Tag Archives: Falcon Theatre

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER Opens the 2021-22 Season at Falcon Theatre

FT_Guess Whos Coming to Dinner logoNewport, KY – Falcon Theatre opens their 2021-22 season with Todd Kreidler’s GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER. Based on the popular, award-winning movie from 1967, the play is a powerful exploration of interracial marriage that remains just as relevant today. The production, directed by Piper N. Davis, opens September 24, 2021.

A progressive white couple’s proud liberal sensibilities are put to the test when their daughter brings her black fiancé home to meet them in this fresh and relevant stage adaptation of the iconic film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Blindsided by their daughter’s whirlwind romance and fearful for her future, Matt and Christina Drayton quickly come to realize the difference between supporting a mixed-race couple in your newspaper and welcoming one into your family–especially in 1967. They’re surprised to find they aren’t the only ones with concerns about the match, and it’s not long before a multi-family clash of racial and generational difference sweeps across the Draytons’ idyllic San Francisco terrace. At the end of the day, will the love between young Joanna and John prevail? With humor and insight, GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER begins a conversation sure to continue at dinner tables long after the curtain comes down.

Falcon Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director, Ted Weil, says, “this play is every bit as important today as the movie was in 1967. At its core, the story is about the subtle, often subconscious views we all have about the differences between people. It speaks directly to the challenges even liberal-minded individuals face when confronted by a situation that puts their beliefs to the test.”

Kevin Greene of New City Stage said of the Court Theatre production: “I left the opening night performance of Court Theatre’s GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER [with] the cockles of my effusive heart warmed all the way through.”

The film won Academy awards for Katherine Hepburn for best Actress and William Rose for best Screenplay in 1967.  The play, written in 2013, has received rave reviews at theaters across the country and is both a faithful retelling of a familiar story and a modern commentary on how far we still have to go.

Performances are at 8 PM on September 24, 25, 30, October 1, 2, 7, 8 & 9, 2021.
Tickets prices are $25 for adults and $15 for students with ID. Patrons enjoy a $5 discount for Thursday performances. Visit falcontheater.net to reserve seats.

SAFETY NOTE: Falcon Theater is making the safety of our artists and audience a priority. We will be following CDC and Local Health guidelines. We are currently requiring everyone inside our theater (with the exception of actors onstage) to be masked at all times. Our Covid safety policy will be constantly updated on our website as safety recommendations change.

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2021-2022 Season Announced with Performance Dates and Directors at Falcon Theatre

FT_logoGUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER
By Todd Kreidler
September 24-October 9, 2021
Directed by Piper N. Davis

Joanna Drayton’s unannounced early return from a Hawaii holiday causes a stir when she brings to her childhood upper-class home her new fiancé, John Prentice: a widowed, black physician. Joanna’s parents—newspaper publisher Matt Drayton and his wife art gallery owner Christina Drayton are purported liberals who have instilled in her the idea of racial equality. But to her surprise, Joanna’s parents are deeply upset that she is planning to marry a black man. The Draytons’ black maid, Tille, is just as horrified, suspecting that John is trying to “get above himself” by marrying a white woman. What was intended to be a sit-down steak dinner for two turns into a meet-the-in-laws dinner party, and during the pre-dinner period, John, Joanna and her parents have to work through their differences.

WELL
By Lisa Kron
November 19-December 4, 2021
Directed by Burgess Byrd

“This play is not about my mother and me,” begins the character of Lisa. But, of course, it is about her mother, and her mother’s extraordinary ability to heal a changing neighborhood, despite her inability to heal herself. In this “solo show with people in it,” the playwright asks the provocative question: “Do we create our own illness?” The answers become highly complicated as the play spins dangerously out of control into riotously funny and unexpected territory.

RED SPEEDO
By Lucas Hnath
January 28-February 12, 2022
Directed by Tara Williams

Ray has swum his way to the eve of the Olympic trials. If he makes the team, he’ll land a marketing deal with Speedo…a deal that means he’ll never need a real job. So when someone’s stash of performance-enhancing drugs is found in the locker room fridge, threatening the entire team’s Olympic fate, Ray has to quash a maelstrom of rumors…or risk losing everything. Red Speedo is a sharp and stylish play about swimming, survival of the fittest, and the American dream of a level playing field—or of leveling the field yourself.

SILENT SKY
By Lauren Gunderson
March 18-April 2, 2022
Directed by Bridget Leak

This true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries, a time when women’s ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them. Social progress, like scientific progress, can be hard to see when one is trapped among earthly complications; Henrietta Leavitt and her female peers believe in both, and their dedication changed the way we understand both the heavens and Earth.

SPUNK
By Zora Neale Hurston
Adapted for stage by George C. Wolfe
May 6-21, 2022
Directed by Candice Handy

Hurston’s evocative prose and Wolfe’s unique theatrical style blend to create an evening of theater that celebrates the human spirit’s ability to overcome and endure. The story glows with wit, humor, and energy and resonates with soulful music. These three tales of survival are told in the key of the blues.

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Auditions Announced for GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER at Falcon Theatre

FT_logoFalcon is excited to be able to resume in-person auditions this season! We will be following all CDC guidelines for safety.

