The House of Blue Leaves             June 19-28
By John Guare
Directed by Rand Foerster

New Century Theatre opens its 2008 season with a biting comedy that the New York Times called an "Enchantingly zany and original farce." Artie Shaughnessy's life just hasn't turned out the way he wanted. By day he's a zookeeper and by night, he's a frustrated songwriter who can only dream of making it big in Hollywood. To add to his aggravation, he's got a schizophrenic wife in need of constant care and an embittered GI son who's gone AWOL from Fort Dix. But on the day when the Pope visits New York City for the first time, Artie's mistress sees it as an opportunity for him to finally reach out for fame and fortune. A Hollywood producer, his hard of hearing fiancée, three sight-seeing nuns and a plot to bomb Yankee Stadium all add to the lunacy to create a "brilliant play...beautifully fashioned...with hilarity, poignancy, outrageous stage asides and tragedy." — THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Well             July 3-12
By Lisa Kron
Directed by Keith Langsdale

A 2006 Broadway hit, WELL is a touching and utterly original comedy for anyone who has ever had a mother. All Lisa Kron wants to do is present a nice, orderly little play about growing up and how she was cured of her debilitating allergies. But her mother (who happens to be watching Lisa's performance from her onstage La-Z-Boy) has a slightly different agenda. What begins as an innocent question or two grows into a scene-stealing performance that threatens to bring down the curtain on Lisa's soul-searching performance-art piece. The San Francisco Chronicle praised WELL for its "infectious humor and great humanity" while the NEW YORK TIMES made it a "Top Ten Pick." Directed by Keith Langsdale, WELL is a celebration of mothers and daughters, mind over body, social activism and theatre itself.

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Rabbit Hole             July 17-26
By David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by Ed Golden

Becca and Howard Corbett have all a family could want until a fateful moment changes everything, shattering their idyllic lives and home forever. Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, RABBIT HOLE is a transcendent, honest and compassionate look at a grieving family as they struggle to navigate the healing process. Nominated for five Tony Awards, this is a stunningly beautiful, funny, and bittersweet play about the moment of emergence from unbearable darkness back into the warmth of light. Directed by Ed Golden, the Associated Press called RABBIT HOLE a play that is "startling...heartfelt…and remarkable."

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Arsenic and Old Lace             July 31-August 9
By Joseph Kesselring
Directed by Jack Neary

New Century Theatre closes out its summer season with one of the most beloved madcap American comedies of all time. The year is 1941 and the elderly Brewster sisters, two of the sweetest spinsters you could ever meet, operate a bachelor rooming house in Brooklyn. With a macabre sense of charity and a little help from arsenic-laced elderberry wine, the sisters are easing the discomfort of their lonely guests. When nephew Mortimer discovers their "little bit of naughtiness" he determines to put an end to it. But the arrival of his homicidal brother Jonathan and other brother Teddy (who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt) puts a kink in Mortimer's plan to redeem the Brewster name. Join director Jack Neary and stellar cast for this hilarious finale to NCT's eighteenth season.

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