DAYTON THEATRE GUILD is proud to announce our 2024/2025 season.
*(Note that we are seeking directors for the shows, see the end of the show descriptions for details)
The Season:
1) THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero
Showing Aug 23 – Sep 8, 2024
(Auditions: Jul 8 & 9, 2024)
5M, 4W (plus) w/intermission
THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE is a charming and romantic fable, written in 1921. It ran on Broadway for 65 performances in 1923 and was made into a film in 1945. It was, in fact, produced here at the Guild in the 1953/1954 season. Socialite Oliver Bradshaw returns home from WWI disfigured by war wounds and convinced that no one will accept him as he is now. He hides from his family and the rest of the world, taking a secluded cottage overseen by a mysterious housekeeper. Laura Pennington, a painfully shy young woman from the village comes to look after Oliver. She tells him that the cottage in which he is staying is in fact a very old honeymoon cottage. The two begin developing feelings for each other and ultimately fall in love and marry. They discover the enchantment of the cottage has the power to transform. This play is about true beauty lying within, and about acceptance. Everyone deserves to love.
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*** Season Extra ***
CAMPAIGNS, INC., a new play by native Daytonian Will Allan
Showing Oct 11 – 20, 2024
(Auditions: Aug 26 & 27, 2024)
6M, 2W (plus) No Intermission
A comedic docudrama based on the actual first American political consulting firm, formed by Leone Baxter and Clem Whitaker, CAMPAIGNS INC. is a behind-the-scenes look at orchestrated political dirty tricks executed through what may be the original “fake news” strategy. With dark humor, the play examines Baxter and Whitaker’s propaganda machine that sabotages novelist Upton Sinclair’s 1934 bid to become the first Democratic governor of California.
*CAMPAIGNS, INC. is a season extra and not in the subscription package.
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2) THE WOMAN IN BLACK Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt, by Susan Hill
Showing Nov 29 – Dec 15, 2024
(Auditions Oct 14 & 15, 2024)
2M, 1W – w/Intermission
THE WOMAN IN BLACK is a 1987 stage play, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt. The play is based on the 1983 book of the same name by English author Susan Hill. Arthur Kipps, an attorney, is sent to handle the estate of the deceased Mrs. Drablow. He makes the trip to her funeral in a bleak and lonely part of England, where all of his enquiries into the details of her estate and her family are met with silence. At the funeral, Kipps alone observes a strange young, ghastly-looking woman dressed in black. The next morning, Kipps is taken to Mrs. Drablow’s eerie Eel Marsh house. The house is reached by way of a narrow causeway that is passable only during low tide. As Kipps investigates the house and the surrounding property, he again sees the woman in black, but is unable to follow her. His apprehension and fear grow. As he cautiously explores the inside of the house, he uncovers a large number of documents and information he must sift through in order to settle Mrs. Drablow’s affairs. His efforts reveal secrets and unexplainable events. Who is this woman in black? Why are the townspeople so hesitant to answer his questions? What happens to haunt Kipps years later? As Kipps and an actor he hires to help tell his story, struggle to tell it all and exorcise both their demons, we learn the chilling answer to these questions — and more.
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3) THE MINUTES by Tracy Letts
Showing Jan 31 – Feb 16, 2025
(Auditions Dec 2 & 3, 2024)
7M, 3W – No intermission
THE MINUTES is a dark comedy. It had its premiere at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago in 2017, and moved to the James Earl Jones Theatre in New York City in 2020. This play takes a hard look at the inner workings of a city council meeting and the hypocrisy, greed and ambition that bubble to the surface when a newcomer to the small town of Big Cherry starts to ask the wrong questions. Why is someone on the council mysteriously missing? What happened to all those bicycles? Is there something going on with the city’s finances? What’s the deal with the available parking space? And why are the minutes from the last meeting being kept secret? Sometimes the “history” we’ve been taught isn’t the true “history” at all! Part PARKS & RECREATION, part TWILIGHT ZONE, this powerful, resonant, and funny portrayal of democracy in action proves that everything you know can change — it’s just a matter of minutes. After all, the smallest towns keep the biggest secrets.
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4) CHANCERS by Robert Massey
Showing Mar 28 – Apr 13, 2025
(Auditions Feb 3 & 4, 2025)
2M, 2W – No intermission
CHANCERS is a fast and furious comedy, set in Ireland, about the lengths we will go to when our backs are against the wall. Aiden and Dee are on the verge of losing it all. They’ve had to rent out their home to a fellow from Dublin (who was previously Dee’s boyfriend), and move with their two young sons into the back of their nearly bankrupt convenience store. And now Dee is out at a job interview (which doesn’t go well). Aiden never thought their situation would come to this. But salvation may have arrived in the form of local battleaxe, Gertie Graham. She literally has their ticket out of the poorhouse — they just need to get their hands on it without her knowing. CHANCERS premiered to great acclaim at the Viking Theatre, Dublin, in 2013, before touring the following year.
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5) BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Showing May 23 – Jun 8, 2025
(Auditions Mar 31 & Apr 1, 2025)
4M, 3W – w/Intermission
This play won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2015 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, the 2015 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, the 2015 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and the 2015 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play. It closed on Broadway in Feb 2023. Walter “Pops” Washington is a retired NYC policeman, and he has had enough. He has been pursuing a discrimination suit against the Police Department, because he, a black police officer, was accidentally shot by another (white) police officer. Meanwhile, his landlord won’t leave him alone, his wife recently passed away, and the liquor store can’t keep up with his thirst. Pops’ last living relative, his son Junior, has recently gotten out of jail and moved back to Pops’ house with his girlfriend, Lulu, and his newly sober buddy, Oswaldo. With his heels dug into the floor of his rent-controlled Riverside Drive apartment, Pops holds onto old wounds, both physical and emotional. Pressure reaches a boiling point when an ultimatum comes from an unlikely source, pinning Pops squarely “between Riverside and crazy.” This Tony Award-nominated Pulitzer Prize-winning play, is passionate, contemporary, and bracingly funny.
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Seeking Directors for this season’s shows:
We are seeking directors for each show. If you’re interesting in directing one of these shows, please contact Rick Flynn at RickF413@gmail.com for more information. Friday, January 12 is the last day to submit interest for directing.