NOVA opens 2017-18 season with 'Complete
History of America' in September
• Jaci Webb
• Apr 13,
2017
The NOVA Center for the Performing Arts’ artistic
committee and managing producer Dodie Rife have announced the
center's 2017-18 season, fitting the theme “Around the World!”
The season will have 10 productions
including four main stage theater productions, including
"Mousetrap," "Quilters," "Celtic Christmas" and "The Complete
History of America (Abridged)." There will also be four youth
shows — "Madeline," "Brundibar," "Gulliver’s Travels" and
"School House Rock" — and two opera productions: the Festival
of One-Act Operas and "The Pirates of Penzance".
In October, the NOVA Center continues
its travel theme in the youth conservatory, taking audiences to
Germany with "Brundibar." This is a youth opera about children
banding together to save their sick mother.
In January 2018,
audiences will journey with NOVA youth to fantastic places such
as Lilliput and Laguda with "Gulliver’s Travels." Then, NOVA
youth will leave the land of fantasy to visit Paris with
"Madeline" in April. Finally, the conservatory will end the
season with "Schoolhouse Rock" in July.
NOVA actors will begin the season in
America with a production of "The Complete History of America
(Abridged)" in September, tackling such controversial questions
as: Who really discovered America? Why did Abe Lincoln free the
slaves? How many Democrats does it take to screw in a light
bulb?
Then, join NOVA for a trip across the pond with the
Reduced Shakespeare Company, followed by an Agatha Christie
whodunnit, "Mousetrap," in November and the world premiere of
"Celtic Christmas" in December. NOVA returns to the states in
February 2018 with the Rankin File production of "The
Quilters."
NOVA's musical and opera schedule will include
its Festival of One-Act Operas ("Bon Appetit," "The Telephone"
and "The Lantern Marriage") in October, and the main stage
production of "The Pirates of Penzance" in March 2018.
The season will also include four
fundraising events: Reds, Whites & Brews on Sept. 7; the
Auction of Arias on Oct. 22, Love of the heArts on Feb. 17,
2018; and Opera Fest on March 17, 2018.
Box office hours are
noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Those interested in
volunteering this season are encouraged to call the NOVA Center
for the Performing Arts at 406-591-9535.
From left, Susan Hayes, Kristin Mayer, Susan McCaughey and Crystal Oring perform a scene during a rehearsal for
"The Complete History of America (Abridged)," which plays at the NOVA Center starting Friday, Sept. 8.
BRONTE WITTPENN, Gazette Staff
