AURORA | The Aurora Fox Arts Center is set to enter its 34th season with a lineup of productions that is a reflection of the change that’s been happening behind the scenes.
The upcoming 2018-2019 season is the first with new executive producer Helen Murray at the helm. And it hasn’t taken long for the veteran of the Washington D.C. theater world to bring her own style to the Fox. The new season is a true reflection of not only her vision as an artist but of the sense of change happening at the theater.
For Murray, she sees the lineup for every season as a chance to have a continuing conversation with the audience. And for her first at the Fox, Murray is embracing the change and focusing the six-show lineup on that theme, many of which will be first time productions in the metro area.
Portrait by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel
“I think that we need to give the city of Aurora some major credit in waiting to see what else is out there and inviting that in,” Murray said. “Inviting something in that isn’t work we’ve seen in Aurora before.”
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Along with the main stage productions, the Fox will be bringing in staged readings of new plays to the theater’s studio. This is something that was a regular feature at the theater Murray helped found in Virginia.
The staged readings will allow paywrights to workshop their scripts, give the Fox a chance to see if it’s a production it might want to put on in an upcoming season, and give audience members a chance to see the creative process at its best, Murray said.
“For the audience it really lets them in on an early part of the process,” Murray said. “It also gives the audience a chance in those instances to tell us what they think. That’s what I want to hear from them, let’s talk about what you saw.”
For the mainstage lineup, Murray said each play deals with the idea of change somehow, whether it’s the change that takes place over a lifetime, the changes we need to see our society make or a simple decision that leads us to see the world in a whole new light.
“Songs for a New World” written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. Sept. 14 – Oct. 14.
The first show of the season will also be the first chance for Murray to show off her directing chops. The musical is a series of unconnected vignettes that center around the idea of life changing decisions that lands us in an unexpected place, both a figurative or literal new world.
“I always put my seasons together with a thought of how the shows thread together … This is one that encapsulates the big idea (of the season) which is moments of great change,” Murray said. “I really can’t wait to sink my teeth into this one.”
Second City’s “Twist Your Dickens” Nov. 23 – Dec. 23.
This isn’t your grandfather’s Charles Dickens. The production was created by the Second City improv theater, the creative breeding ground that has given the world such performers as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and John Belushi.
“Twist Your Dickens” finds Scrooge, Tiny Tim and all those ghosts mixed up in holiday sketches that are definitely not for the kiddos. Murray said the Fox had to do some sweet talking to be able to bring this new show into Aurora.
“You don’t just get the Dicken’s carol, you’ll get a little bit of the Peanuts gang and island of misfit toys,” Murray said. “It was borne out of Second City so it is highly improvisational. So there will be elements that will never be done the same way twice.”
“Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies” by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm. Jan. 18 – Feb. 10, 2019
The new play is both a humorous and searing look at what it means to be a young, African American man in the modern United States. Murray said the recent story of two African American men being arrested for waiting for someone in a Starbucks shows unfortunately the relevance of the subject matter of “Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies.”
“This is a very funny and hard look at being young and black in America and it really deals very directly with how young, black men are being gunned down. It deals with the issues facing young, black men and racial inequality in general,” Murray said. “It starts out funny but it’s so on point it makes you feel uncomfortable in a way it makes you want to have a conversation.”
“Life Sucks” by Aaron Posner. Feb. 22 – March 17, 2019
A reworking of “Uncle Vanya” finds a group of old friends, former lovers, estranged in-laws and hardened enemies as they gather to deal with life’s thorniest questions and each other. Murray, who will be directing this piece as well, said she’s been looking forward to working on this production with such strong female characters since she first saw it.
“The script does a beautiful job of talking about the flaws of humanity, and how the acceptance of these flaws is how we can move on in our lives,” Murray said. “It’s really a fun time. It’s a very heavy audience engagement piece. There are moments where they ask the audience to raise their hand to admit to things or look to you for an answer.”
“The Happiest Place on Earth” by Philip Dawkins. March 8 – March 24, 2019.
This show features one actor playing all 29 characters in a story about Disney’s magical kingdom and one family’s reckoning with life after the death of their beloved father and husband. The production team and actor for this show had previously staged the play at Murray’s theater in Virginia and as Murray said, “Why recreate something that has been done so well before?”
“The play that (Dawkins) wrote, for me, is really about how much worth do we put on the pursuit of happiness in America,” Murray said. “If we’re not happy all the time, we must not be living a worthwhile life. It’s about how we as Americans identify with happiness and what we idolize.”
“Caroline or Change” by Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori. April 5 – May 12, 2019
Set in Mississippi the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, this musical follows a working class African American maid that is working for a prominent Jewish Family. When a small amount of money goes missing, the ensuing events threaten to rip apart both families.
The show blends jazz, blues, gospel and traditional Jewish music and puts it all on stage through the lens of magical realism, where the washing machine and the radio are all characters, Murray said.
“This show hasn’t seen a stage out here as far as I can tell,” Murray said. “The heightening of theatricality through magical realism in the show allow us to see the story through perspectives we might not have thought of without them utilizing (this method).”