POWERHOUSE SEASON
The Powerhouse Season, our annual partnership with Vassar College, is the core of our artistic programming. About three hundred and fifty professional playwrights, directors, actors, and designers, plus forty to fifty students in the Training Company live and work together, away from critical and commercial pressures, allowing them to take risks as they explore and develop new projects.
The 2017 Powerhouse Season ran from
June 23 - July 30, 2017.
The 2018 Powerhouse Season details will be announced in early Spring.
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MAINSTAGE IN THE POWERHOUSE
SACRED VALLEY
by Josh Radnor
directed by Sheryl Kaller
Narby and Natalie can’t remember a time when they weren’t friends. But their seemingly rock-solid friendship is upended when Narby takes Natalie’s husband Brian out for his first mushroom trip. The next day, a confused Brian leaves Natalie, an enraged Natalie blames Narby, and three people are forced to ask themselves the deepest questions about love, friendship, and growing up in this bittersweet comedy from Josh Radnor (Liberal Arts, “How I Met your Mother”, Powerhouse’s The Babylon Line).
JUNE 29 - JULY 9
MAINSTAGE IN THE POWERHOUSE
GOOD MEN WANTED
by Kevin Armento
directed by Jaki Bradley
choreographed by Ani Taj
Good Men Wanted brings to life the incredible true stories of renegade women who disguised themselves as men to fight in the Civil War. In a searing drama punctuated by explosive dance sequences set to contemporary pop music, five women of vastly different backgrounds become warriors and spies, endure prison camps and midnight raids, and ultimately intersect at America's most storied battlefield, Gettysburg. These unsung heroes circumvented the limitations of their time, with a boldness that speaks loudly to our own.
JULY 20 - 30
MUSICAL WORKSHOPS IN THE MARTEL
STILYAGI
lyrics by Lisa Kron
music by Peter Lerman
based on the motion picture The Hipsters, produced by
Red Arrow Films
directed by Michael Mayer
“This is musical about me, Mels Yefimovich Vasnetsov, about difficult time in my life when I was young (hard to believe) and good looking (harder to believe) in no-longer-existing world of 1950s Moscow, when I was pulled from promising future in Komosomol Leninist Youth Brigade by beautiful, corrupt and dissipated Stilyaga girl by name of Polly, who ruined my life in best and worst possible manner, which, to this day, I am not reconciling. Obviously, this is complicated Soviet story, not fit subject for frivolous American musical. But they ask for blurb so here is blurb so if you are interested, please, I invite you, come. But if you ask me this is terrible idea.”
JUNE 23 - 25
MUSICAL WORKSHOP IN THE MARTEL
THIS AIN'T NO DISCO
music and lyrics by
Stephen Trask and
Peter Yanowitz
book by
Stephen Trask &
Peter Yanowitz
and Rick Elice
directed by Trip Cullman
Set against the garbage strikes, the grit, the graffiti of NYC 1979, This Ain't No Disco tells the story of drifters and dreamers who search for their place in the night world of Studio 54 and the Mudd Club. Ultimately, it’s about finding community and purpose in a city where one’s fate can turn on a dime bag, where every few steps gives you a chance to pick a new direction, to take a new path. From co-creator of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the director of Six Degrees of Separation.
JUNE 30 - JULY 2
MUSICAL WORKSHOP IN THE MARTEL
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
book by Lynn Nottage
composed by Duncan Sheik
lyrics by Susan Birkenhead
based on the novel by
Sue Monk Kidd
directed by Sam Gold
It’s 1964 in South Carolina, and Lily Owens wrestles with her controlling father and a haunting memory of her dead mother. When Rosaleen, her Black caretaker, is beaten and jailed for attempting to vote, Lily’s rebellious spirit is awakened and she and Rosaleen escape their circumstances on an adventure, to find the truth about her mother’s death. One portentous clue leads them to a colorful bee farm run by three eccentric and spiritual Black sisters, whose wisdom, warmth and motherly love help both Lily and Rosaleen grow and heal. Written by two time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage, lyrics by Tony and Drama Desk nominee Susan Birkenhead,composed by Tony winner Duncan Sheik, and directed by Tony winner Sam Gold.
