Prospect Theater Project

Bach at Leipzig

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 | Prospect Shows, Season 08-09 | No Comments

Bach at Leipzig, by Itamar Moses.

Directed by Heike Hambley.

Friday-Sunday, April 17-May 10, and Thursday, May 6. Thursday-Saturday performances, 8 pm. Sunday performances, 2 pm.

Bach at Leipzig is a kind of pushmepullyou of a play (hats off to Doctor Doolittle), a witty comedy about music and ambition whose front half is high comedy and whose nether half is low farce. In 1722, six musicians meet in the anteroom to the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas’s Cathedral) in the German city of Leipzig. They are there to audition for the newly vacated post of organist and head of the chapel music school. The candidates dance around each other, seeking advantage in a deadly battle of wits and wiles. Two, maybe a third, are of noble birth: one a blustering but insecure prig, the second a spoiled brat, and the third a credulous old fool. The others are base born: one is an idealistic musical ‘revolutionary,’ the second the frustrated organist at Leipzig’s second best church, the third a penniless conman and trickster who lives (not very well) solely by his wits. But then a seventh candidate arrives. He is Georg Phillip Telemann, acclaimed by all as the Greatest Organist in Germany. Can any of the others defeat him? And if he is vanquished, who shall win the prize instead? An orgy of backbiting and intrigue ensues.

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Molly Sweeney

Friday, February 20th, 2009 | Prospect Shows, Season 08-09 | 2 Comments

Photo courtesy of The Modesto Bee

Brian Friel’s
Molly Sweeney
Prospect Theater Project is proud to present the third show of its 2008-2009 season, Brian Friel’s Molly Sweeney. Molly Sweeney is directed by PTP veteran Michael Caine, who also directed Talley’s Folly, The Lion in Winter, and Deathtrap at PTP. It stars Andrew Burkum, Kathleen Ennis, and Jim Johnson.

Molly Sweeney opens on Friday, February 20th, and runs through Sunday, March 15th, with performances on Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm, Sunday afternoons at 2pm, and Thursday, March 12th at 8pm. The Talk Back Sunday will occur after the March 8th performance. All performances are at 520 Scenic Drive in Modesto. Tickets are $15 and may be reserved by calling 209-549-9341 or by visiting our online Box Office.
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This Day and Age

Thursday, September 4th, 2008 | Prospect Shows, Season 08-09 | No Comments

This Day and Age, by Nagle Jackson
Directed by Charlotte Ferreira.
What’s to be done with Mother? The recently-widowed matriarch of a successful doctor decides to sell the “home place,” a lovely wooded estate on Long Island, and move to New Zealand. Her children have other plans for their childhood home and for Mother’s future. This Day and Age is a warm, humorous, and thoughtful exploration of the occasional tension, misunderstanding and, ultimately, love that characterize all family relationships.
July 10 – August 2, 2009

The Physicists

Thursday, September 4th, 2008 | Prospect Shows, Season 08-09 | No Comments

The Physicists, by Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
Directed by Heike Hambley.
The Swiss playwright’s masterpiece of espionage, nuclear proliferation and the dilemma of the scientist’s responsibility is set – of all places – in a mental institution. This compelling combination of black comedy and psychological thriller probes beneath the surface and keeps you at the edge of your seat.
November 21 – December 14, 2008

Three Tall Women

Thursday, September 4th, 2008 | Current Season, Prospect Shows, Season 08-09 | No Comments

Three Tall Women, by Edward Albee
Directed by Colton Dennis and featuring Grace Lieberman.
Albee’s Pulitzer Prize winning play is witty, hilarious, haunting, and swims in the dark pools of the human heart’s most inner secrets. The first act presents a lawyer, a caregiver and a rich, bitter and angry elderly matron. In the second act their true identities are revealed, and it is breathtaking to witness, to say the least.
September 26 – October 19, 2008