Nunsense

June 29th – July 8th

Book, Music and Lyrics by Dan Goggin
Director: Sarah Rozene
Choreographer: Alexander Davis
Music Director: Michael Ursua
The Little Sisters of Hoboken discover that their cook, Sister Julia, Child of God, has accidentally poisoned 52 of the sisters, and they are in dire need of funds for the burials. The sisters decide that the best way to raise the money is to put on a variety show, so they take over the school auditorium, which is currently set up for the eighth grade production of “Grease.” Here we meet Reverend Mother Regina, a former circus performer; Sister Mary Hubert, the Mistress of Novices; a streetwise nun from Brooklyn named Sister Robert Anne; Sister Mary Leo, a novice who is a wannabe ballerina; and the delightfully wacky Sister Mary Amnesia, the nun who lost her memory when a crucifix fell on her head. Featuring star turns,tap and ballet dancing, an audience quiz, and comic surprises, this show has become an international phenomenon. With more than 5000 productions worldwide, it has been translated into 21 languages.

The second-longest-running Off-Broadway show in history! Updated with new jokes, additional lyrics, and a brand new song.

Arsenic and Old Lace

July 13th – July 22nd

Joseph Kesselring

Director: Clayton Phillips^

Mortimer Brewster is living a happy life: he has a steady job at a prominent New York newspaper, he’s just become engaged, and he gets to visit his sweet spinster aunts (Vinette Cotter and Jean Mar Brown) to announce the engagement. Mortimer always knew that his family had a bit of a mad gene — one brother believes himself to be Teddy Roosevelt and the other strangely now resembles Boris Karloff — but his world is turned upside down when he realizes that his dear aunts have been poisoning lonely old men for years! When Mortimer’s maniacal brother, Jonathan returns on the night that the aunts were planning to bury the newest victim, Mortimer must rally to help his aunts and protect his fiancé — all while trying to keep his own sanity. as well.

Perhaps best known through the 1944 film adaptation starring Cary Grant, directed by Frank Capra, The Barnstormers also has a long history with the Brewster Family, first performing Arsenic and Old Lace in 1950! This farcical comedy is sure to continue to delight The Barnstormer audience!

According to the 1942 opening night review in The New York Times, the play was “so funny that none of us will ever forget it.”

The Stranger

July 27th- August 5th

Director: Dan Winerman

An Agatha Christie play that’s never been done before at The Barnstormers Theatre! 

Enid Bradshaw has led a staid and proper existence. Unexcited about the prospect of marriage to her long-time fiance Dick Lane, Enid rejects him for newcomer Gerald Strange, who sweeps her off her feet. She abandons her job, friends, and family to move to a remote and secluded country cottage with him – where a dark and terrible climax takes place. This chilling and intricate psychological thriller was based on Christie’s 1924 short story Philomel Cottage. Sure to send a chill up your spine, this Agatha Christie is not to be missed!

Fully Committed

August 10th – August 19th

Becky Mode

Director: Dori Robinson^

This devastatingly funny play follows a day in the life of Sam Peliczowski, an out-of-work actor who mans the red-hot reservation line at Manhattan’s number-one restaurant. Coercion, threats, bribes, histrionics—a cast of desperate callers will stop at nothing in their zeal to land a prime reservation, or the right table. Amid the barrage, Sam’s got his own needs to contend with—his recently widowed dad wants him home for Christmas, and he’s up for a choice part at Lincoln Center. While juggling scheming socialites, name-dropping wannabes, fickle celebrities and egomaniacal bosses, can he manage to look out for himself? Fully Committed has forty wildly diverse characters designed to be played by Barnstormers favorite Doug Shapiro.

What the New York Times calls an “immensely entertaining… richly comic affirmation of everything ever heard, or suspected, about the bad behavior that good food can inspire.”

Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

August 24th – September 3rd

Director: Blair Hundertmark^

Get your deerstalker cap on — the play’s afoot! Comedic genius Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo) transforms Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic The Hound of the Baskervilles into a murderously funny adventure. Sherlock Holmes is on the case. The male heirs of the Baskerville line are being dispatched one by one. To find their ingenious killer, Holmes and Watson must brave the desolate moors before a family curse dooms its newest heir. Watch as our intrepid investigators try to escape a dizzying web of clues, silly accents, disguises, and deceit as five actors deftly portray more than forty characters. Does a wild hellhound prowl the moors of Devonshire? Can our heroes discover the truth in time? Join the fun and see how far from elementary the truth can be.

“Ingeniously funny … Ludwig had done a remarkable job adapting Doyle’s story to the stage while putting his own twist on a classic.” – Broadway World

“Comedy gold … [Baskerville] finds the perfect mix of slapstick and thrills.” – Theatermania

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