Asolo Repertory Theatre Announces Updates to 2009-2010 Season

The Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, has announced an updated schedule for its 2009-2010 season, to be presented on three stages: the Mertz and the Cook Theatres in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, and the Historic Asolo Theater at the Ringling Museum.

Productions will include the Tony Award-winning dance musical Contact (October 23-November 22), created by Susan Stroman and John Weidman, and being presented by Asolo in partnership with the Sarasota Ballet; the heartwarming holiday comedy, The Perfume Shop (December 4-April 1), adapted by E.P. Dowdall from Miklos Laszlo’s Parfumerie; Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo (December 11-February 17), about the father of modern astronomy; James Still’s comedy, Searching for Eden (December 18-February 25), partly inspired by the comic writing of Mark Twain; Jason Robert Brown’s musical two-hander, The Last Five Years (January 21-February 28); Willy Holtzman’s Hearts (January 22-April 11); Janece Shaffer’s romantic comedy Managing Maxine (March 12-April 18); Backwards in High Heels: The Ginger Musical (May 7-30), conceived and developed by Lynnette Barkley and Christopher McGovern, with book/original songs/arrangements by McGovern; and Menopause the Musical with book and lyrics by Jeanie Linders (June 4-27).

The season will also include KJ Sanchez directing the New Stages Project Life in the Middle (October 16-30), an educational initiative designed specifically for upper elementary and middle school audiences; and Unplugged! Theatre in the Raw, a new play festival (March 13-April 3), featuring five scripts that the audience will be invited into every step of the process — from attending open rehearsals, to special events with the playwrights, talkback sessions, and finally the performances themselves.

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training productions will include Roberto Aquirre Sacasa’s The Mystery Plays (October 27-November 15), Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange (January 5-24), Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal (March 2-21), and Pierre Marivaux’s The Game of Love and Chance (April 14-May 3).

For more information, visit www.asolo.org.