Canterbury Summer Theatre Opens 55th Season With Romantic Mystery, 'The Violet Hour' Canterbury Summer Theatre, one of the Midwest's oldest professional summer companies, opens its 55th season of productions with the romantic mystery, The Violet Hour, performing June 14-17. The theatre is located at 807 Franklin Street in Michigan City.
Written by Richard Greenberg, who won a Tony Award and was a Pulitzer finalist for his play, Take Me Out, The Violet Houri is also currently being developed for production as a Broadway musical.
The story takes place on April 1st, 1919, and the young independent publisher John Pace Seavering is setting up his office: a couple of dilapidated rooms in a Manhattan tower. With only enough capital to publish one book, John finds himself besieged by two authors. Denny McCleary, John’s brash and gifted college friend, has produced a manuscript so large, it lives in a trio of crates. .
But John is also being lobbied to publish the memoirs of Jessie Brewster, the popular black jazz singer who is also John’s very secret mistress. As John deals with these two, another drama is playing out in the outer office--a mysterious machine has arrived and is spewing out stacks of pages while John’s hapless assistant strives vainly to stem the flood.
However, what's written on these pages will throw John’s every hope and plan into disarray.
The play is directed by Canterbury Associate Artistic Director, David Graham, who describes the play as "a clever mix of witty language, romance, and mystery with a dash of science fiction."
The Violet Hour stars Donna Fondjo, Jack Gordon, Lauren Landman, Tony Morell and Calum Sullivan, who are part of the Canterbury Resident Company, comprised of theatre artists from throughout the country.
Scenic design is by Ray Scott Crawford. Lighting is by Alex Gray with Amber Gantt as costumer. Annabelle Lamb is production stage manager.
This production contains adult themes and language, and is recommended for those audience members of high school age or older. Canterbury performances are at 2:00 PM on Wednesdays and Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:00 pm. Ticket prices are $20.00 for regular admission, $18.00 for seniors, and half-price discounts for students and military personnel.
Tickets can be purchased by phone at (219) 874-4269 or e-mail info@canterburytheatre.org
Canterbury Summer Theatre, one of the Midwest's oldest professional summer companies, is produced under the auspices of the Canterbury Guild, a nonprofit arts organization, which also manages the Canterbury Winter Arts Series.
