her daughter has run away. But is she an entirely reliable narrator? Follow the plot as it moves from reality to illusion and back adding layer upon layer of mystery until Juliana visits the other place.

Rounding out the season at the Rod and Gun Club is a new work that will be announced shortly and will run from Aug. 13 to Aug. 30

According to Stettler, the expanded discount programs include half-price youth tickets that will be available for every show and a larger VTix program. VTix provides discounted seats to Vermont residents, and in the 2015 season the playhouse will set aside 25 seats at $25 each for every mainstage show and 15 seats for $15 each for every Weston Rod and Gun Club. All seats will be available when tickets go on sale in May and proof of residency is required when tickets are picked up.

— Shawn Cunningham
©Telegraph Publishing LLC — 2014