GLOUCESTER — Gloucester Stage Company artistic director Robert Walsh and interim managing director Christopher Griffith have announced the 2019 slate for the theater’s 40th anniversary season.
“We are tremendously excited by our lineup of plays for this anniversary season. An absolute knockout will be ‘Ben Butler,’ both funny and smart … Additionally, we welcome back Paula Plum and Richard Snee, along with numerous artists who have contributed to Gloucester Stage in the past and will continue to define the future,” said Walsh.
Paula Plum is a Lynn native and a St. Mary’s High school graduate. Richard Snee is her husband.
The 2019 lineup:
June 7-30
‘Barefoot in the Park’ by Neil Simon
Directed by Shana Gozansky
The romantic comedy ‘Barefoot in the Park,’ award-winning playwright Neil Simon’s longest-running hit, and the 10th-longest-running non-musical play in Broadway history. Starring: Paula Plum, Richard Snee, McCaela Curran Donovan and Joe Short.
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July 5-28
‘Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps’ by Patrick Barlow, adapted from the John Buchan novel
Directed by Robert Walsh
A fast-paced and witty mystery play, ‘The 39 Steps’ follows Richard Hannay who gets swept up in a murder/espionage story and must save the U.K. from peril. Starring: Lewis Wheeler and Amanda Collins.
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Aug. 2-25
‘Ben Butler’ by Richard Strand
Directed by Joe Discher
Richard Strand’s ‘Ben Butler,’ a smart and funny discourse on race, protocol and our sense of humanity, garnered high critical acclaim during its off-Broadway run in 2016. This is its Boston area premiere. When an escaped slave shows up at Fort Monroe demanding sanctuary during the Civil War, Union General Benjamin Butler is faced with an impossible moral dilemma — follow the letter of the law, or make a game-changing move that could alter the course of U.S. history? Butler, a lawyer and former governor of Massachusetts who championed the causes of labor and of naturalized citizens, spent his summers in the Bayview neighborhood of Gloucester. Joe Discher, who helmed the show’s world premiere production in 2014 and the off-Broadway production in 2016, makes his GSC debut.
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Aug. 30-Sept. 22
A show to be announced
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Sept. 27-Oct. 20
‘Native Gardens’ by Karen Zacarias
This comedy follows high-powered lawyer Pablo and his very pregnant wife, who have purchased a house next door to community stalwarts Virginia and Frank. Soon, a disagreement between the neighbors over a longstanding fence line derails their plans of realizing the American Dream.
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Oct. 25-Nov. 17
‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare
Directed by Christopher V. Edwards, artistic director of Actors’ Shakespeare Project
Shakespeare’s classic tale of revenge comes to Gloucester Stage after two successful seasons of full-house student matinees. Responding to a need from Boston-area schools to immerse students in classic literature, this performance has an adjusted schedule to suit the schedules of 2,000 middle and high school students.
Gloucester Stage Company is at 267 East Main St. For ticket and season subscription information, call 978-281-4433 or visit www.gloucesterstage.com.
