(BRISTOL, PA) -- Bristol Riverside Theatre, located just a few miles from the New Jersey border in Bucks County, will return to in-person shows on stage for the company’s 35th season. Co-Producing Directors Amy and Ken Kaissar have announced their first full season since taking the helm. The season includes productions of Murder for Two, Skeleton Crew, I and You, A Comedy of Tenors, and A Few Good Men. For a holiday treat in between mainstage shows, the season will also include BRT’s popular holiday special event, An American Christmas Songbook, from December 9th to December 19th.
“We are thrilled to return to the stage with in-person shows after 17 months,” said BRT Co-Producing Director Amy Kaissar. “It means so much for our entire company and BRT family to get back to doing what we love and do best. This also is our opportunity to present our first season as new Co-Producing Directors. While the pandemic may have caused a delay, the time is finally here to get our feet wet and dive into a season with high quality work and top notch entertainment that audiences expect from us. We also plan to provide hints around the direction we plan to take the organization moving forward.”
She added, “I don’t think it’s possible to be more excited about making theatre, with people, indoors, in the same room, and then putting shows on the stage and listening to an audience laugh together. Audiences should expect what they always expect from BRT, top notch acting, gorgeous sets, and shows that enable them to feel more deeply, to laugh more joyfully, and to reflect on ourselves and the world in which we live.”
Additional special events and summer programming will be announced at a later date. Season subscriptions and individual show tickets are now available. Student and military discounts are available, as are special discounted tickets for Bristol Township and Bristol Borough residents. For purchases and additional show information, please visit brtstage.org or call 215-785-0100.
BRT will follow all local and state guidelines for health and safety. For the start of the season, masks will be required for all patrons regardless of vaccination status, except in designated areas for eating and drink. All subscribers and ticket holders will be notified with any developments in regard to health protocols.
September 21 to October 10, 2021 - Murder for Two; Book & Music by Joe Kinosian; Book & Lyrics by Kellen Blair; Directed by J. Scott Lapp. BRT brings one of the most uproarious musical comedies to hit stages to Bucks County -- the sidesplitting and zany Murder for Two. It’s a whodunit for two actors, one playing the detective, the other playing all thirteen suspects, and both of them taking turns accompanying each other at the piano. It’s Agatha Christie meets Vaudeville and will be an event not to miss.
“Murder for Two is hilariously good fun,” said BRT Co-Producing Director Ken Kaissar. ”It’s just hilarious to watch these two guys try to hold it together playing some 14 parts, plus the piano, throughout a whodunnit murder mystery. It’s full of surprises and laughs. We picked it way before the pandemic and we’re even more excited now that it’s kicking off the season because what could be better for our first show back than a riotous evening?”
November 2 to November 21, 2021 - Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau; Directed by Cameron Knight. Four Detroit auto workers panic as rumors that their factory is closing circulate through the tight-knit work community. With their futures unknown, each of the workers must make difficult choices about loyalty to each other, the company, and themselves.
“Skeleton Crew is one of the best plays written in the last decade” said Amy Kaissar. “It’s a brilliant script that encompasses so much of what was, and is, happening as our country and economy changes. It’s a story about pressures between what’s right for each of us as individuals vs. what’s right for us as a community and what happens when the circumstances that underlie the promises we were given changes. While it’s set in Detroit, it has tremendous relevance for our community in Bristol.”
December 9 to December 19, 2021 - An American Christmas Songbook (BRT’s Annual Holiday Tradition). The chill of winter is in the air as BRT favorites take the stage to perform favorite carols and heartwarming Christmas songs.
January 25 to February 13, 2022 - I and You by Lauren Gunderson; Directed by Gia Forakis. Homebound due to illness, Caroline hasn’t been to school in months. Anthony, a high school athlete, arrives unexpectedly at her door with an urgent group assignment from their English teacher. As the two begin to let down their guards and share their secrets, they uncover the profound mystery that has brought them together. The end will leave audiences speechless.
“I and You is a really fun ride,” said Ken Kaissar. “I read it first and immediately handed it to Amy saying, ‘I'm not going to tell you anything about this but you need to read it.’ The second Amy finished it, she passed it to the next person with the same words, and it went through the company that way. While we originally just loved the mind blowing ride it takes you on, it turned out that after 2020, a story about a teenager, isolated at home and stuck with remote learning, is far more relevant than we expected it to be. Who can’t relate to this now?”
March 8 to March 27, 2022 - Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors; Directed by Amy Kaissar. Get ready for big laughs in this hilarious play by Ken Ludwig, one of America’s most prolific and successful comedy writers. The “Concert of the Century” is just hours away, there’s a stadium filled with screaming fans, but the three tenors have other concerns. What ensues is a whirlwind of misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and unabashed hilarity.
“We’re both big fans of well constructed comedies and A Comedy of Tenors is just that,” said Amy Kaissar, who also directs. “It’s a really fun farce and those are harder to come by than you might suspect. It’s mistaken identities, accents galore, physical impediments, and a whole bunch of doors.”
May 3 to May 22, 2022 - A Few Good Men by Aaron Sorkin; Directed by Ken Kaissar. Can you handle the truth? From the creator of The West Wing and The Newsroom, comes A Few Good Men. One woman fighting for her place in a world of men, two teenage marines accused of murder, and a world in which lives and nations hang on the precision of orders followed. But if lives depend on following orders, where do you draw the line? See the hard-hitting drama that launched Aaron Sorkin’s brilliant career.
“There’s a reason that this play launched Aaron Sorkin’s career,” said Ken Kaissar, who is also directing it. “Everyone just remembers Jack Nicholson screaming at Tom Cruise. But, this show is so much more. It’s about power structures in America, it’s about our national ethics, it’s about race and gender and entrenched power structures, it’s about one woman facing off against a sea of men. It’s insanely articulate in its full-throated defense of those who protect our freedoms as well as those who make sure that laws are followed.”
On top of the Mainstage performances and additional shows, Bristol Riverside has announced a special new way to cruise into the new season with Boat to Bristol Champagne Cruise, running during Murder for Two on September 26 and October 3, 2021. Why drive to BRT when you can take a champagne cruise down the Delaware? They’ll pick you up at the Trenton Marina and cruise you on over to BRT in time to have lunch before the curtain goes up. Tickets are $100 per person, and that includes the champagne boat ride and show ticket. To purchase, call Jackie DiFerdinando, Development Manager, at 215-785-6664. The Boat to Bristol is a fundraising event. Seating capacity is limited and first come, first served until tickets are sold out.
Subscriptions for the 2021-22 season are available now starting at $150. Single tickets are also on sale starting at $43. Student and military discounts are available. For locals, there are a limited number of $10 tickets available for each mainstage show for Bristol Township residents courtesy of Flager & Associates, PC. Also, as always, Bristol Borough residents can receive $5 tickets for preview performances subsidized by Bristol Borough.
Since 1986, Bristol Riverside Theatre, located at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, PA, has continued to bring acclaimed theatre to Bucks County. The theatre is the recipient of over 71 Barrymore Award nominations. Now under the direction of Co-Producing directors Amy and Ken Kaissar, and General Manager David J. Abers, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community. In addition to its mainstage productions, BRT offers the William Penn Bank Summer Music Fest, the holiday tradition An American Christmas Songbook concert, the new play development series America Rising, the summer theatre arts camp ArtRageous, and a range of education programs for local youth.
