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August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson" at American Stage in 2013. The theatre's new season will feature a production of Wilson's "Jitney," bringing its Wilson cycle to nine out of 10 plays. (Photo by Roman Black)

American Stage’s Next Season to Include Area Premieres

Works by Lynn Nottage and Amy Herzog alternate with Monty Python, Alfred Hitchcock and Lee Hall.

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.: The American Stage Theatre Company has announced its 2015-2016 season, both its mainstage productions and its annual American Stage in the Park series.

“I wanted to explore epic stories of love, sacrifice, discovery, joy, connection, and ultimately, of awakening,” said Meg Heimstead, the company’s interim artistic director, in a statement (Stephanie Gularte was recently named the theatre’s new producing artistic director). “This collection features two exciting and highly lauded female playwrights, as well as culturally diverse plays, thus reflecting the range of perspectives that inform the American experience today.”

The season will open with the Tampa Bay area premiere of Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel (Sept.16-Oct. 11). Next up is Patrick Barlow’s popular comic take on Alfred Hitchcock’s spy thriller The 39 Steps (Nov. 18-Dec. 13).

The New Year starts with the ninth installment of American Stage’s August Wilson Century Cycle, Jitney (Jan. 20-Feb. 21).  Next is Amy Herzog’s drama 4,000 Miles (Mar. 16-Apr. 10).

The spring/summer season in the park will feature Monty Python’s Spamalot (Apr. 13-May 8), an adaptation of Dickens’s classic A Tale of Two Cities (June 1-26), and the Tampa Bay premiere of Lee Hall’s The Pitmen Painters (July 20-Aug. 14), a new play based on the story of a group of British miners who find a new way to express themselves through art, and suddenly become new art-world sensations.

American Stage Theatre Company is a not-for-profit professional theatre founded in 1977. The company’s mission is to create the most satisfying live theatre in the Tampa Bay area accessible to all members of the community and preserving the greatest human stories from our past while creating the most defining stories and storytelling of our time.

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