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OCTOBER 27-28-29-30  (Halloween Weekend)
Thursday 7:30
Friday (Halloween Performance) 11:00 pm
Saturday 7:30
Sunday 2:30

SWEENEY TODD
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Produced by special arrangement with Music Theatre International

Our first play is a musical by Stephen Sondheim a brilliant comic melodrama about an English barber named Sweeney Todd who kills his customers and gives their bodies to his partner, Mrs. Lovett, who then bakes them into meat pies.

Directed by Tom Fulton
Performed in the Chagrin Falls Performing Arts Center
Proscenium Stage.

December 9 - 10 - 11

THE GLASS MENAGERIE
by Tennessee Williams

The Glass Menagerie centers on the Wingfield family in Depression-era St. Louis: Tom, an aspiring poet who spends his days in a warehouse, eager to start out on his own life’s journey; his overbearing mother Amanda who yearns for the glamour of the past and his incredibly shy sister, who dreams of a brighter future and a happiness that seems just out of reach. 

Directed by Bernadette Clemens
In the Studio Theatre

January 13, 14

The Yearly SENIOR IMPROV SHOW

. . .has become a yearly favorite at the Academy.  Actors in their second year of the Ensemble take on scriptless improvisation with suggestions provided by the audience.  In addition, a number of chosen comic sketches, developed in rehearsal by the actors, are presented.

"I laughed so hard, the tears ran down my leg!!" 
(A satisfied customer - December 2010)Directed by Mitchell Fields

February 17,18,19

THE CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS
Adaptation by Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière

The Conference of the Birds  is a book of poems in  Persian  by Farid ud-Din Attar of approximately 4500 lines. The poem uses a journey by a group of 30 birds, led by a hoopoe as an allegory of a Sufi sheikh or master leading his pupils to enlightenment.

The poem was adapted into a play, called The Conference of The Birds, by the renowned director Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière.The story recounts the longing of a group of birds who desire to know the great Simorgh, and who, under the guidance of a leader bird, start their journey toward the land of Simorgh. One by one, they drop out of the journey, each offering an excuse and unable to endure the journey.

A play made for the Academy Ensemble! 

Directed by Wendy Kriss.

March 23, 24, 25

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
By William Shakespeare

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero.

Benedick and Beatrice are engaged in a "merry war"; they both talk a mile a minute and proclaim their scorn for love, marriage, and each other. In contrast, Claudio and Hero are sweet young people who are rendered practically speechless by their love for one another. By means of "noting" (which sounds the same as "nothing," and which is gossip, rumour, and overhearing),

Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other, and Claudio is tricked into rejecting Hero at the altar. However, Dogberry, a Constable who is a master ofmalapropisms, discovers the evil trickery of the villain, the bastard Don John. In the end, Don John is captured and everyone else joins in a dance celebrating the marriages of the two couples.

Our production is set just after World War I - a prelude to the roaring 20's!

Directed by Mitchell Fields
In the Studio Theatre

May 4, 5, 6
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
By Anton Chekhov

The Ranevskaya Estate is being auctioned off.  Generations of the family have lived in the grand old house and grew up in the ancient cherry orchard., but now we're only a few years before the Russian Revolution, and times have changed.  The serfs have been freed years before and now there is no money left.  As Madam Ranevskaya returns from Paris, penniless, the family watches helplessly as their beloved home is auctioned away to a man who used to be their servant.

This is Chekhov's last play and perhaps his most delicate and humorous.  It is an ensemble piece - a play of love and lives past by...

Directed by Tom Fulton
In the Studio Theatre

June 8 & 9 at 7:30
In the Performing Arts Center

SOULS OF THE VILLAGE
Chagrin Falls in the Civil War

Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War and its impact on our own home town: Chagrin Falls.  Our boys who went to fight, our wives and parents who stayed home and sent comfort, and a small town who paid the price of the war that saved the Union.

Performed with story, song, and dance.

Directed by Julia Kolibab and Tom Fulton
Written by Tom Fulton
Dance and Movement by Bill Wade of Inlet Dance Company

April:  A seventh play TBA
Directed by Julie Kolibab

May:  Senior Projects

May:  Academy Awards Ceremony

June:  A Camping/Theatre Trip to the Shaw Festival
           Niagra on the Lake, Ontario Canada

All Shows Subject to Change