On one’s way in to one of the best shows of the year, one can’t help but notice a rather large, colorful quad-fold brochure for what’s coming up in 2012. Here’s where The Alchemist Theatre jumps ahead of every other theatre company in town and casually mentions wht it’ll be doing out through December of 2012. Here’s a quick glance:
March of 2012
The Alchemist has chosen a staggeringly bizarre combination of shows set to run March 1st – 17th. The Bad Example Productions staging of the David Kaye adaptation of Orwell’s 1984 sounds fun in and of itself . . . and sort of follows through on themes it opened with in its production of Fahrenheit 451 a little while back. But pairing-up the dystopian darkness of Orwell with a parody of Free 2 B U & Me ? They Are both listed in the flier as opening and closing on the same day . . . kind of bizarre that they’ll both be alternating on the same set through all that time . . .
April of 2012
April opens with a really topical show about public educationOutliers. A new teacher at a suburban public school is tasked with heading the Gifted and Talented program. There’s only one student in ita kid named Danny Ludlow. Outliers looks at kids who fall through the cracks of public school. A percentage of the profits will go to help fund art education and purchase classroom supplies. Nice to see a show addressing issues in schools is also looking to help out on a more material level as well. The show runs April 12th – 21st.
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April ends with what is being billed as “A Romantic-Depressive Musical Comedy.” The first of a couple of different projects that Alchemist is doing with Jason Powell, this is a musical written by him. The man who wrote Invader? I Hardly Know Her brings forth In Love…Yet Again. Falling in love is great, but there’s all the confusion that comes shortly afterwards. This is a musical about that confusion. Sounds like fun…especially as so many musicals from throughout history are focused on falling in love. It’ll be interesting to see Powell tackle what happens afterwards in musical comedy format. The musical runs April 26th – May 5th.
June of 2012
The job market is absolutely awful. Return with the Alchemist Theatre to an entirely different time . . . a time when the US was just beginning to pull out of The Great Depression. Written by Alchemist’s Aaron Kopec, Help Wanted tells the story of a socially awkward accountant and the woman who helps him gain control of a corporation. Sounds like a fun romantic comedy for early summer. It runs June 2nd through 23rd.
October of 2012
Kopec’s next Halloween show is The Alchemist Eye…an evidently Poe-inspired story of a man who looks for spiritual antiquities who tracks down and ancient artifact in the home of and aging woman named Elizabeth Hopkins. It sounds like an interesting concept schedule to be staged October 11th – November 3rd.
December of 2012
And some fourteen months from now, Alchemist will round out 2012 with another Jason Powell/Aaron Kopec production that’s being billed as a “Fun and sexy, Shakespeare-themed vaudeville show.” Flights of Angels. It’s kind of a clever premisea standard vaudevillian burlesque revue is combined with elements of Shakeseapeare for the holidays. Really. Sounds like a really enjoyable alternative to all the traditional holiday fair. Too bad we’re going to be waiting until December of 2012 for that one . . .
For more information about the Alchemist’s upcoming projects, visit the Alchemist online.
