TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS
Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed
Adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos
Co-Conceived by Marshall Heyman, Thomas Kail, and Nia Vardalos
Directed by Jen Wineman
September 11 –Oct 06, 2019
“A theatrical hug for turbulent times!” (Variety). Writer Cheryl Strayed answered hundreds of letters for two years with surprising candor and an often bruising, brutal honesty as an advice columnist. The stage adaptation of her memoir, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, is a hopeful and heartbreaking tribute to the resilience of the human spirit.
"A show that aims to open your eyes to the tiny moments when the world surprises us with care." — New York Magazine
Memoirist and essayist Cheryl Strayed’s credits also include the memoirs Brave Enough and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which became the Academy Award-nominated film Wild; “The Sweet Spot” advice column with Steve Almond in The New York Times; and the “Dear Sugars” podcast for The New York Times/WBUR Radio.
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CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND
EAST COAST PREMIERE
By Lauren Yee
Directed by Marti Lyons
Featuring songs by Dengue Fever
October 16–November 10, 2019
In 1978, a father flees Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime. Thirty years later, his daughter attempts to piece together her family history, kicking off the events of Cambodian Rock Band, “a riveting play that’s part mystery, part history lesson, and part unabashed jukebox musical concert,” according to Broadway World. Rock Band celebrates the resilient bond of family through hardship and sacrifice and the enduring power of 70s music.
A co-production with City Theatre in Pittsburgh and Victory Gardens in Chicago
“A fierce, gorgeous, heartwarming, comedic fairy tale. Yee has made her characters so joyfully and ridiculously human that it’s impossible not to identify with them.”— Los Angeles Times
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THE WICKHAMS: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY
By Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon
Directed by Shana Gozansky
November 26 –December 22, 2019
The radiant characters of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, who enchanted audiences last year in Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, return to the MRT stage with an entirely new holiday tale. As the events of Miss Bennet unfold upstairs at Pemberley, the servants below find themselves in the midst of a scandal; an unwelcome visitor has stumbled into the kitchen in the middle of the night – Mr. Darcy’s nemesis and Lydia’s incorrigible husband: Mr. Wickham.
“Impossible to resist! Epistolary complications, empire-waist dresses, scheming female relatives, and romance - both sparked and thwarted by pride." — San Francisco Chronicle
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MAYTAG VIRGIN
By Audrey Cefaly
Directed by Eleanor Holdridge
January 08 –February 02, 2020
When unflappable Jack moves in next door to sweetly neurotic Lizzie – two fortysomething school teachers, both widowed — the two bond over being lonely and feeling stuck. As they get to know each other, they find themselves searching for an answer to the same question: how do you know when you’re ready to live, and love, again?
“A radiant gem of light into the ordinary struggles of love, loss, and life.” — Theatre Bloom D.C.
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NINA SIMONE: FOUR WOMEN
By Christina Ham
Directed by Kenneth Roberson
February 12 –March 8, 2020
The show brings to life Nina Simone’s original song “Four Women,” her tribute to the four little girls killed in the 1963 church bombing in Alabama. Fearing for their lives in a basement across the street from the church, the women – including Nina herself – represent four very different African-American perspectives. As she grapples with sorrow and rage, Nina slowly begins her transformation from jazz club chanteuse to the civil rights activist we revere today.
Songs include “Mississippi Goddam,” “I Loves You, Porgy,” “To Be Young, Black and Beautiful,” and “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.”
A co-production with Northlight Theatre in Chicago
“Truly Marvelous. Guaranteed to rouse your soul and raise your mind!” — DC Metro
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THE LOWELL OFFERING
WORLD PREMIERE
By Andy Bayiates and Genevra Gallo-Bayiates
Directed by Jessica Hutchinson
March 18 –April 12, 2020
In 1840 in Lowell, MA, a group of factory workers began publishing the world’s first magazine written solely by women; it was called The Lowell Offering. This is the story of the magazine’s editor, Harriet Farley, and a labor activist, Sarah Bagley – and the rise and fall of their friendship, the magazine, and Lowell’s “Mill Girl” culture.
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ERMA BOMBECK: AT WIT'S END
By Allison Engel and Margaret Engel
April 22 –May 17, 2020
A celebration of humorist Erma Bombeck, At Wit’s End rejoices in the life of a woman considered to be one of America’s funniest moms, who championed the everyday lives of housewives with a daring truth few of her generation were willing to tell.
Born in 1927, Bombeck is ranked among the great humorists of the 1900s, including Garrison Keillor, Will Rogers, Fran Lebowitz, David Sedaris, and Bombeck’s longtime friend and fellow columnist Art Buchwald. She started her column in 1964, published her first book in 1976, and continued writing until just before her death in 1996. Her bestsellers include The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank; If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?; Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession; At Wit’s End; and Family – The Ties that Bind . . . and Gag!
The Cincinnati Enquirer said the play offers “hilarious riffs on everything from pet funerals to parental lectures,” while DC MetroWeekly called it “a comical trip down memory lane.”
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For more information on the 2019-20 Season and purchasing tickets click here.