By Lee Chottiner
Community Editor
After enduring a darkened theater for 16 months, CenterStage is about to raise the curtain on a new season.
The JCC-based theatrical company, which includes arts education and theater for children, announced its return to the stage last week, releasing details of its fall schedule.
CenterStage will feature two mainstage performances this fall: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, In Concert from Sept. 30 to Oct. 10 and Falsettos, from Nov. 11 to 21.
In addition, The Academy arts education program will stage a youth production of Aladdin, Jr. on Dec. 9, 11 and 12. And Acting Out will again bring live theater to area schools and community centers.
For CenterStage Education Programming Director Erin Jump, the shows can’t go on soon enough.
“Everyone is hungry to perform, to create,” Jump said. “We have a dedicated company of actors, musicians, crew members and patrons. Our company is a rich group of people, and I think everyone is hungry to get back.”
Center Stage went dark on March 13, 2020, as COVID pandemic sent much of the nation into lockdown. Its Academy performance of Peter Pan Jr. was its last stage production for the duration; Hair, its last mainstage production.
Since then, the consuming task of CenterStage has been to get ready to go on again when it became safe to do so.
“It’s been a constant process of writing and rewriting, planning and replanning.” Jump said.
She noted that the JCC is monitoring the COVID situation and will be ready to adjust the Center Stage season if necessary.
“I think we are all prepared for that, but we’re praying hard against it,” Jump said. “I think a lot of us have learned the fine art of flexibility in the past year.”
For now, though, here’s a look at the upcoming fall season:
- Auditions will be held on the following dates in person at the JCC. To sign-up for an audition time, visit jewishlouisville.org/arts and click on the “Arts and Ideas” tab: Thursday, Aug. 5, 6:30-9:30 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 7, 1-4 p.m.; Sunday, Aug. 8, 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.
- Tickets will go sale on Sept. 1. CenterStage tickets will be $22; Academy tickets, $18. Online purchase options will be available. Performances will be in the Linker Auditorium at the JCC, 3600 Dutchmans Lane.
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, In Concert: The original Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice collaboration, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019, reimagines the biblical story of Joseph, his father, Jacob, 11 brothers and the coat of many colors.
- Falsettos: Nominated for five 2017 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, Falsettos is a hilarious look at a modern family revolving around the life of a gay man, Marvin, his wife, his lover, his soon-to-be-bar-mitzvah son, their psychiatrist and the lesbians next door, all reminders that love can tell a million stories.
- CenterStage Academy, a youth musical theatre training program that gives students the opportunity to discover and develop their talents as performers, will kick off its Fall session with Aladdin, Jr., based on the 1992 Academy Award-winning film and the 2014 hit Broadway show. Email Jump at ejump@jewishlouisville.org for details.
- Acting Out, a professional touring children’s theatre troupe, will again visit schools this Fall, performing shows based on two PJ Library books: Beautiful Yetta and Maddi’s Fridge. Tours will begin in October. Email Erin Jump for details.
Jump hopes to announce the rest of the season’s schedule when the new Trager Family JCC, along with its theater space, is ready for use.
“We are simply waiting to see, when we get in there, what we have to work with right away,” she said. “Hopefully, in the summer 2022, we will announce a full-season lineup.”