Waterworks Players Community Theatre is proud to announce our 2017-18 season, entitled “Secrets and Lies”.  These five productions feature a diverse range of characters who have something to hide, in genres spanning from suspense-thriller to light-hearted comedy.

The season opens with Shrek: the Musical.  With music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire—and based on the movie—this show follows the exploits of the ogre Shrek and his companion Donkey as they rescue Princess Fiona.  Someone’s got a secret, and it’s a big one, and in revealing the secret the characters discover that fairy tales sometimes come true in unexpected ways.  Directed by Zachary Glasscock, a senior theatre major at Longwood University in his Waterworks directorial debut, this show is family-appropriate and fun for all ages, and will run the last two weekends in October.

In what is now an established Farmville tradition lovingly borrowed from our British friends, Waterworks will present its holiday pantomime the first two weekends in December.  This year the show will be Aladdin.

As with all “panto” productions, this show features a lot of audience interaction and is especially appropriate for children, even very young ones, but it still has plenty to offer for the adults too.  It will again be directed by Mary Jo Stockton, who first introduced us to this wonderful theatrical form, also directed our successful production of Legally Blonde this past April, and is often seen both on- and off-stage in a variety of roles.

Our third production is The Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Victory Church, a light comedy by Richmond’s Bo Wilson that premiered at the Virginia Rep’s Hanover Tavern in 2014.  Five wisecracking women sort donations in the church basement and unravel a mystery in this funny and heartwarming comedy.  It will be directed by Dudley Sauve, our artistic director and director of (and occasionally actor in) hundreds of our shows over the years since founding the group.  The show will run at the end of February.

In April, we will present Gaslight (Angel Street) by Patrick Hamilton, originally released as Gaslight (and adapted into multiple movies under that name).  This Victorian-set thriller from 1938 tells the story of a woman and her manipulative husband, and is the direct inspiration for the modern term “gaslighting”.  The show will be directed by Don Blaheta, a regular face onstage and behind the scenes at Waterworks.

The final show of our 2017-18 season will be The Illusion, a modern adaptation by Tony Kushner based on a 17th century original (L’Illusion Comique) by Pierre Corneille.  Kushner’s drama presents a vision of a sad father and a prodigal son where all is not as it seems.  Our June 2018 production will be directed by Clint Wright, who has previously worked and advised in technical roles at Waterworks but here takes his first spin in the director’s seat.

Our giving calendar has reset with the season as well.  We are grateful to all our donors, and their generous assistance makes it possible to do what we do.  We are a 501(c)(3) organization and monetary donations will be tax-deductible.  Season donations of more than $100 will be recognized (at giving levels of $100, $250, $500, and $1000) in our production programs throughout the 2017-18 season.

For more information about any of our upcoming productions, check our website at www.waterplayers.org, or Like us on Facebook.  Auditions for Shrek: the Musical will be August 20 and 21 at 7pm; auditions for other shows will be announced 2-3 months in advance of the show dates.  For the more technically inclined, we often need offstage help as well; and both on- and off-stage we welcome newcomers to the theatre.  Tickets go on sale about a month in advance of the show, and you can purchase your ticket with seat reservation on our website, waterworksplayers.org,  or by calling us at 434-392-3452.

Waterworks Players is supported in part by a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts.