2018-2019 Firehouse Theater Company Season
The Christmas Spirit
By Frederick Stroppel
Directed by Peter J. Hughes
November 24 – December 22, 2018
Julia Dowling has an unexpected visitor who intends to escort her off to the afterlife. Infusing comedy into the classic Death Takes a Holiday, The Christmas Spirit is set in contemporary Long Island. Julia persuades Death to give her one more day to enjoy Christmas and invites him to be her guest at a festive party. The next day the house fills with bickering relatives, friends, the local priest…and Death, masquerading as a human, singing carols and drinking eggnog. Moments of high farce, drama, and even romance arise as bright holiday fantasies collide with a not-so-merry reality. Firehouse first presented this funny, poignant and ultimately inspiring show in 2013 and we’re thrilled to offer it again, this time with Peter J. Hughes in the director’s chair.
Rock of Aging Revival!
By Deborah Montgomery
Directed by Lorrain Scott
Musical Direction by Trent Hines
Music Arranged by Eric Weinstein
Lyrics adapted by Bill Paddock and Deborah Montgomery
February 16 – March 16, 2019
Back by popular demand “The Rolling Emotions” take the stage for The Rock of Aging Revival. A hit band in the 60’s and 70’s, Ricki D. Bones, Willie Withers, and Tina Tumor are struggling to “keep on keepin’ on.” Poor financial management and the rigors of aging have forced them to sing for their supper by taking any gigs they can, like recording jingles for commercials for seniors’ products. Now, along with their new back-up singers, the band has a chance for a big comeback, as part of the AARP National “Feeling Groovy” Tour. The group finds new life as they give the songs of their youth fresh meaning—singing about the maladies of getting older, such as weight gain, memory loss, and gastric distress (think about having that first colonoscopy performed to the chorus, “Snake it Up Doctor, if you twist I’ll shout!”). Join with the band as they admit that while aging “ain’t for sissies,” it’s much easier to face with the help of their beloved rock and roll.
Outside Mullingar
By John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Katie Mangett
March 30 – April 27, 2019
Anthony and Rosemary are two introverted misfits straddling 40. Anthony has spent his entire life on a cattle farm in rural Ireland, a state of affairs that—due to his painful shyness—suits him well. Rosemary lives right next door, determined to have him, watching the years slip away. With Anthony’s father threatening to disinherit him and a land feud simmering between their families, Rosemary has every reason to fear romantic catastrophe. But then, in this very Irish story with a surprising depth of poetic passion, these yearning, eccentric souls fight their way towards solid ground and some kind of happiness. Their journey is heartbreaking, funny, and ultimately deeply moving. OUTSIDE MULLINGAR is a compassionate, delightful work about how it’s never too late to take a chance on love.
Well
By Lisa Kron
Directed by Stacey D’Angelo
June 22 – July 20, 2019
“This play is not about my mother and me,” begins the character of Lisa. But, of course, it is about her mother, and her mother’s extraordinary ability to heal a changing neighborhood, despite her inability to heal herself. In this “solo show with people in it,” Kron asks the provocative question: “Do we create our own illness?” The answers she gets are much more complicated than she bargained for as the play spins dangerously out of control into riotously funny and unexpected territory.
