THEATRESQUARED Announces Season 8

SEASON 8 Lineup Brings Together a World Premiere, a Holiday Classic, Two Acclaimed New Works and Shakespeare

Five-Play Subscriptions Start at $105

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS— April 30, 2013—TheatreSquared (T2) Artistic Director Robert Ford and Managing Director Martin Miller today announced TheatreSquared Season 8, the 2013/14 lineup of professional theatre at Northwest Arkansas’s nationally acclaimed regional theatre. The five-play season includes the World Premiere of The Spiritualist by Robert Ford; 4,000 Miles, a 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist by Amy Herzog; a new stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol; David Lindsay-Abaire’s acclaimed new drama Good People; and Hamlet—TheatreSquared’s first subscription Shakespeare production. Five-play packages start at $105 and may be purchased by calling the Walton Arts Center subscription line at (479) 571-2785 or by visiting theatre2.org/subscribe.

“We understand why people go to the theatre,” said Ford. “You come for an experience that’s uncommon. The immediacy of the room, the skill of the performers, the quality of the set, and the story itself — each is crucial to achieve something exceptional. And we've brought these five shows together because they add up to a season of remarkable experiences.”

"We've also added some compelling new reasons to subscribe, ” said Miller. "Prime seats, discounted tickets, priority service, and free exchanges—those benefits are here to stay. But we're adding new perks as well. Table Mesa is our newest Restaurant Partner, with its $20 four-course T2 Subscriber Menu joining a list of first-rate deals available only to TheatreSquared subscribers from Bordinos, BHK on the Square, Fresco, Greenhouse Grille and The Wine Cellar. We're also launching a Hotel Partners program, with The Dickson Street Inn as our first member, helping out-of-town subscribers plan a night away in NWA. Reserved subscriber parking at The Dickson is locked in at the same low price. And—new this year—the T2 Kids’ Club will be offered during every Sunday matinee, giving parents the option to enroll their kids in activity-packed theatre classes while they enjoy the show. Finally, we’re adding seats to the Sunday Dinner Series—a sell-out every year—so that more patrons can enjoy Chef David Lewis’s garden-to-table dinners before each show.”

The 2013/14 Season launches with the World Premiere of THE SPIRITUALIST, a new comic drama by Artistic Director Robert Ford. The play introduces Rosemary Dunn, an English widow who cooks for the school lunch service and communes with the spirits of dead composers. When a crusading American newspaperman tries to unmask her as a fraud, he finds more to the so-called spiritualist than meets the eye. Inspired by true events, The Spiritualist reveals an unlikely intersection between art and commerce, sanity and the hope for transcendence. Directed by Kevin C. Fox (Sundown Town, The Fall of the House) and featuring Amy Herzberg as Rosemary Dunn.
August 29-September 15, 2013 (recommended for ages 13+).

The season continues with 4,000 MILES, the 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award-winner by Amy Herzog. After a disastrous coast-to-coast bike ride, 21-year-old college dropout Leo arrives at his communist 91-year-old grandmother’s Greenwich Village apartment. Over a month’s time, these unlikely roommates find each other at turns infuriating and bewildering—but ultimately discover unexpected kinship in this humorous and critically acclaimed portrayal of two outsiders finding their way in the world. September 26-October 13, 2013 (recommended for ages 13+).

For the holiday season, T2 presents a new, original stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Shrewd and heartless Ebeneezer Scrooge, who spends his workdays scorning joy and saving shillings in Victorian London, is deeply unsettled by the appearance of four ghosts at his bedside on Christmas Eve. Dickens’s classic tale of redemption, rediscovered each year by generations of families, is newly re-imagined for the stage in a holiday gift for Arkansas audiences of every age and walk of life.
December 5-29, 2013 (for all ages).

In 2014, Season 8 continues with Pulitzer Prize-Winner David Lindsay-Abaire’s GOOD PEOPLE, recipient of the 2011 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. In South Boston, sharp-tongued single-mom Margie has lost her job at the Dollar Store. Scrambling to make ends meet, she tracks down an old high-school flame—who is now successful, married and living well—but a favor turns to blackmail when a dark secret surfaces in this humor-laced new drama. 
February 13–March 9, 2014 (recommended for ages 13+).

