The Wilbury Theatre Group’s Founding Artistic Director Josh Short has announced the Group’s 2015-16 season, which includes a new drama from one of New York’s most promising young playwrights, the world premiere of a new play, two of the most acclaimed off-Broadway musicals of the last few years, an irreverent new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s 'The Seagull', and the New England premiere of Jez Butterworth’s 'Jerusalem'. 

The 2015-16 season opens with a new play by one of America's fastest rising playwrights, Dry Land by Ruby Rae Spiegel, followed by the world premiere of The Wilbury Group's resident playwright Ben Jolivet's reimagining of a classic tale of greed and redemption,Cain + Abel. 2015 closes with one of the greatest rock musicals of the last twenty years, about a young black man's journey from 1980's LA to Europe in Passing Strange. The New Year kicks off with Aaron Posner's hilarious adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull, Stupid Fucking Bird, which is then followed in the Spring by the New England premiere of Murder Ballad, a sexy and smart new musical by celebrated playwright Julia Jordan and indie-rocker Juliana Nash. The season closes with the Rhode Island premiere of Jez Butterworth's acclaimed masterpiece, the bawdy, hilarious, and heartbreaking, Jerusalem. 

Memberships to The Wilbury Group's 2015-16 season are just $50. Learn more about how our Membership program works here.

---

About the plays

Dry Land

by Ruby Rae Spiegel
Directed by Josh Short 
SEPTEMBER 17 - OCTOBER 3 | NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Ester is a swimmer trying to stay afloat. Amy is curled up on the locker room floor. Victor hates jocks but not girls. Reba just wants to party. A play about girls, abortion, bath salts, bathing suits, rashes, love, and what happens in one high school locker room after everybody’s left. A finalist for the 2014 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for Drama, this heartfelt, hilarious, and gut-wrenching new play by one of the America's most promising young playwrights will leave audiences gasping for air. "Remarkable...this portrait of an unlikely friendship under uncommon pressure is tender, caustic, funny and harrowing, often all at the same time." -The New York Times

CASTING CALL: 
WILBURY GROUP SEEKING EXTRAS FOR GIRLS' SWIM TEAM IN DRY LAND. LEARN MORE.

---

WORLD PREMIERE FROM NEW WORKS at The Wilbury Group
Cain + Abel

by Ben Jolivet
Directed by Susie Schutt
OCTOBER 22 - NOVEMBER 1 | A WORLD PREMIERE FROM OUR NEW WORKS PROGRAM

From The Wilbury Group's Playwright-in-Residence Ben Jolivet comes Cain + Abel, a fresh, contemporary take on a classic tale. In the shadow of the deserted garden, two brothers wrestle with faith and desire in the face of uncertainty and fear; two women struggle to find a place beyond the grossest instincts of men; and a lonely traveller grapples with his creation.  Fighting their way into the unknown will demand everything from them and result in the ultimate sacrifice. In the beginning, nothing became something and nobody knew what to do.

Written by Playwright-in-Residence Ben Jolivet, Cain + Abel received a staged-reading as part of the 2014-15 New Works Staged-Reading Series. 

---

Passing Strange

by Stew & Heidi Rodewald
Directed by Brien Lang
NOVEMBER 19 - DECEMBER 6 | RHODE ISLAND PREMIERE

From Los Angeles to Amsterdam to Berlin and back, Passing Strange takes musical theater on a whole new trip. From singer-songwriter and performance artist Stew comes Passing Strange, a daring new musical that takes you on a journey across boundaries of place, identity and theatrical convention. Stew, a popular performer at Joe's Pub, was commissioned by The Public Theater of New York to develop this heartfelt and hilarious story of a young bohemian who charts a course for “the real” through sex, drugs and rock and roll. Loaded with soulful lyrics and overflowing with passion, the show takes us from black, middle-class America to Amsterdam, Berlin and beyond on a journey towards personal and artistic authenticity. "Fresh, exuberant, bracingly inventive, bitingly funny, and full of heart." —The New York Times. "With excellent songs and a vulnerable heart, PASSING STRANGE could join Hedwig and the Angry Inch as a punk musical milestone." —Variety. 
 

---

Stupid Fucking Bird

by Aaron Posner, adapted from The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
Directed by Mark Peckham
JANUARY 21 - FEBRUARY 6 | RHODE ISLAND PREMIERE

In this irreverent remix of Chekhov's The Seagull, an aspiring young director rails against art created by his mother's generation, a nubile young actress wrestles with an aging Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist, and everyone discovers just how disappointing life, art, and growing up can be. Chekhov's characters still ruminate on love, revolution and the pursuit of happiness, but this time with a lot more snark as the subtext bubbles to the surface. With music, meta-theatricality, and mad humor, playwright Aaron Posner beats The Seagull to a bloody pulp.  “Posner’s new play is less an adaptation of Chekhov’s landmark drama than a funny, moving slugfest, a ripe mashup of mock and awe.” -The Washington Post. "The Best Chekhov Adaptation in Two Decades: Stupid Fucking Bird is the most authentic, self-aware, playful, pathos-filled, unassuming and world-wise adaptation of Chekhov since Louis Malle’s 1992 film, Vanya on 42nd Street. How does one have Chekhov speak to 21st-century America? See this play." -LA Weekly

---

Murder Ballad

conceived and with book by Julia Jordan, music and lyrics by Juliana Nash
Directed by Wendy Overly
APRIL 14 - 30 | NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

A love triangle gone wrong, Murder Ballad centers on Sara, an Upper West Sider who seems to have it all, but whose downtown past lingers enticingly and dangerously in front of her. Direct from a sold-out run at MTC’s Studio at Stage II, this sexy, explosive, new rock musical explores the complications of love, the compromises we make, and the betrayals that can ultimately undo us. Murder Ballad is conceived by Jonathan Larson Award winner and two-time Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist Julia Jordan with book and lyrics by Jordan and music and lyrics by indie rock singer/songwriter Juliana Nash. "This steamy show is a love triangle with a razor’s edges. The show features taut, tart, and pungent lyrics by Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash." -The New York Times. "A hot night of theatre! With an energy that is electric, this show is going to get young people to the theater in reams." -Backstage Magazine.

---

Jerusalem

by Jez Butterworth
Directed by Josh Short
MAY 19 - JUNE 4 | RHODE ISLAND PREMIERE

On the morning of the local county fair, Johnny Byron is a wanted man. Local officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants his full attention, and his motley crew of friends wants his ample supply of booze…  Premiered in 2009 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, Jerusalem won the Evening Standard Award for Best Play in 2009, and transferred to the West End in 2010. It opened on Broadway in April 2011 at the Music Box Theatre. “An instant modern classic” – Daily Telegraph; “One of the most exciting new plays in ages” – New York Times; “Jez Butterworth’s gorgeous, expansive new play keeps coming at its audience in unpredictable gusts, rolling from comic to furious, from winsome to bawdy” – Observer

 *all plays and dates are subject to change.

View the entire Season 6 press release here.

The Wilbury Theatre Group
​393 Broad Street
Providence RI 02907

info@thewilburygroup.org
401-400-7100

2015-16 Press Release

Become   a   Member

---

"Providence's Little Theater That Could announces a season filled with world, state and regional premieres, plus a couple of kick-butt rock musicals."
-RI Monthly

"Drama's, musicals highlight Wilbury Group's 2015/16 season."
-The Providence Journal

---

Never Miss a thing. See all OUR shows for less 
and get exclusive benefits by becoming a MEMBER today.