What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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MARCH 12-18, 2023 WHAT'S UP! 5 FAQ TheatreSquared Season 18 "Dial M for Murder" — Aug. 9-Sept. 3. Written by Frederick Knott and adapted by Jeffrery Hatcher, this is an updated take on the story that inspired Hitchcock. "The Band's Visit" — Oct. 4-Oct. 29. Music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Itamar Moses. A band winds up in a town off the beaten path in this 10-time Tony Award winning musical that's finally coming to Fayetteville. "A Christmas Carol" — Nov. 29-Dec. 24, adapted by Amy Herzberg and Bob Ford from the novel by Charles Dick- ens. The story of Ebeneezer Scrooge and the three spirits who teach him a lesson is a Christmas tradition at TheatreSquared. "What the Constitution Means to Me" — Jan. 17-Feb. 25, 2024 After earning her college tuition by winning debate competitions around the world, the playwright Heidi Schrek re-imagines how this living document has served four generations of women and what it will mean for the future in this comedy. "Cambodian Rock Band" — Feb. 28-March 17, 2024. Lauren Yee's dark comedy about a survivor of the Khmer Rouge who returns to Cambodia 30 years later to find his wayward daugh- ter is a thrilling mystery meets rock concert featuring a live band playing Cambodian oldies and contemporary songs by Dengue Fever. "Laughs in Spanish" — March 27-May 5, 2024. In this part caper comedy, part telenovela by Alexis Scheer, an art gallery director is all set to open her showroom, but it's an active crime scene. The director will stop at nothing to reopen the gallery — even if that means taking help from her spotlight stealing mother. "Fat Ham" — April 17-May 12, 2024. Juicy — a sensitive, queer Black college student — is visited by the ghost of his father who demands to be avenged. Set during a family cookout, this show is an homage to "Hamlet" by James Ijames and will be on Broadway before landing in Northwest Arkansas. "The Responders" — June 5-June 30, 2024. Two paramedics are the first to arrive at a deadly scene because the cops got a flat. Then they find out that every school bus in town will soon drive by and the local star reporter — also the ex-wife to one of the para- medics — arrives to film the fiasco in this comedy about just trying to do the right thing. This play by Joseph Scott Ford will be presented as part of the 2024 Arkansas New Play Festival, in co-production with Arkansas Reper- tory Theatre. Find out more at theatre2.org. New Season, Big Ambition MONICA HOOPER NWA Democrat-Gazette C hoosing shows for the upcoming season at TheatreSquared begins with a lot of reading, according to the director of new play development, Dexter Singleton. And that's not just Singleton reading; it's the staff. "It takes six months or so to come up with each year, and we're just trying to always leave no stone unturned to find that gorgeous play and [to have] a mix of musicals, older plays that people may be familiar with, plays that have just come off of runs in New York or Off-Broadway that people may know from that extent, and then new plays and plays we've developed, so just a wide range of things [that] create a really diverse lineup of comedy and drama and things that make you think about the world that we live in," Singleton told us during a podcast with What's Up! "The tricky part is coming up with the balance," adds Bob Ford, artistic director and one of the founders of T2. "It's like a meal, really. You might sit down, like, 'Oh, this is six desserts, and one bowl of peas,'" he says of the process of finding the right balance. Ford adds that they always find that play that perfectly balances their season right at the end of their selection process. T2 formula includes thrills, laughter, lessons and tears Martin Miller (center), TheatreSquared executive director, chats with Todd Simmons, T2 board president, and Esther Silver-Parker, Board vice president, during the unveiling of the company's 2023-24 season. (Courtesy Photo/T2) See T2 Page 37 COVER STORY