The 2013/14 Subscription Series concludes with TheatreSquared’s new production of HAMLET, by William Shakespeare. The king is dead—murdered by his brother, who claims the throne and the widowed queen. The world moves on, but Prince Hamlet cannot, and vows to take revenge. Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy is equal parts ghost story, political intrigue, doomed romance and murder mystery, driven by one of literature’s most intriguing, enigmatic and controversial characters.
April 10–May 4, 2014 (recommended for ages 13+).

The 2014 ARKANSAS NEW PLAY FESTIVAL, Arkansas's premiere celebration of new works for the stage, will be held June 12-15, 2014, with dates and titles for the celebration of new works to be announced in February 2014. Now in its sixth year, the festival seeks to give voice to emerging playwrights whose timely and relevant stories resonate with the shifting demographics of mid-America, and will be staged both at T2’s home venue in Fayetteville and at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock.
June 12-15, 2014

TheatreSquared 2013/14 subscriptions are now on sale. The theatre’s expanded subscription options include five-play packages and a new “Pick Four” option, offering the benefits of a full season subscription in a four-play package. The T2 Preview Saver Series, including a ticket to the final Thursday evening dress rehearsal of each new production, begins at $84. T2’s popular Opening Night Series—including prime reserved seats for the Friday night opening, an intermission champagne toast, and a catered reception with the cast—begins at $143. The T2 Prime Weekend Series, with reserved seating for either Friday and Saturday evening performances (excluding Opening), begins at $125. The T2 Thursday/Sunday Series, in which subscribers can choose seats for either Thursday night, Sunday afternoon or Sunday evening, begins at $116. The T2 Sunday Dinner Series, including prime seats at the Sunday evening performance and a three-course, seasonal dinner—opener, entrée, dessert and seasonal beverage—begins at $212.

Add-on options available for T2 Season Subscribers include discounted reserved parking at the Deck at the Dickson ($4 per show); the T2 Kids’ Club Pass, a Sunday matinee subscription for parents that also enrolls one child (5+) in hands-on classes at Nadine Baum Studios during the performance ($15 per show); and the New Play Fest Pass, offering subscribers 15% savings on all-access passes to the 2014 Arkansas New Play Festival ($26).

Complementary benefits for all T2 subscribers include savings of up to 15% on each ticket, prime reserved seating, free unlimited exchanges, and same-day dining discounts at T2 Restaurant Partners. Partners include BHK on the Square, offering 25% off; Bordinos, offering a $20 3-course meal with wine pairing; Fresco Café and Pub, with a $12 meal including soup or salad, entrée, and beer or wine; Greenhouse Grille, offering 25% off; Table Mesa, offering a $20 four-course meal; and The Wine Cellar, offering 25% off. Subscribers save 15% on taxi service to the theatre and back with Green Cab Co. and — new for the 2013/14 Season— a 20% savings on nights stayed at the Dickson Street Inn.

Subscriptions are on sale now at the Walton Arts Center Box Office, and can be reserved by calling (479) 571-2785 or by visiting theatre2.org/subscribe.

TheatreSquared's locally produced and nationally acclaimed productions reach 22,000 patrons each year. The company is Northwest Arkansas's only year-round professional theatre, offering a unique audience experience in the intimate 175-seat theatre at Walton Arts Center's Nadine Baum Studios. In 2011, TheatreSquared was recognized by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards, as one of the nation's ten most promising emerging theatres.

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Major funding for the TheatreSquared Season 8 is provided by The Walton Family Foundation, Inc.; by The Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation; by Nick and Carolyn Cole; and by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Major marketing support for TheatreSquared Season 8 is provided by the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotions Commission. Media sponsors include NWA Media, CitiScapes, KUAF, Mailco USA and The Fayetteville Flyer.