July 27 & 28 from 6-8pm

Falcon Theatre
636 Monmouth St.
Newport, KY 41071

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

  • Use Falcon’s online Audition Sign-Up form to submit your information prior to auditions (see below)
  • Must submit a digital version of your resume (PDF Preferred)
  • Headshots must be PDF, or JPEG format

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER by Todd Kreidler
Directed by Piper N. Davis

Production dates on Sept. 24-Oct. 9

Audition Details:

  • Auditions will be held in person on July 27th and 28th from 6:00-8:00 PM. Actors only need attend one of the 2 audition days. All actors are requested to submit an audition form prior to attending auditions (click the Audition Sign-Up button below to register for auditions).
  • Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script.
  • Questions, contact director Piper N. Davis: piperndavis@gmail.com

Character Descriptions:

  • Matt Drayton – White – 50-70 – Newspaper Publisher
  • Christina Drayton – White – 50-70 – Matt’s wife, runs an art gallery
  • Joanna Drayton – White – 22-30 – Their daughter
  • Dr. John Prentice Jr. – Black – 30-40 – Joanna’s finance, a rising star doctor
  • John Prentice Sr. – 50-70- Dr. Prentice’s father, retired
  • Mary Prentice – 50-70 Dr. Prentice’s mother, retired
  • Matilda Binks – Black – 35-65 – The Drayton’s housekeeper
  • Monsignor Ryan – White – 45-70 – Drayton family friend

Click here to sign up for auditions.

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It’s Back! TO BE BLACK is Available to Stream through June 27

CBTAC_To Be Black logo2Cincinnati Black Theatre Artist Collective (Cincy BlackTAC) with Falcon Theatre is excited to announce that back by popular demand, TO BE BLACK is available for streaming through June 27, 2021.

Whether you’re seeing these special performances for the first time or re-visiting these dynamic and nuanced works, we can’t wait to bring these stories back into your homes.

Cincy BlackTAC is excited to expand their work to focus on new voices. In their successful 2020 summer weekly series, Monologues For Us By Us, they featured the work of August Wilson and his contemporaries. In this new collaboration, they will continue to showcase the stories of Black life in the most varied and multi-faceted way; promoting the awareness that the Black experience is not monolithic. Under the direction of Piper N. Davis and Candice Handy, local playwrights will have the opportunity to have their work brought to life by some of Cincinnati’s favorite faces, including Geoffrey Barnes, Burgess Byrd and Ernaisja Curry. Featured playwrights include Derek J. Snow, Cris Eli Blak, A.J. Baldwin Arethia Hornsby Rinfrow, and Curtis Shepard.

“The audience will get to hear from a variety of Black voices with TO BE BLACK. I hope that viewers will gain some perspective in subject matters like identity, gentrification and trauma that affect Black people every day in a different way than our white peers. I also hope that the audience will have a good time! There are some new, fresh and comedic voices in TO BE BLACK that truly showcase the vibrancy of Black culture and quick-wittedness of Black folks!” says Cincy BlackTAC Artistic Director, Candice Handy.

Falcon Theatre is proud to bring Cincinnati Black Theatre Artist Collective to their space to produce this virtual theatrical event. “Theatre, at its core, is a collaborative process. Part of Falcon Theatre’s mission is to advocate new voices, foster talent and vision and provide a safe, inviting environment for all artists to grow and share their work. Collaborating with Cincy BlackTAC is a fundamental way Falcon can help support the efforts of BIPOC artists so the momentum gained through tragedy is not lost to complacency,” says Artistic Director and Founder of Falcon Theatre, Ted Weil.

TO BE BLACK will be available for streaming through June 27, 2021, for $15. Tickets will be available for purchase on both the Falcon and Cincinnati Black Theatre Artist Collective’s websites. Ticketholders will be able to view the show for 48 hours after their purchase.

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Falcon Theatre Announces Its 2021-2022 Season 

FT_logoNewport, KY — After one pandemic-shortened season and another of successful theater-for-film projects, Falcon Theatre Artistic Director Ted Weil has announced the slate of plays for the theater’s return to the live stage for its 2021-2022 season. The lineup offers a range of dramatic genres and styles. The order and time slots for the season, along with one additional title, will be determined in the upcoming weeks.

Falcon Theatre 2021-2022 Season

SPUNK
By Zora Neale Hurston
Adapted for stage by George C. Wolfe
Hurston’s evocative prose and Wolfe’s unique theatrical style blend to create an evening of theater that celebrates the human spirit’s ability to overcome and endure. The story glows with wit, humor, and energy and resonates with soulful music. These three tales of survival are told in the key of the blues.

RED SPEEDO
By Lucas Hnath
Ray has swum his way to the eve of the Olympic trials. If he makes the team, he’ll land a marketing deal with Speedo…a deal that means he’ll never need a real job. So when someone’s stash of performance-enhancing drugs is found in the locker room fridge, threatening the entire team’s Olympic fate, Ray has to quash a maelstrom of rumors…or risk losing everything. Red Speedo is a sharp and stylish play about swimming, survival of the fittest, and the American dream of a level playing field—or of leveling the field yourself.

WELL
By Lisa Kron
“This play is not about my mother and me,” begins the character of Lisa. But, of course, it is about her mother, and her mother’s extraordinary ability to heal a changing neighborhood, despite her inability to heal herself. In this “solo show with people in it,” the playwright asks the provocative question: “Do we create our own illness?” The answers become highly complicated as the play spins dangerously out of control into riotously funny and unexpected territory.

SILENT SKY
By Lauren Gunderson
This true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries, a time when women’s ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them. Social progress, like scientific progress, can be hard to see when one is trapped among earthly complications; Henrietta Leavitt and her female peers believe in both, and their dedication changed the way we understand both the heavens and Earth.

TBA
One more show to be announced.

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