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The cast of Steve Martin’s "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" at Long Wharf Theatre. (Photo by T. Charles Erickson)

Long Wharf Theatre Announces 3 World Premieres for 2016–17 Season

The season will feature new plays by Steve Martin and Meghan Kennedy, and a new musical from Adam Gopnik and David Shire.

NEW HAVEN, CONN.: Long Wharf Theatre has announced its 2016–17 season, featuring six works, including three world premieres.

“This is a season that has a little bit of everything,” said artistic director Gordon Edelstein in a statement. “We have new work from some of the most exciting contemporary playwrights, including a new musical, and a modern play that tackles racial and gender politics. Finally, we have a classic featuring a pair of the greatest actors working on our stages. I am excited and proud of what we have to offer.”

The season will begin with the world premiere of Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower (Sept. 28–Oct. 23), a coproduction with the Old Globe. The show is a comedy about two couples gathering to watch a once-in-a-lifetime meteor shower, which turns into a night of revelry and regret. Edelstein will direct.

Following will be Other People’s Money (Nov. 23–Dec. 18), by Jerry Sterner, about a young lawyer who tries to save a factory in her hometown from a Wall Street takeover.

Next up will be Beckett’s Endgame (Jan. 4–Feb. 5, 2017), an absurdist play that explores life’s big questions. Brian Dennehy and John Douglas Thompson will star, and Edelstein will direct.

The season will continue with the world premiere of Meghan Kennedy’s Napoli Brooklyn (Feb. 15–March 12, 2017), a coproduction with the Roundabout Theatre Company. It takes place in Brooklyn in the 1960s and is about the inner lives and dreams of four women within a family. Edelstein will direct.

Next will be Lydia R. Diamond’s Smart People (March 15–April 9, 2017), about a doctor, an actress, a psychologist, and a neurobiologist studying the human brain’s response to racial differences, who all become entangled in a complex web of social and sexual politics on the eve of Obama’s first election.

The season will conclude with the world premiere of Table (May 3–28, 2017), with book and lyrics by Adam Gopnik and music by David Shire, about a chef at a tiny family restaurant in Union Square who must fight to survive in the Manhattan food scene. Edelstein will direct.

Long Wharf Theatre, founded in 1965, produces an annual season of six plays on its two stages, in addition to children’s programming and new-play workshops.

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