Theatre Horizon co-founder Matthew Decker and I approach the jigsaw puzzle of season selection with a mix of giddy anticipation and terror as we comb through dramas and comedies. But what it really all comes down to is: the musical.
For a small theater company, musicals are expensive, cumbersome, exhausting, and also irresistible: they delight, galvanize, titillate, and entertain with a feast of sights and sounds, showcasing actors’ physical and vocal energies at their greatest heights. My love for the art form is deep and abiding.
In the last decade, the Broadway musical has become an astronomically expensive spectacle – think of the fly system required for Wicked!, the cast size required for The Producers, the medical liability insurance needed for Spiderman: Turn off the Dark.
Although Theatre Horizon cannot bring those musicals to our stage, what we CAN do is find a magic spark that unites an exciting musical with the right players. We found that spark with Spring Awakening, a show that electrified thousands of teenagers and gave their parents a look inside their kids’ secret lives. And the right players are going to be 11 stellar young actors who are ready for the limelight. I can’t wait to meet these young actors, who will come from the best theatre programs in our region. If you know someone we should audition, send them our Casting Director’s email: steven@theatrehorizon.org. At last! A musical for our season that is as unforgettable as it is achievable. That’s the recipe for magic on stage.
After the musical, the other two stellar plays in our 2012-13 season easily rose to the surface of my script pile. Pretty Fire is not just a play about an African American family—it’s a play about YOUR family, in all its beautiful colors. And for anyone who has ever known the agony and ecstasy of a loving relationship, An Infinite Ache will make you laugh and cry. This season is about how we leave our mark upon the world, and upon those we love. I hope you will join us for three beautiful plays in a brand new theatre in 2012-13!
– Erin Reilly, Artistic Director
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