TWO announces 61st season

Though Theatre Workshop of Owensboro concluded its 60th anniversary with its take on Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning musical “Into the Woods” less than two weeks ago, the nonprofit performing arts organization is already gearing up for the 2024-25 season with the announcement of its five mainstage shows.

The 61st season, which kicks off in September and wraps up next April, will include four plays and one musical: Robert and Willie Reale’s prehistoric musical comedy “The Dinosaur Musical,” Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen’s Off-Broadway play “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors,” Pat Cook’s adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s book “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus,” Theresa Rebeck’s play “Loose Knit” and Marc Camoletti’s bedroom farce “Boeing Boeing.”

Todd Reynolds, TWO’s executive director, said it will be “a season of fun.”

“(The shows) all have comedic value,” he said. “... Last year started with a heavy drama. The season before that ended with a heavy drama. … Something lighthearted, fun and funny (is) kind of what we concentrated on for this year.”

Recalling the 60th season, which reprised shows that were put on previously by TWO throughout the years, including George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s 1939 comedy “The Man Who Came to Dinner” — the first production the organization ever put on in December 1955, Reynolds said it was “a blast” for him personally though he finds it “kind of got off to a slow start” regarding attendance.

“We did ‘night, Mother’ — and that’s a really heavy drama; so a lot of folks just aren’t interested in seeing that, but we felt like it was really an important thing to start with,” he said. “The messages (are) pertinent, and a lot of folks are suffering hard times and it’s a very emotional time in our history as a country just coming off a pandemic, jobs are scarce and pay is low, and prices are high and people are feeling a lot of stress.”

However, Reynolds said the reception to the show was positive and “things took off after that” with Noël Coward’s comedy ghost story “Blithe Spirit,” “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” and “Into the Woods” along with youth productions “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” and “Miss Nelson is Missing!”

“Audiences just kept getting bigger, and bigger and bigger as the season went on,” Reynolds said, “and that was good to see. … It had honored what had come before us ….”

For the upcoming season, Reynolds said it will take the organization “where we have never gone before.”

“We’re doing a season of (shows) that haven’t been done by (TWO) at all,” he said.

“The Dinosaur Musical,” to be directed by Wes Bartlett, will start up the new season at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 6 at TWO’s Empress Theatre, 418 Frederica St.

Additional performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sept. 7 and Sept. 13-14 with matinee shows at 2 p.m. Sept. 8 and Sept. 15.

According to Broadway Licensing Global, the show takes place during the end of the Cretaceous period when a giant meteor collides with the earth and “wreaks havoc with the ecosystem.” In order to avoid extinction, the dinosaurs sign a peace pact called the “Treaty of Meat,” which brings peace carnivores and herbivores before the King of the Tyrannosauruses suddenly dies and his “none-too-clever” 13-year-old son, Quincy, rises to power, when “trouble begins” again.

“It’s absolutely delightful,” Reynolds said of the show’s script.

Leading up to Halloween, TWO will debut “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors” at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Trinity Centre, 407 W. Fifth St., followed by showings at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12 and Oct. 18-19 along with 2 p.m. shows on Oct. 13 and Oct. 20.

Described as a “90-minute, gender-bending, quick-changing, laugh-out-loud reimagining of the Gothic classic” according to the Off-Broadway production’s official website, the show details the story of an English real estate agent who takes “a harrowing journey” to meet a “new and mysterious client” who ends up being the title character.

The show, which will be directed by Kevin Brown, also includes a “famed female vampire hunter” named Jean Van Helsing, while the cast chase Dracula from Transylvania to the British countryside to London and back, according to the official production’s website.

“There’s a lot of characters, but they’re all played by a limited number of actors,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds will then sit in the director’s chair for the holiday-themed show “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus,” which will have its premiere at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Empress Theatre and will show at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 and Dec. 13-14 along with viewings at 2 p.m. Dec. 8 and 15.

Reynolds finds the show will be different compared to previous offerings shown by TWO during Christmastime in recent seasons — with “The Man Who Came to Dinner” in 2023, “A 1940s Radio Christmas Carol” in 2022 and “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” in 2021 being more adult-oriented.

“It’s been quite a few years since we’ve done a Christmas show that’s geared towards children,” Reynolds said. “... Everybody knows Santa Claus; you might not know this play, but you know all the mythos about Santa Claus and this play explains how all those things came to be.”

While the show aims to entertain the younger crowd, Reynolds said it has something for all ages.

“It’s kind of like … ‘The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle’ — it’s kid-oriented, but adults are going to go, ‘Oh, I get that,’ ” Reynolds said of the show’s material.

“Loose Knit,” directed by Dan Heckel, will begin its run at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14, followed by performances at 7:30 p.m. Feb 15 and Feb. 21-22 with 2 p.m. matinees taking place on Feb. 16 and Feb. 23 — all at the Trinity Centre.

According to New York-based licensing and publishing company Concord Theatricals, “Loose Knit” tells the story of New York City women who come together once a week to knit all the while dealing with issues in their personal lives such as loss of employment, having an affair with a sibling’s husband, experiencing an identity crisis and one trying to find a date.

“You just have to see it,” Reynolds said without giving too much away about the show’s synopsis. “It’s fun.”

The final show of the season, “Boeing Boeing,” directed by Jeremy Brailsford and Jason McGuffin, will debut at 7:30 p.m. April 11 at the Empress Theatre. Additional showings will take place at 7:30 p.m. April 12 and April 18-19 and 2 p.m. April 13 and 20.

Set in the 1960s in a flat in Paris, the show revolves around Bernard, a bachelor who is engaged to three flight attendants from all different countries that do not know about each other before coming face-to-face with each of them when they arrive at his home on the same day.

“The play is about, ‘what could possibly go wrong with that?’ ” Reynolds said.

Though all the shows are comedic in nature, Reynolds said each one is unique in its own way.

“It’s coming at it at a lot of different angles,” he said. “Comedy is like a diamond — you look at it and you turn it and there’s all these different facets; and that’s what we’re looking at.”

For tickets and more information about TWO’s 61st season, visit theatreworkshop.org or call 270-683-5333.