Two River Theater’s next season will include ‘The Importance of Being Earnest,’ ‘A Raisin in the Sun’

by JAY LUSTIG

Brandon J. Dirden, shown here in “Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine” at the Two River Theater in 2015, will star in the theater’s upcoming production of “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” once described as “the second most known and quoted play in English after ‘Hamlet,’ ” will be among the plays in the 2017-18 season of the Two River Theater in Red Bank. Michael Cumpsty, the Tony-nominated actor who has acted and directed at Two River Theater before, will direct this production, which will run from Nov. 11 to Dec. 3.

Here is a rundown of what will be offered in the upcoming season. For information, visit tworivertheater.org.

Sept. 8-Oct. 8: Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” featuring Two River veteran Brandon J. Dirden, along with his wife (Crystal Dickinson) and father (Willie Dirden).

Oct. 12-15: “Skeletons: A Day of the Dead Bedtime Story.” Family play by the New York-based Teatro SEA company, performed in English and Spanish.

Nov. 11-Dec. 3: “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

Dec. 15-18: “The Rainbow Fish.” For young audiences.

Jan. 6-Feb. 4: Matthew Barbot’s “El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom.” The fully staged premiere of a play previously featured in a reading at Two River’s Crossing Borders festival of new Latino plays.

Feb. 17-March 18: Thornton Wilder’s “The Bridge of San Luis Rey.”

March 6-11: A Shakespeare play TBA with high school age performers.

April 14-May 13, 2018: Brian Friel’s “Dancing at Lughnasa.”

April 20-22, 2018: Oscar Wilde’s “The Young King,” adapted by Nicki Bloom and Australia’s Slingsby company. For “older kids.”

June 9-July 1, 2018: Regina Taylor’s “Oo-Bla-Dee,” a redeveloped version of the 1999 play. 

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1 comment

David March 28, 2017 - 1:10 pm

An impressively diverse schedule, although perhaps not quite up to such recent Two Rivers stellar productions as Forum, Ma Rainey and Jitney. It will be interesting to see the entire Dirden family at once, as well as the Latino plays, but does anyone need to see Earnest or Lughnasa again?

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