ALLEY THEATRE
www.alleytheatre.org

Presents

THE 2004 - 2005 SEASON

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THE EXONERATED

By Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen
Directed by Rob Bundy

Neuhaus Stage Production
October 1 - October 31, 2004

Time Magazine's Best Play of the Year. This play contains mature subject matter.

A riveting theatre experience sure to encourage a community-wide conversation, The Exonerated shares the stories of six individuals who were wrongly convicted of murder and spent years on death row before being found innocent and freed. The characters are composites of 40 individuals exhaustively interviewed by husband/wife team Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen. "An artful and moving evening of documentary theater" that "pays handsome tribute to the resilience of human hearts and minds," wrote Charles Isherwood of Variety. Directed by Rob Bundy (artistic director of Stages Repertory Theatre), each performance will be followed by a discussion of the play among cast, audience and discussion leaders from the community.

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LEADING LADIES

Written and Directed by Ken Ludwig
World Premiere Comedy

Hubbard Stage Production
October 15 - November 7, 2004

Take two down-on-their-luck Shakespearean actors reduced to performing in the Amish countryside of Pennsylvania and add a wealthy old woman searching for her two long-lost heirs. Then, mix in the beautiful niece who longs to be in the theatre and you have a rollicking new comedy of mistaken identities. Leading Ladies is a world premiere by the author of Broadway's Crazy for You, Lend Me a Tenor and the current adaptation of Twentieth Century. A co-production with Cleveland Play House.

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Special Engagement

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

A GHOST STORY OF CHRISTMAS
By Charles Dickens
Adapted and Directed by Stephen Rayne

Hubbard Stage Production
November 26 - December 26, 2004

A holiday production unlike any other, the Alley's version of Dickens' popular A Christmas Carol takes a ghostly turn when three spirits visit greedy old Ebenezer Scrooge on the eve of Christmas Day. Through encounters with characters from his past, present, and possible future, Scrooge learns what ill fate lies in store for him should he continue on his heartless course. An unforgettable tale and an amazing journey for audiences of all ages, A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story of Christmas never fails to remind of the power of redemption and, like the glee that overtakes Scrooge in the play's final joyous moments, overwhelms us with warm sentiments of the holiday season.

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Arthur Miller's

AFTER THE FALL

Directed by Gregory Boyd
Hubbard Stage Production
January 14 - February 6, 2005

Building upon the critical and popular successes of the Alley Theatre's recent productions of Death of a Salesman and A View from the Bridge, comes Arthur Miller's powerful After the Fall. Perhaps his most autobiographical work, After the Fall is an extraordinary portrait of a lawyer named Quentin as he battles the demons of his past and recalls his marriage to the famous and beautiful Maggie - a tormented character based on the author's late wife Marilyn Monroe. Included in Quentin's story is Miller's depiction of a desperate struggle to regain lost innocence within an America caught in the hysteria of the House Un-American Activities Committee inquiries of the 1950s. After the Fall is the first of two productions honoring the 90th birthday of Arthur Miller in 2005.

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Arthur Miller's Classic of Witchcraft and Sexual Blackmail

THE CRUCIBLE

Directed by Gregory Boyd
Hubbard Stage Production
February 22 - March 20, 2005

One of the most celebrated and performed plays by one of America's greatest living dramatists, The Crucible set the stage afire when it was first produced on Broadway in 1953. Using the witch hunts of Salem as a metaphor for the power of theocracy, this continually relevant play explodes with the passion, fear, and danger of a time when even the accusation of political crime led to catastrophic consequences. As a vicious teenage seductress takes revenge on her lover and his wife by accusing them of witchcraft, a violent clash ensues between the worlds of intolerance and the power of truth and redemption. Seen now in the context of recent events, and Miller's own After the Fall, The Crucible takes on more resonance than ever.

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Steve Martin's Hilarious

THE UNDERPANTS

Directed by Scott Schwartz
Hubbard Stage Production
April 1 - 24, 2005

Sex, lies, and lingerie! Let the fun begin with comedian Steve Martin's latest work for the theatre, The Underpants. Martin's hilarious adaptation of Carl Sternheim's classic German comedy Die Hose embraces the chaos that befalls a neglected housewife after she loses her underpants in public, allowing her to acquire some surprising admirers who choose to rent rooms in her very own house! A play about sex, politics, feminism, and sexism, The Underpants brings Martin's comic genius and sophisticated literary style together in an entertaining romp. Directed by Scott Schwartz, director of the Off-Broadway hits Batboy: The Musical, Golda's Balcony and Tick, Tick…Boom!

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Tony Award Nominee

FROZEN

By Byrony Lavery
Pending Rights Availability

Neuhaus Stage Production
April 8 - May 8, 2005

This play contains subject matter.

Frozen is a gripping mystery that connects the lives of three strangers through the disappearance of a child and the search for answers from a disturbing serial killer. Drawn together by horrific circumstances, these three - the mother of the child, the kidnapper and an academic studying serial killers - embark upon a long journey, thawing their once-frozen hope along the way. London's Independent described Frozen, the astonishing Tony-nominated play from British playwright Byrony Lavery, as "consistently surprising and even bravely comic... The almost thriller-like promise of the play's climactic confrontation is like a time-bomb ticking in the back of your head." Frozen received many awards for its London and New York productions and was nominated for a Tony and a Susan Smith Blackburn Award for outstanding works in theatre written by women.

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Houston's Favorite Comedy Returns

STEEL MAGNOLIAS

By Robert Harling
Directed by Judith Ivey

Hubbard Stage Production
May 13 - June 5, 2005

Set in the local beauty parlor of a small Louisiana town, Steel Magnolias centers around a group of eccentric women who, laugh, cry, gossip and survive the hardships and splendors of life. A tribute to the charm and wit of Southern women and the bonds of friendship, Steel Magnolias was one of the longest-running productions in Alley Theatre history in 1989 and brought "laughter through the tears" (as the Houston Chronicle titled its review) to audiences night after night. Directed by Texas native Judith Ivey, the Tony-winning actress who received accolades for her performance as Martha in the Alley's 2003 production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

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