Keegan’s 2018-2019 season will begin next September with a reprise — of John Strand’s Lincolnesque, which Keegan first ran in 2009. A young Congressional aide, desperate to save the campaign of his clueless Member, turns to his psychotic brother, who believes that he is Abraham Lincoln. Might Francis be able to produce a — um, Lincolnesque — phrase or two which might salvage the Congressman’s career? “If you just go with the story,” DCTS’ Steven McKnight said in reviewing the 2009 show, “you will find an intelligence in the humor and an emotional depth that elevates Lincolnesque above many contemporary works with political themes.”
Strand is a familiar figure to DC audiences, as he authored both The Originalist and the book for Show Child, currently playing at Arena Stage. Colin Smith will direct.
In November, Keegan tackles Shaina Taub’s new musical version of the Shakespeare classic As You Like It, in which — as you recall — Orlando, having fallen head over keister in love with Rosalind, is advised to swear off love — by Rosalind, disguised as a young man. Alexis Soloski of the New York Times calls this new tuneful Shakespeare “rollicking, poignant and flat-out delightful” and observes that “with its…lilting confidence in basic human decency, this ‘As You Like It’ offers a utopian vision of a society that favors acceptance over division, honesty over obfuscation, grace over meanness.” Cara Gabriel and Josh Sticklin will co-direct.
Once again, Keegan will present An Irish Carol, company member Matthew Keenan’s story about a surly pub owner who is spoiling for his comeuppance but instead gets a surprise redemption, for the holidays. Missy Frederick, reviewing last year’s production for the holidays, noted that “An Irish Carol does a fine job capturing the spirit and message of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale in an evening spent in an Irish pub. No small feat.” In December of 2018; Keegan Artistic Director Mark A. Rhea directs.
Keegan will start off the new year with The Baltimore Waltz, from playwright Paula Vogel. Poor Anna has a terminal case of ATD — Acquired Toilet Disease — which she got from the bathrooms of the elementary school in which she teaches. So she and her brother Carl travel to Europe so that they can both have what they always wanted: casual sex with men. Except that they’re not in Europe, but in a hospital room at Johns Hopkins; and it’s not Anna who’s sick but Carl, and it’s not ATD he’s got. The Baltimore Sun’s Tim Smith said that Vogel “avoids obvious paths to create a journey that is at once silly, sensitive and surreal. With a toy rabbit, wry movie references and some raunchy splashes, the ‘Baltimore Waltz’ makes for one heck of an offbeat dance. And while very much a product of its time, the piece still has something to say to ours.” Susan Marie Rhea will direct this show, which begins in January of next year.
All right, here’s the deal. Keep your hand on the body of this truck longer than anybody else, and the truck is yours. You’ll have to keep your hand on the truck all day. And all night. For several days. In the hot broiling Texas sun. What kind of unearthly torture is this? It’s a musical! With book by Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife), lyrics by Amanda Green (High Fidelity) and music by Green and Trey Anastasio (of the band Pfish), Hands on a Hardbody is one of the few musicals based on a documentary. “Why the heck, you might be wondering by now, would anyone try to make a musical out of such stubbornly resistant material?” asked Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times. “Yet ‘Hands on a Hardbody’ succeeds in spite of its shackles — maybe even because of them. The show, which doesn’t have the option of falling back on glitzy razzmatazz…has to rely on its heart and humanity to motor it along.” Mark Rhea directs; the show begins in March of 2019.
In May, Keegan will present a play about two couples too well-bred to call impolite, so let’s just call them savages instead. God of Carnage is the story of two upper-class couples who have gotten together because their kids got in a fight, with unintended consequences, and they wish to resolve things in a civilized way. Within about half an hour, it gets about as civilized as Lord of the Flies. DCTS’ Jayne Blanchard called it “an impolite and completely hilarious treatise on class warfare and over-involved modern parents”. Shirley Serotsky will direct this Yasmina Reza play.
Perhaps this is how the two couples in Carnage will spend their golden years: Abby and Marilyn have forcibly become roommates in an assisted living facility in David Lindsay-Abaire’s (Rabbit Hole, Good People) Ripcord. The problem is that Abby is a hard-bitten misanthrope who wants no company, and Marilyn is a garrulous, relentlessly cheerful woman who wants the bed assigned to Abby, for its better view. They agree to a contest: if Abby can make Marilyn lose her temper before Marilyn can scare Abby, Marilyn will move out — but if Marilyn wins, she gets the bed. “Mr. Lindsay-Abaire’s script is admirable in its precision and symmetry; there’s not a comic setup that isn’t balanced by a logically consistent payoff,” says Ben Brantley of the New York Times. The production will begin in June of 2019; Megan Thrift will direct.
Keegan’s 2018-2019 season will close out in August of next year with the Heather Hach-Laurence O’Keefe-Nell Benjamin musical Legally Blonde, in which Elle, a beautiful and successful woman, goes to Harvard Law School in order to win her boyfriend back. Harvard Law School! To win her boyfriend back! Michael Bobbitt will direct this production. Debbie Minter Jackson, reviewing the touring production at the Kennedy Center for DCTS ten years ago, said “Legally Blonde is a big splashy musical with heart…The show packs a walloping punch and before you know it, you’re humming the tunes, bouncing to the beat, rooting for Elle, and like – oh my God, you guys, who knew?”
In addition to these eight plays and musicals for grown-ups, Keegan will produce two plays for the younger set. The Elves and the Shoemaker, which will commence in December of 2018, is the story of the world’s worst shoemaker, whose incompetence drives the people of his village to go barefoot all the time. His daughter, wandering in the forest with some uncomfortable pumps, suddenly encounters an elf, who promises her a wealth of fairy magic in return for her clodhoppers. The young lady seals the deal, and soon her family is awash in wealth and fabulous shoes. Alas, not even a lifetime collection of Jimmy Choos can assure happiness…Alexis J. Hartwick will direct this Kristin Walter play.
And in May of 2019, local artist Mary Hall Surface’s The Reluctant Dragon tells the story of the dragon St. George was famous for slaying. This dragon, as it turns out, wants nothing more than a good cup of tea, and to read poetry all day. (They say the same thing about Putin, so watch out.) No director for this play has been announced.
You’ll find tickets for Keegan 2018-2019 season here, when they become available.
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