Gulfshore Playhouse 2018-19 season revisits history for laughs and drama

The 2018-19 season for Gulfshore Playhouse will bring the ancients in ways you've never seen them. Founder-Artistic Director Kristen Coury announced the upcoming season this week to patrons and supporters, and at least two of the upcoming works dive into history with a belly flop:

"An Iliad," Oct. 18-Nov. 4: The narrator — who could be Homer addressing a contemporary audience or simply an ardent history professor — retells the story of the famous Greek and Roman battle in the language of today's reader. It distills the lofty poetry down to CNN news bites and New York Times assessments of grieving families, and poses human questions about the famous story. 

 "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," Nov. 17 to Dec. 30: The Roman empire is turned into a fun house for a crafty slave engineering his own freedom by saving his owner's sweetheart from a sale to a warrior accustomed to getting his way. It is the company's second musical in three years, this one with score by Stephen Sondheim, and is a farce rife with slamming doors, mistaken identities and name puns such as Erronius and Miles Gloriosus. Ramping up the humor: This cast will be all male. 

“The Revolutionists,” Jan. 12 to Feb. 3, 2019: This revisionist look at the French Revolution airdrops Queen Marie Antoinette, assassin Charlotte Corday, playwright Olympe de Gouges and spy Marianne Angelle into a meeting that hatches an unlikely alliance. The women fight for equality and freedom — spoiler alert; most women know they didn't win — in a sisterhood full of wit and one-liners, written by Lauren Gunderson.

It is a season of hearkening back, with the next two plays set at nether ends of the Victorian era:

“In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play,” Feb. 16 to March 10, 2019: The Tony Award-nominated comedy by Sarah Ruhl ("Dead Man's Cell Phone," "The Clean House") follows a Victorian doctor’s belief he has created a shock therapy invention to treat female “hysteria” patients. The shock, however, reaches his wife, who becomes suspicious of his intentions, and the families around his patients.

“Holmes and Watson,” March 23 to April 21, 2019: John Watson, the medical sidekick to the famous Sherlock Holmes, gets a surprise when he learns three men claiming to be the famous detective are under a doctor's care — three years after all believe Holmes plunged to his death off Reichenbach Falls. Jeffrey Hatcher's tale spins intrigue and sleuthing that Holmes himself would delight in.

The final play of the season is its lone contemporary offering:

“Skylight,” May 4 to 26, 2019:  David Hare's wry Tony-winning drama reunites a schoolteacher  with her former lover, now a widower, in her London apartment. No "6 rms riv vu" romantics; these two are by turns blunt, and gentle, curt and cautious as they recall their history and renew their clashing ideologies.

Gulfshore Playhouse is suffering through an abbreviated season this year after Hurricane Irma canceled its New Works Festival, which had been set for two days before the storm hit Sept. 10. Irma also shut down the first production of the season for remediation of mold damage from water incursion and and a lengthy power outage in the Norris Community Center, where the company stages its plays. So the festival has been pushed back a month, to Oct. 4- 7, this autumn.

It leaves September a more quiet month for full-time residents, but Coury offered the optimist's view: "More of you can come see it now," she told guests at the invitation-only announcement.

Coury said she is also excited about the growing work with its education department's teen organization, which will offer summer entertainment with its production of “The Secret Garden” as part of its Teen Conservatory program.

The audition-only musical theater conservatory includes master classes and workshops with professional actors. Auditions are at 7 p.m. March 4 and 18 for the conservatory, and performances are Aug. 2 and 3.

This week, season ticket sales for the upcoming season are open only to current subscribers at what is called early-bird pricing. Beginning Monday, Feb. 26, new subscribers can buy season tickets at those prices. Single tickets and subscriptions at full price go on sale March 5. 

Prices are tiered, with higher rates for first-week or opening-night tickets; otherwise a standard, six-show subscription is $303, or $333 with premium seating.

For tickets: gulfshoreplayhouse.org or 866-811-4111

For information and auditions: 239-261-7529