Peninsula Players Announce 79th Season

Just a few short months until showtime! Photo by Len Villano.

Peninsula Players Theatre announces its 79th season, running June 17 – Oct. 19. The season will open with the world première of The Tin Woman by Sean Grennan. It’s a heartfelt comedy about Joy, a woman who unexpectedly gets a new lease on life as the recipient of a donated heart. The Tin Woman will have a three-week run closing July 6.

“Three years ago the Players presented the world première of Sean Grennan’s Making God Laugh to open the season,” said Peninsula Players Artistic Director Greg Vinkler. “Audiences fell in love with the show. Soon after, Sean sent me a new script, The Tin Woman, which I believe is an even richer, funnier and more moving play.”

From July 9 through July 27 the Peninsula Players present Agatha Christie’s classic whodunit And Then There Were None.

“No one writes old-fashioned murder mysteries like Ms. Christie,” Vinkler said. “I think this may be her best one. Great situation, fun characters and a doozy of a puzzler.”

Next up from July 30 through Aug. 17 is the frighteningly funny comedy The Mystery of Irma Vep – A Penny Dreadful by Charles Ludlam.

“What do you get when you combine Victorian melodrama, farce, the penny dreadful, Wuthering Heights, The Mummy’s Curse and Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rebecca?” Vinkler said. “You get our third show – the very silly, very funny The Mystery of Irma Vep – A Penny Dreadful. This show is a hoot! Two actors play eight characters of both sexes with a total of more than 40 costume changes between them.

“It’s quick-change silliness from beginning to end. From Lord Edgar’s haunted estate “Mandacrest,” where his dead wife’s portrait hangs over the mantelpiece, to the tombs of ancient Egypt, a motley cast of characters, saintly and evil, human and non-human, thread their zany way through this award-winning comedy.”

The Midwest première of Richard Strand’s Butler takes the stage from Aug. 20 through Aug. 31. The play was featured in the Players 2013 Winter Play Reading Series, The Play’s the Thing.

“Based on true events from the first year of the Civil War, it’s the story of a runaway slave and a brand-new general who butt heads over what to do with this very smart and stubborn young man seeking asylum at Fort Monroe, Virginia,” said Vinkler.

Closing the season Sept. 3 through Oct. 19 is Ted Swindley’s enduring musical revue, Always … Patsy Cline, which tells the true story of the music legend’s friendship with her devoted fan Louise Seger, a Texas housewife who maintained a correspondence with Patsy from 1961 until her untimely death.

The Peninsula Players performs Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 7:30 pm in the summer. With the opening of the fall show Sept. 3 curtain times are Tuesday through most Sundays at 7 pm. The closing Sunday performance of each show will have a 4 pm matinee, July 6, July 27, Aug. 17, Aug. 31, and Oct. 19.

Discount tickets are now available for season ticket holders and groups. Individual tickets are currently available by phoning the Box Office. Individual ticket prices range from $35 to $44. For more information or to reserve tickets call 920.868.3287 or visit peninsulaplayers.com.