DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE

by Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Kari Ann Stamatoplos

2m, 4f

THE STORY: This comedy begins with an incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café. A stranger at the next table has had enough of the ringing phone belonging to a dead man—with a lot of loose ends. So begins Dead Man’s Cell Phone, a wildly imaginative new comedy by playwright Sarah Ruhl, recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play The Clean House. A work about how we memorialize the dead—and how that remembering changes us—it is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world.

OCTOBER 14 - 24, 2010

at the CARMEL COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE

EVERY CHRISTMAS STORY EVER TOLD (And Then Some...)

by Michael Carleton, James Fitzgerald, John Alvarez

Directed by Michael T. Long

3 M (Possibly 2m, 1f)

THE STORY:  This show combines all those holiday shows we’ve all come to love… and hate.  Instead of performing Charles Dickens' beloved holiday classic for the umpteenth time, three actors decide to perform every Christmas story ever told -- plus Christmas traditions from around the world, seasonal icons from ancient times to topical pop-culture, and every carol ever sung. This show is a madcap romp through the holiday season!

DECEMBER 9 - 19, 2010

at the CARMEL COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE

A NICE FAMILY GATHERING

by Phil Olson

Directed by Doug Davis

4m, 3f

THE STORY:  This is the story about a man who loved his wife so much, he almost told her. It’s Thanksgiving Day and the first family gathering at the Lundeen household since the Patriarch died. At the gathering, Dad comes back as a ghost with a mission; to tell his wife he loved her, something he neglected to tell her while he was alive. After all, they were only married for 41 years. The problem is, she can’t hear or see him. The trouble begins when Mom invites a date for dinner.

JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 6, 2011

at the CARMEL COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE

I HATE HAMLET

by Paul Rudnick

Directed by Lori Raffel

3m, 3f

THE STORY:  Andrew Rally seems to have it all: celebrity and acclaim from his starring role in a hit television series; a rich, beautiful girlfriend; a glamorous, devoted agent; the perfect New York apartment; and the chance to play Hamlet in Central Park. There are, however, a couple of glitches in paradise. Andrew's series has been canceled; his girlfriend is clinging to her virginity with unyielding conviction; and he has no desire to play Hamlet. When Andrew's agent visits him, she reminisces about her brief romance with John Barrymore many years ago, in Andrew's apartment. This prompts a seance to summon his ghost. From the moment Barrymore returns, dressed in high Shakespearean garb, Andrew's life is no longer his own. Barrymore, fortified by champagne and ego, presses Andrew to accept the part and fulfill his actor's destiny. The action becomes more hilarious with the entrance of Andrew's deal-making friend from LA, spouting the laid-back hype of the Coast and offering Andrew a fabulous new TV deal worth millions of dollars. The laughs are nonstop as Andrew wrestles with his conscience, Barrymore, his sword, and the fact that he fails as Hamlet in Central Park.

MARCH 31 - APRIL 10, 2011

at the CARMEL COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE

SUDS: THE ROCKING 60s SOAP OPERA MUSICAL

by Melinda Gilb and Steve Gunderson

Directed by Rich Baker

3f 1m (Possibly 3f, 6m)

THE STORY:  A fun-filled musical romp through the 1960’s, the show takes place in a laundromat where Cindy, an employee, begins receiving bad news from “Mr. Postman”. With her life falling apart before her eyes, a couple of Laundromat customers (actually “guardian angels”) with baskets of dirty laundry, are sent down from above to help her with her dilemma.  The cast breaks out with songs such as Please Mr. Postman, Walk On By, It’s My Party, Are You Lonesome Tonight, These Boots Are Made for Walkin’, Respect, and many more. This is good, clean, comical fun for audiences of all ages. If you loved Forever Plaid, Taffetas, and Pump Boys and Dinettes, you’ll get washed away in SUDS, the musical.

JUNE 9 - 19, 2011

at the CARMEL COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE