Last updated February 16, 2010   

Albany Civic Theater

ACT's 59th season, 2009-2010

Watch for season tickets to go on sale this summer.

Note: All productions are tentative until performance rights are secured. Musicals are indicated by an asterisk (*).

Aug. 28-Sept. 25, 2009 (auditions June 15-17) - The Cover of Life, by R. T. Robinson. Directed by Miranda Prince. Three young women - the wives of three brothers - are living with their mother-in-law in rural Louisiana while their husbands are off on the battlefields of World War II. When Life magazine sends a reporter to do a cover story, all of the Cliffert women must re-evaluate their lives. Moving, funny, a deeply affecting story about the struggle for self worth.

Sept. 19: The Big Night, ACT's annual volunteer recognition party (at the Albany Eagles Club).

Sept. 25-Oct. 10, 2009: Lost in Yonkers, by Neil Simon. Directed by Jackie Tasker. America's great comic playwright turns his hand to memory. When ne'er-do-well Eddie dumps his two young sons on their grandmother's doorstep in Yonkers, NY in 1942, the boys are left to contend with their stern grandmother, their mentally challenged aunt and a whole new world.

Oct. 30 – Nov. 14, 2009: And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie. Directed by Kay Roth. The classic who-dunnit (previously known as Ten Little Indians) puts eight strangers on an isolated island estate, invited by a host they don't quite recall and who doesn't seem to be on hand. A mysterious voice accuses each of having gotten away with murder, and soon they're dropping off one by one.

Dec. 4 - 19, 2009: A Tuna Christmas, by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard. Directed by Mat Genuser. This sequel to the side-splitting Greater Tuna (produced by ACT in 2001, this two-actor comedy returns us to Tuna, the third-smallest town in Texas, for a hilarious holiday with its zany denizens.

*Jan. 22-Feb. 13, 2010: Disney's Beauty and the Beast, music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, book by Linda Woolverton. Directed by Barbara Osterholm. Based on the Academy-Award winning animated feature, the stage musical version of Disney's Beauty and the Beast transports audiences to a lovely French town with Belle, the Beast, and the rest of the movie characters. Family theater at its best.

Mar. 5-20, 2010: Morning’s at Seven, by Paul Osborn. Directed by Leigh Matthews-Bock. The aging Gibbs sisters are bound by a rare brand of family intimacy that doesn't necessarily include their husbands. When Ida's perpetually engaged son, Homer, brings his lady friend Myrtle home, perhaps intending to finally pop the question, the whole family gets in on the "will he/won't he?" act.

April 9-24: Deathtrap, by Ira Levin. Directed by Rus. Roberts. Successful playwright Sidney Bruhl, struggling to overcome a string of failures and a shortage of funds, invites a taltented young writing student to collaborate with him. But what's Sidney'sreal motive? Suspense mounts in a plot filled with devilish twists and turns that lead to a final, startling conclusion.

* May 28-June 19, 2010: The Producers, music and Lyrics by Mel Brooks, book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan. Directed by Christi E. Sears. Based on Brooks's hilarious 1968 film, this musical teams up a pair of Broadway producers who figure they can make more money with a flop than a hit. They set out to stage the worst musical possible, only to be surprised when the show is a hit. Winner of 12 Tony awards including Best Musical, and turned into a movie musical in 2005.

July 9-24, 2010: The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, by Jeff Whitty. Directed by John Elliott. What happens to fictional characters when their stories end? Oregon-bred playwright Jeff Whitty imagines a sort of literary limbo where characters can only be released from repeating their onstage lives when they are forgotten by the public. Sick of killing herself over and over, Hedda Gabler embarks on a wild and perilous quest with her husband Torvald, her helpful neighbor Medea and her servant, Mammy, to return to the imaginative furnace of their creation. A hit of the 2008 Oregon Shakespeare Festival season.

Aug. 13-21, 2010: To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, by Michael Brady. Directed by Carri Moffatt. Since his wife's drowning death, David has made their summer cottage on Nantucket Island into a home for his teenaged daughter, Rachel. On the second anniversary of Gillian's death, he invites her sister and brother-in-law to the island for the weekend, and is surprised when they bring a woman friend in hopes of setting her up with David. A touching story of enduring and obsessive love.