Biloxi Blues by Neil Simon

September 16 – October 9; 2 pm matinee on Sunday, October 3

NCRT is very pleased to kick off our new season with chapter two of the continuing hilarious saga of Eugene Morris Jerome, alter ego of the youthful Neil Simon.  Eugene is now a young army recruit during World War II, going through basic training in Biloxi, Mississippi.  We join him and his buddies as they learn about army life, the big world out there, and first love.  Winner of the 1985 Tony Award for Best Play.  "A fine comedy, and another step in the process of making Simon neither so simple, nor so simplistic." - N.Y. Times


THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE
book by W.S. Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan
November 18 – December 11, 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, December 5

It's the perfect holiday getaway to the high seas of Pirate adventure! Bring the whole family to enjoy this delightful tale of treachery, duty, honor, love, and very happy endings. The fun begins when young Frederick's nurse mistakenly sends him to become an apprentice pirate instead of an apprentice pilot as intended. And how can it be that a man of twenty-one years has had only five birthdays?? Come see this charming musical to find out!



TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
by William Shakespeare
January 27– February 19, 2 pm matinee on Sunday, February 13

Proteus and Valentine, two gentlemen of Verona who are devoted friends, are about to separate. Valentine, convinced that "home-keeping youth have ever homely wits," seeks honor at the Emperor's court in Milan. Proteus remains in Verona but is soon sent to Milan against his will. Complications including kidnapping, deceit, and mistaken identity develop when both men fall in love with the beautiful Sylvia.  At the end of the comedy, all is sorted out and love prevails.



AN EVENING OF ABSURD COMEDY: WASP by Steve Martin AND THE BALD SOPRANO by Eugene Ionesco
March 25 – April 16, 2 pm matinee on Sunday,
April 10

The Bald Soprano, a one-act play written in 1949, inspired a revolution in dramatic techniques and helped inaugurate the Theatre of the Absurd. Fifty years later, Steve Martin wrote Wasp, also a one-act play that certainly falls within the same genre. The striking similarities in the writing styles of these two authors make for a hilarious and thought-provoking evening of very relevant comments on the themes of family, self-estrangement, and the difficulties of communication.



DANCERS
by Michael Grady
May 26– June 18, 2 pm matinee on Sunday, June 12

This truly heart-warming comedy takes place in an old folks' home where a man who recently lost his mother adopts a loony old lady. But it's by no means freewheeling, for her roommate is a crotchety old coot who has something bad to say to everybody. But at one of several peaks of climax we see beneath the curmudgeon and understand why he is so rude to the guilty man. This is a play packed with gentleness and fondness for its characters. Winner of the American College Theatre Festival.



THE FOREIGNER
by Larry Shue

July 28– August 20
, 2 pm matinee on Sunday, August 14

The scene is a fishing lodge in rural Georgia often visited by "Froggy" LeSeuer.  This time "Froggy" has brought along a friend, a pathologically shy young man named Charlie who is overcome with fear at the thought of making conversation with strangers. So "Froggy," before departing, tells all assembled that Charlie is from an exotic foreign country and speaks no English. Then the fun begins as Charlie overhears more than he should. This comic romp is the winner of two Obie Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards as Best New American Play and Best Off-Broadway Production.