Theater News

McCarter Theatre Center Announces 2014-15 Season

Theresa Rebeck’s ”The Understudy” joins the Princeton theater’s new lineup.

Theresa Rebeck's black comedy The Understudy will come to Princeton, New Jersey's McCarter Theatre in the fall of 2014.
Theresa Rebeck's black comedy The Understudy will come to Princeton, New Jersey's McCarter Theatre Center in the fall of 2014.
(© David Gordon)

Emily Mann, artistic director of Princeton, New Jersey's McCarter Theatre Center, has announced the five productions joining the theater's 2014-15 season.

Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra will open the season, running from September 5-October 5. Mann, who will helm the production, reunites with actress Nicole Ari Parker, whom she directed in the 2012 Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. Parker will take on the titular role of Egypt's last queen in this tragic story of star-crossed lovers.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Theresa Rebeck's The Understudy will follow, running from October 14-November 2. Directed by Adam Immerwahr, the black comedy offers a biting take on backstage life and celebrity.

Next will be Sizwe Banzi is Dead, a coproduction with South Africa's Market Theatre (where the play originated) and Syracuse Stage, running from January 9-February 8, 2015. Written by Athol Fugard, John Kani (who earned a Tony Award in 1975 for his leading performance in the play), and Winston Ntshona, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead offers a tale of heroism and perseverance and demonstrates the political power of storytelling. Kani's son Atandwa will take on his original Broadway role.

Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery will then receive a world premiere coproduction with Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage, directed by Gary Griffin. A cast of five will take on over 30 characters in a story following Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson as they battle their "greatest mystery to date." The production is set to run from March 10-29, 2015.

Five Mile Lake, a new work written by Rachel Bonds and directed by Mann, will close out the season with a run from May 1-31, 2015. The play follows a group of young people as they journey into their 30s in a rapidly changing world.

To purchase tickets to this season's upcoming productions at McCarter Theatre Center, click here.