Ten Thousand Things has announced its 2014-15 season with familiar elements: a Shakespeare, a musical and a new play. The company, headed by Michelle Hensley, performs for audiences that don't normally get to theater. There are also public shows but the aesthetic stays the same -- theater in the round without a lot of technical adornment.
Namir Smallwood
Peter Rothstein will direct "Romeo & Juliet" to open the season. Namir Smallwood and Anna Sundberg play the young lovers in a cast that includes Gavin Lawrence, David Darrow and Regina Williams. Public performances are set for Oct. 10-Nov. 2.
Maggie Chestovich
Hensley will stage "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" next winter, with Maggie Chestovich and Tyson Lien. Ten Thousand Things' musicals are not the usual fare. Last year's "The Music Man" had a simple charm and eloquence in the story telling. "Molly" is about a woman deciding between love and money. Public performances will be Feb. 13-March 8.
Kira Obolensky, the company's playwright in residence, will write her fourth world premiere for TTT in the spring slot. "The New Don Juan" is about a soldier who returns from war to find a world in which women have assumed the key roles of power. Kris Nelson, Sha Cage, Isabel Monk O'Connor, Annie Ennneking, Sun Mee Chomet and Elise Langer are in the cast. May 8-31.
More info at www.tenthousandthings.org
