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Inside South Camden Theatre's 18th Season

originally published: 09/22/2022

(CAMDEN, NJ) -- South Camden Theatre Company has announced the show line-up for their 18th season at The Waterfront South Theatre, the only free-standing theatre built in Camden in more than 100 years.  The season includes The Legend of Georgia McBride, Lettice & Lovage, Alabama Story, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

Artistic Director, Dawn Varava stated, “As I began to select the shows for our 2023 season, I realized that all the plays’ protagonists have one outstanding common quality. Each of them is unafraid to live their own truth – bravely and without apology. Although the story of each of the works is wildly different from the others, this one theme of distinct uniqueness stands out brilliantly. From the proud drag queens of The Legend of Georgia McBride to the quirkiness of Lettice & Lovage; from the selfless strength of the small town librarian in Alabama Story to our autistic and very clever hero, Christopher, in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime., all promise an impactful and unforgettable journey for our audience.”

Their first production takes the stage in early February or 2023 and has a connection with Valentine’s Day. The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew López, follows Casey. He’s young, broke, his landlord’s knocking at the door, and he’s just found out his wife is going to have a baby. To make matters even more desperate, Casey is fired from his gig as an Elvis impersonator in a run-down, small-town Florida bar. When the bar owner brings in a B-level drag show to replace his act, Casey finds that he has a lot to learn about show business—and himself. This show is directed by Jonathan Edmondson, founding artistic director of The Strides Collective. 

They will then greet spring with a Regional Premiere of Peter Shaffer’s Lettice & Lovage directed by Penelope Reed and starring our artistic director, Dawn Varava appearing under a Special Appearance contract through Actor’s Equity. In this show, Lettice Duffet, an expert on Elizabethan cuisine and medieval weaponry, is an indefatigable but daffy enthusiast of history and the theatre. As a tour guide at Fustian House, one of the least stately of London’s stately homes, she theatrically embellishes its historical past, ultimately coming up on the radar of Lotte Schon, an inspector from the Preservation Trust. Neither impressed nor entertained by Lettice’s freewheeling history lessons, Schon fires her. Not one to go without a fight, Lettice engages the stoic, conventional Lotte in a battle to the death of all that is sacred to the Empire and the crown.

Their third show is a Regional Premiere of Kenneth Jones’ Alabama Story. This show is directed by Connie Norwood and takes the stage in mid-September. As the Civil Rights movement is flowering, a controversial children’s book about a black rabbit marrying a white rabbit stirs the passions of a segregationist State Senator and a no-nonsense State Librarian in 1959 Montgomery, Alabama. A contrasting story of childhood friends–an African-American man and a woman of white privilege, reunited in adulthood–provides a private counterpoint to the public events swirling in the state capital. Political foes, star-crossed lovers, and one feisty children’s author inhabit the same page in a Deep South of the imagination that brims with humor, heartbreak and hope.

 

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Their final production for our 2023 season finds them following 15-year-old Christopher with an extraordinary brain: He is exceptional at mathematics but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched, and he distrusts strangers. Now it is 7 minutes after midnight, and Christopher stands beside his neighbor’s dead dog, Wellington, who has been speared with a garden fork. Finding himself under suspicion, Christopher is determined to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington, and he carefully records each fact of the crime. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a thrilling journey that upturns his world. You won’t want to miss The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime based on the novel by Mark Haddon, adapted by Simon Stephens, and directed by Kat Ross Klein.

Robert Bingaman, South Camden Theatre Company’s Board President said of this season, “It brings me great joy to be working with Dawn Varava, our Artistic Director for our 18th season. She has chosen an incredible season filled with laughter, warmth and of course, a few of life’s struggles.” As our tagline says, “An evening of theatre can stir your soul.” 

Tickets are available now. General admission is $20. There is a Camden Resident ticket available for $5 thanks to a grant from Holman Enterprises. 

South Camden Theatre Company is proud to call Camden home. When the company was founded in 2005, performances were held in the basement theatre of the Sacred Heart Church. We’re now the proud owners of The Waterfront South Theatre, the first, free-standing theatre built for live theatre in Camden in more than 100 years. 

The Waterfront South neighborhood is a growing arts community. Our arts neighbors now include Camden FireWorks, artist studio spaces, and gallery, The Nick Virgilio Writer’s House, Mighty Writers, Bee Still Studios, The Camden Shipyard & Maritime Museum, Camden Boat Works, and the Center For Environmental Transformation, along with The Heart of Camden, The Camden Sophisticated Sisters, and The Sacred Heart Church.