JULY 27 - 29
INSIDE LOOK PLAY WORKSHOPS
THE GREAT LEAP
by Lauren Yee
directed by Will Davis
San Francisco, spring 1989. Manford Lum, locally renowned on the sidewalk basketball courts of Chinatown, talks his way onto a college team, just before they travel to Beijing for a "friendship" game. His background is a mystery, but he can sink 100 free throws in a row, so who cares? When they arrive, China is in the throes of the post-Cultural Revolution era, and Manford must juggle international politics and his own personal history. There’s more at stake on the court than just who wins or loses. Inspired by events from the life (and short-lived basketball career) of playwright Lauren Yee’s father.
JULY 7 - 9
INSIDE LOOK PLAY WORKSHOPS
THE HOMECOMING QUEEN
by Ngozi Anyanwu
directed by Awoye Timpo
A bestselling novelist returns to Nigeria to care for her ailing father, but before she can bury him, she must relearn the traditions she's long forgotten. Having been absent for over a decade, she must collide with her culture, traumatic past, painful regrets, and the deep, deep love she thought she could never have.
JULY 28 - 30
FREE PUBLIC READINGS IN THE SHIVA
FESTIVAL 1
Saturday, June 24 | 2pm
KID PRINCE AND PABLO
by Brian Quijada
original music by Marvin Quijada
directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh
Saturday, June 24 | 5pm
IRONWEED
by William Kennedy & Jodie Markell
based on the novel by William Kennedy
directed by Jodie Markell
Sunday, June 25 | 2pm
LITTLE ORPHAN DANNY
book, music & lyrics by Dan Finnerty
additional music by Dan Lipton
directed by Sean Daniels
Sunday, June 25 | 5pm
PARIS, ACTORS
by Hamish Linklater
directed by Leigh Silverman
Saturday, July 15 | 8pm*
JANE SAYS
by Diana Son
directed by Mark Brokaw
*Please note new date and time.
JUNE 23 - 25
FREE PUBLIC READINGS IN THE SHIVA
FESTIVAL 2
Friday, July 21 | 8pm
SERIOUS MOONLIGHT
written by and based on the film by Adrienne Shelly
co-adapted by Andy Ostroy &
Liz Tuccillo
Saturday, July 22 | 12pm
ONE GOOD EGG
by Annie Evans
directed by Melia Bensussen
Saturday, July 22 | 5pm
THE FIT
by Carey Perloff
directed by Daniel Aukin
Sunday, July 23 | 12pm
AMY & THE ORPHANS
by Lindsey Ferrentino
directed by Scott Ellis
Sunday, July 23 | 5pm
DIANA
book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro
music and lyrics by David Bryan
directed by Christopher Ashley
JULY 21 - 23
Photo Credits: Josh Radnor (Cary Mosier); Lisa Kron (Eva Weiss); Stephen Trask (David Gordon, TheaterMainia.com; Sam Gold (Atisha Paulson); Adrienne Shelly (Amy Rachlin); Production Photos (Buck Lewis)
FREE PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
THE TRAINING COMPANY
Performances of the Classics at the Environmental Cooperative
at the Vassar Barns
HAMLET
by William Shakespeare
adapted & directed by Emily Mendelsohn
July 14, 15, 16
CYMBELINE
by William Shakespeare
adapted & directed by Andrew Willis-Woodward
July 21, 22, 23
Late Night at the Frances Lehman
Loeb Art Center
SOUNDPAINTING
composed and directed by Max Reuben
July 6, 13, 20, 27
FREE PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
THE TRAINING COMPANY
Workshop Performances
12 OPHELIAS
(A PLAY WITH BROKEN SONGS)
by Caridad Svich
directed by Heidi Handelsman
July 23 - 24
ONE ACT PLAY FESTIVAL
by members of the training company
July 26
NOT, NOT, NOT, NOT,
NOT ENOUGH OXYGEN
by Caryl Churchill
directed by members of the training company
July 28