Jubilee Theatre announces new season

Jubilee Theatre’s 2013-2014 season will feature favorites of the American theatrical cannon along with newer works for the Fort Worth stage. “Jubilee Theatre is boldly moving forward, producing challenging works, cultivating new talent and engaging a growing audience and community,” said Artistic Director Tre Garrett. “We have a proud history and with the support of our patrons and fellow artists, we are building a promising future. Fort Worth is growing and we are, too.” The company’s 33rd season will open Oct. 18 with NEAT, Charlayne Woodard’s follow-up companion piece to Pretty Fire, starring award-winning actress Ebony Marshall-Oliver. Woodard shares her memories of growing up black in America in the 1950s and ‘60s. NEAT will run through Nov. 10, with previews set for Oct. 11-17. Garrett and Geno Young’s Jubilation will run Nov. 30-Dec. 29. Jubilee Theatre’s mascot Lee Roy, the proprietor of Lee Roy’s Night Club, hosts the Jubilation Christmas Celebration, set in the town of Rudyville. It’s a holiday celebration and annual rent party all in one with a jazzy, gospel twist. Jubilee Theatre will start 2014 with the North Texas premiere of Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, which enjoyed a successful run on the London stage and on Broadway. The play, winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play, is set for Feb. 7-March 2, with previews Jan. 31-Feb. 6. The story is a reimagining of the last night of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Set in the now infamous Lorraine Motel, Dr. King has an unexpected visitor that challenges him to face his own humanity as well as the fate of the country. The play has been hailed as “daring, rousing and provocative” by Entertainment Weekly and “soul stirring” by Variety Magazine. Next on tap is the crowd-pleasing, Tony Award-winning musical revue, Ain’t Misbehavin’. The show is a tribute to the black entertainers of the early 1900s featuring prolific musician, Thomas “Fats” Waller. Ain’t Misbehavin’ previews March 21-27, with opening night March 28. The show will run through April 20. Set in a Chicago recording studio in 1927, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, May 16-June 8, tells the story of a group of musicians and legendary blues singer Ma Rainey, who is known for her music and her attitude. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a drama from Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright August Wilson, will open May 16. Previews are scheduled for May 9-15. The season will close with another favorite, Little Shop of Horrors, opening July 11 and running through Aug. 3. Meek, mild-mannered, out-of-luck Seymour Krelbourn has just discovered an exotic little plant with a strange and unusual appetite. This plant is growing remarkably fast – and so is Seymour’s love for Audrey, his co-worker at the flower shop. But she has a boyfriend…and the plant has a bloodthirsty secret that threatens the entire planet. The feeding-frenzy begins as Seymour becomes a celebrity and the plant becomes a larger-than-life sensation. Little Shop of Horrors, by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, will preview July 4-10.

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