The Importance Of Bein' Earnest

by Ted Swindley based on the Oscar Wilde play

This masterpiece is probably the most famous of all comedies. It revolves wittily around the most ingenious case of "manufactured" mistaken identity ever put into a play.

Show Dates: September 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20 2008

Miracle On 34th Street

Adapted by Will Severin, Patricia Di Benedetto Snyder and John Vreeke from the novel by Valentine Davies

Kris Kringle is the personification of good will and holiday spirit. As Macy's holiday Santa, he enchants children and shoppers so completely that he is deemed dangerous by fellow employees who question his competency and plot to ruin him. A small girl's belief in Santa and the magic of the holiday is at stake in a climactic courtroom decision. This hilarious, tender and charming show for the entire family is a Christmas classic.

Show Dates: December 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 2008

Inherit The Wind

by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee

This is the play that has as its genesis the events of the famous Scopes trial. One of the most outstanding dramas of our time. "The portrait it draws of an explosive episode in American culture, vigorously written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, remains as fresh as it ever was. One of the most stirring plays in recent years retains its folk flavor and spiritual awareness in an Arena Stage production. Bursting with vitality…literature of the stage!" —NY Times.

Show Dates: March 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14 2009

Dearly Departed

by David Bottrell and Jessie Jones

In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin family proves that living and dying in the South are seldom tidy and always hilarious. Despite their earnest efforts to pull themselves together for their father's funeral, the Turpin's other problems keep overshadowing the solemn occasion: Firstborn Ray-Bud drinks himself silly as the funeral bills mount; Junior, the younger son, is juggling financial ruin, a pack of no-neck monster kids, and a wife who suspects him of infidelity in the family car; their spinster sister, Delightful, copes with death as she does life, by devouring junk food; and all the neighbors add more than two cents. As the situation becomes fraught with mishap, Ray-Bud says to his long-suffering wife, "When I die, don't tell nobody. Just bury me in the backyard and tell everybody I left you." Amidst the chaos, the Turpins turn for comfort to their friends and neighbors, an eccentric community of misfits who just manage to pull together and help each other through their hours of need, and finally, the funeral.

Show Dates: May 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16 2009