2018 fall Wilmington theater preview
A look at what's going up, from community theater to Broadway tours
It'll be a full slate of stuff on the boards this autumn, and it all starts right after Labor Day.
Sept. 6-23 @ the Cape Fear Playhouse: Big Dawg Productions presents the 1979 play by John Pielmeier about a young nun accused of murdering her newborn child. (The 1985 movie starred Jane Fonda, Meg Tilly and Anne Bancroft.) The three-woman play revolves around the young woman, Agnes (Grace Carlyle Berry); a court-appointed psychiatrist charged with assessing her sanity (Eleanor Zeddies); and the Mother Superior (Jemila Ericson) trying to protect Agnes. Katherine Vernon directs. 910-367-5237 or BigDawgProductions.org
Sept. 7-Oct. 6 @ TheatreNOW: Area resident Don Fried directs his own comedy about whether Shakespeare really wrote all of his own plays. Joshua Drew plays "William Shaksper," while Braxton Lathan Williams plays Christopher Marlowe and Hal Cosec plays Edward DeVere. Some (conspiracy) theories have posited Marlowe and DeVere as possible authors of works attributed to Shakespeare. TheatreNOW chef Denise Gordon's British-themed menu includes fish and chips, braised beef and a lentil, apple and roasted veggie pie. 910-399-3669 or TheatreWilmington.com
Sept. 13-23 @ Brunswick Little Theatre: Eben French Mastin directs this comedy by Tony Schwartz and Marylou Ambrose for Brunswick Little Theatre. It's not a parody of "Legally Blonde." Rather, it's the story of a couple, Mike and Marie, who are finally ready to retire and enjoy their empty nest when their 30-year-old daughter and Marie's 83-year-old mother suddenly need to move in. 910-447-2586 or BrunswickLittleTheatre.com
Sept. 27-Oct. 7 @ UNCW's Mainstage Theatre: The University of North Carolina Wilmington's Department of Theatre opens its first show of the fall semester with this play by Marsha Norman, best known for her dark, Pulitzer-winning drama "'Night, Mother." "Getting Out," directed by UNCW professor Anne Berkeley, is about a woman trying to start over after her release from prison. But when her difficult mother, problematic ex-boyfriend and former prison guard re-enter the picture, getting free of her past proves challenging. 910-962-3500 or UNCW.edu/theatre
Sept. 28-Oct. 7 @ Thalian Hall: The Thalian Association presents the beloved musical from Stephen Schwartz ("Godspell," "Wicked") about a young prince on a search for a life with meaning and adventure. Featuring such songs as "Corner of the Sky" and "Magic to Do." 910-632-2285 or ThalianHall.org
Oct. 4-21 @ Hannah Block USO/Community Arts Center: Before Trey Parker co-created cable TV hit "South Park" and Broadway smash "The Book of Mormon," he wrote "Cannibal: The Musical!" The gory, satirical comedy is based on the culinary exploits of real-life Colorado cannibal Alferd Packer. Wilmington comedy and theater troupe Pineapple-Shaped Lamps last staged the show in 2011, and they're bringing back the Halloween-appropriate romp in October to revisit such songs as the double-entendre-laden “When I Was On Top of You” (an ode to a horse) and the endlessly catchy, intentionally nonsensical “It’s a Shpadoinkle Day.” PSLcomedy.com
'Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery'
Oct. 11 @ The Cape Fear Playhouse: Big Dawg Productions stages this farce from Ken Ludwig ("Lend Me a Tenor," "Moon Over Buffalo"), a send-up of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mystery "The Hound of the Baskervilles." Performed at breakneck speed with actors playing multiple roles, it's similar in style to "The 39 Steps," the Alfred Hitchcock comedy Big Dawg staged last year. 910-367-5237 or BigDawgProductions.org
'Tales from the Grand Guignol'
Oct. 12-Nov. 3 @ TheatreNOW: Zach Hanner, artistic director of Wilmington dinner theater TheatreNOW, is writing an original piece that gets its name from the Parisian theater that specialized in horror shows. Individual tales will alternate between creepy and comedic. 910-399-3669 or TheatreWilmington.com
Oct. 13 @ Thalian Hall: Ninth annual one-night fundraiser for Opera House Theatre Co. It features an all-male cast of local thespians getting into to drag to compete for the title of Most Womanless. 910-632-2285 or ThalianHall.org
Oct. 25-Nov. 3 @ N. Front Theatre: Panache Theatrical Productions will do the Time Warp again when it brings back the tradition of staging this cult favorite to the historic space where the old City Stage company put it on for many years. With such tunes as "Sweet Transvestite," "Wild and Untamed Thing" and, oh yes, "The Time Warp," it'll be a rockin' time over at the Frankenstein place. PanacheTheatre.com
Oct. 25-28 @ UNCW's SRO Theatre: Diana Son's 1998 play bounces through time before and after a horrible, transformative event: Two women, sharing their first kiss, are attacked, changing both of their lives in profound ways. A production of the Department of Theatre's Student Lab series, which is stage entirely by students. 910-962-3500 or UNCW.edu/theatre
Oct. 25 @ Thalian Hall: Don Baker directs the Shakespearean tragedy for Dram Tree Shakespeare, casting Juliet's Capulets as white and Romeo's Montagues as African-American. 910-632-2285 or ThalianHall.org
Nov. 6 @ Kenan Auditorium: London-based touring company Theatre Re brings in this show as part of the UNCW Presents series. Featuring live music and lots of movement, it's about a middle-aged father in the early stages of dementia who's determined to live his best life despite his illness. 910-962-3500 or UNCW.edu/arts
Cucalorus Stage
Nov. 7-11: As part of the 24th annual Cucalorus Festival, the Stage component features a mix of music, theater, dance and more by acts ranging from local to international. The schedule hasn't been announced yet, but it's sure to intrigue, as always. Cucalorus.org
Nov. 9-10 @ CFCC Wilson Center: Broadway tour of the musical Rodgers & Hammerstein classic comes to Cape Fear Community College's Wilson Center for two shows. 910-362-7999 or CapeFearStage.com
'Marian, or The True Tale of Robin Hood'
Nov. 8-18 @ UNCW's Mainstage Theatre: The University of North Carolina Wilmington wraps up its fall semester with this play by Adam Szymkowicz. Billed as a "gender switching/smashing comedic frolic through Sherwood Forest," it turns out that Robin Hood is actually Marian in disguise, and that the Merry Men have rather more fluid sexual identities, too. UNCW theater professor Robin Post directs. 910-962-3500 or UNCW.edu/theatre
Nov. 17 @ CFCC Wilson Center: Broadway tour of the musical comedy based on "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" comes to Cape Fear Community College's Wilson Center for two shows in one day. "Spamalot" has been done by local companies in Wilmington a time or two, and it's got plenty of guaranteed laughs in addition to show-stopping numbers. 910-362-7999 or CapeFearStage.com
Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.