CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. — Chautauqua Theater Company (CTC) this week announced its 2019 season line-up, featuring a look inside contemporary Christianity with Lucas Hnath’s Obie Award Winning Play, The Christians and a West End and Broadway hit with Richard Bean’s farce, One Man, Two Guvnors, in addition to the popular Young Playwrights Project, Shakespeare, and CTC’s signature New Play Workshops.

“This series will showcase our strengths and stretch our capacity in new ways,” says Sarah Clare Corporandy, Managing Director of CTC.

“We are trying a new approach, with two highly celebrated mainstage performances that will each have extended runs,” Corporandy said. “We’re also continuing and expanding our Shakespeare in the Park series that was hugely popular in Chautauqua County in 2018.”

The season begins June 14 with the Young Playwrights Project and concludes August 18 with the Company’s third New Play Workshop.

“2018 was a year of artistic growth for us and we intend to continue this into 2019. Our New Play Workshop performances are especially making a difference in the national and international theater communities,” said Andrew Borba, Artistic Director of CTC.

The New Play Workshops are made possible in part by a generous grant from the Roe Green Foundation. Sponsorships remain available for other CTC programs, including the Young Playwrights Project and the Shakespeare in the Park programming.

The 2019 Schedule follows:

YPP: Young Playwrights Project
June 14 @ Lenna Hall
July 2nd @ Smith Wilkes

Chautauqua Shakespeare in the Park
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
June 25–July 31

CTC’s FREE outdoor Shakespeare returns with a magical midsummer comedy. Follow jealous lovers, mischievous fairies and first time players as they journey through the woods. Love potions, live music and physical comedy enchant in this energetic 90-minute version of Shakespeare’s most beloved play.

The Christians by Lucas Hnath
June 28–July 14

Pastor Paul has grown his church from a storefront to a mega-complex, but nothing prepared him or his congregation for the biggest change of all: a change of heart. Featuring live performances by the Chautauquan Choir every night, The Christians is a highly theatrical yet extremely intimate exploration of faith, family and the courage to stand up for what you believe.

NPW # 1
TBD
July 18–20

One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean
July 26–August 11

How hard can it be to have two jobs? This hilarious adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s Comedia masterpiece The Servant of Two Masters plants us in Brighton in 1963. Recently fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall scrambles to find work in this working class British beach town, where the ladies liberation movement has just begun to bloom. High and low humor collide in this British farce complete with live Beatles-inspired music.

Interarts: A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Date TBD

CTC pairs up with the CSO, Charlotte Ballet and Chautauqua Voice Department to create a multidisciplinary performance of the Mendelssohn score and Shakespeare’s play: A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

NPW #2: TBD
August 14–18

A CTC commission by award-winning playwright and director Tyne Rafaeli, this new play explores the life of Margaret Sanger and her revolutionary idea of the birth control pill.

NPW #3: TBD
August 15–18

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About Chautauqua Theater Company

Entering its 35th Season, Chautauqua Theater Company is the resident professional theater and Conservatory of Chautauqua Institution. Internationally known actors, directors, designers and writers join 20 emerging artists drawn from the nation’s top training programs to form a unique company that produces a vibrant summer of work in the historic Bratton Theater. Dedicated to the next generation of theater artists, the development of new work, first-rate productions of modern and contemporary classics, and fresh insight into Shakespeare’s canon, CTC produces the best of a year-round regional theater within eight weeks of Chautauqua’s nine-week summer season.

About Chautauqua Institution

Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue.