Peninsula Players Hosts Numerous Chicago Artists This Summer

Peninsula Players Hosts Numerous Chicago Artists This Summer

Pictured from top left clockwise: Rengin Altay, Dara Cameron, Katherine Duffy, Joe Foust, Karl Hamilton, Dan Klarer, Henry McGinniss, and Sean Fortunato.

Peninsula Players Theatre, America’s oldest professional resident summer theater in Door County, recently announced the artistic company for its 82nd season, running June 13 through October 15, 2017.

The season, selected and cast by Artistic Director Greg Vinkler, includes numerous directors, designers, and actors from the Chicago area. “The artists of the 2017 company are very talented and necessarily versatile,” said Vinkler. “Nine of the actors, four directors, one designer and one musician will be making their Players debut this season. There are also many familiar and loved performers, designers and musicians returning. It is a multi-talented group altogether — a great combination for our diverse line-up of shows.”

Peninsula Players opens the 2017 season on June 13 with the world première of Steven Peterson’s THE ACTUARY directed by Kevin Christopher Fox, who makes his Players debut. Vinkler is cast as Ed, and returning company members include Erica Elam and Matt Holzfiend. Making their Players debut are Judy Blue, Kyle Hatley and Emma Rosenthal.

In July, the Tony Award-winning PETER AND THE STAR CATCHER by Rick Elice adapted from of the best-selling children’s novel series “Peter and the Starcatchers” by David Barry and Ridley Pearson, and featuring the music of Wayne Barker will take the stage. Directed by Matt Crowle, the production features Holzfeind, Rosenthal and Peninsula Players veteran performers Harter Clingman, Jackson Evans, Sean Fortunato, Joe Foust, Bruce Newbern, and James Rank. Making their Peninsula Players debut are Karl Hamilton, Dan Klarer, Henry McGinniss and Nick Vidal.

The season continues with THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY by Jason Robert Brown and book by Marsha Norman based on the best-selling novel by Robert James Waller and the acclaimed 1995 film. Directed by Elizabeth Margolius, the production features Steve Koehler as Robert and Cory Goodrich as Francesca. The remaining cast includes Katherine Duffy, Klarer, Hamilton, McGinniss and Rank as well as returning Player Rengin Altay. Newcomers include Dara Cameron and Elizabeth Haley.

Following BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, Vinkler will direct LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME, adapted by Constance Cox from Oscar Wilde’s short story. The production features Altay, Cameron, Clingman, Duffy, Foust, Hamilton, Holzfeind, Klarer and returning Players veterans Penny Slusher and Karen Woditsch.

The season concludes with ALMOST, MAINE directed by Patrick New, featuring Players veterans Elam, Foust, Holzfeind and Woditsch.

Designers crafting the worlds of the 2017 season include scenic designers J Branson, Jack Magaw, James Maronek and Sarah E. Ross; lighting designers Emil Boulos, Charlie Cooper, Michael Trudeau and Stephen R. White; costume designers Rachel Lambert, Kärin Simonson Kopischke and Kyle Pingel; sound designers Chris Kriz and Megan Henninger; and properties designers Jesse Gaffney, Wendy Huber and Pauline Oleksy.

The Peninsula Players perform Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. in the summer. The closing performances of the summer shows will have a 4 p.m. matinee, July 2, July 23, August 13 and September 3. With the opening of ALMOST, MAINE on Sept. 6 curtain times switch to Tuesday through Sunday at 7 p.m. and Sunday matinees to 3 p.m. for performances on Sept. 17, Oct. 1, and 15.

Discount tickets are available for season ticket holders and groups. Individual ticket prices range from $38 to $47. There are no performances on Mondays. For more information visit peninsulaplayers.com.

The Penisula Player’s 2017 Season (from the press release):

THE ACTUARY (June 13-July 2).
A world première comedy-drama, in reverse by Steven Peterson.
Romance, marriage, family – told in reverse! The highlight of the baby shower party is to be the “Baby Shower Bombshell,” a sealed envelope Ed has brought announcing whether his daughter is having a boy or a girl. The surprising news within shakes everyone up, and Ed takes us back in time to show us how they all got to that point and how he resolves it.

PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (July 5 to July 23).
A play by Rick Elice.
Based on the Novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Music by Wayne Barker. A hilarious swashbuckling and magical adult prequel to Peter Pan. This Tony Award-winning magical play with music has delighted audiences since its opening on Broadway, bursting with playfully humor it explores the bonds of friendship, duty and love, as well as the depths of greediness and despair. Filled with creative staging and live music, this journey features swashbuckling pirates, shipwrecks and spectacular mermaids!

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (July 26 to August 13).
Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. Book by Marcia Norman. Based on the best-selling novel by Robert James Waller.
Roads traveled, doors opened, bridges crossed. A ravishingly beautiful and lush Tony Award-winning musical. It is the touching story of Francesca, a lovely Italian woman who married an American soldier to flee war-ravaged Italy. She is looking forward to a rare four days alone on her Iowa farm as her family heads to the 1965 Indiana State Fair when ruggedly handsome, National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid pulls into her driveway seeking directions. What happens in those next four days may very well alter the course of Francesca’s life.

LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME (August 16 to September 3).
A delightfully silly comedy chock-full of muddled murder attempts by Constance Cox. Based on the story by Oscar Wilde.
Love, honor, duty and murder. Before Lord Arthur can wed the lovely Sybil Merton, his future mother-in-law insists that Podgers, the current darling of Victorian society, read his palm to see if Lord Arthur is suitable enough to marry her beautiful daughter. Surprisingly, Podgers privately informs Arthur that he is destined to commit a murder! Arthur feels duty-bound to get the murder over with first as to not burden his bride. He plots, plans, schemes and conspires to bump off family members but Lord Arthur’s relatives remain unwittingly and blissfully alive!

ALMOST, MAINE (September 6 to October 15).
By John Cariani.
Welcome to Almost, Maine – a tiny village so far north it is almost in Canada. On a clear, cold and moonless night, while the northern lights dance overhead, the residents of this mythical town find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and often hilarious ways. Hearts are broken, but the bruises heal, and the hearts mend – almost – in this delightful midwinter night’s dream.

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