The Franklin Performing Arts Company has announced its 2022-23 season of musicals and plays in their home venue, The Black Box. The exciting lineup will include “The Sound of Music,” “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime,” “The Wolves,” “Something Rotten,” and “Violet.”
Additionally, FPAC Holiday Productions will present holiday favorites “The Nutcracker” and “‘Tis the Season!” at the Franklin High School Auditorium. Casts and creative teams will be announced soon.
FPAC will open its season with “The Sound of Music” Oct. 14-23 at The Black Box. The final collaboration between Rodgers & Hammerstein was destined to become the world’s most beloved musical. Featuring a trove of cherished songs, including “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do Re Mi,” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” and the title number “The Sound of Music,” won the hearts of audiences worldwide, earning five Tony Awards and five Oscars. The inspirational story, based on the memoir of Maria Augusta Trapp, follows an ebullient postulate who serves as governess to the seven children of the imperious Captain von Trapp, bringing music and joy to the household. But as the forces of Nazism take hold of Austria, Maria and the entire von Trapp family must make a moral decision.
The season continues with the stage adaptation of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime” running Nov. 18-20. Fifteen-year-old Christopher has 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.
FPAC Holiday Productions will mount their annual production of “The Nutcracker” Dec. 3-4 featuring a live orchestra, special guest artists and more than 100 area dancers. The holiday magic will continue on Dec. 17-18 with “‘Tis the Season!” – an upbeat, jazzy extravaganza featuring members of the Kenny Hadley Big Band, with contemporary arrangements of holiday classics in musical styles ranging from R&B, gospel, and Motown, to rock, pop, and Broadway. FPAC Holiday Productions are presented at the Franklin High School Auditorium.
After the holidays, FPAC will present Sarah DeLappe’s wildly popular play “The Wolves” Jan. 6-8 at The Black Box theater. A girls indoor soccer team warms up. From the safety of their suburban stretch circle, the team navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. A portrait of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for nine American girls who just want to score some goals.
The hilarious musical comedy “Something Rotten!” will be performed March 11-19 at The Black Box. Set in the 1590s, brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit play, but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rock star known as “The Bard.” When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theatre involves singing, dancing, and acting at the same time, Nick and Nigel set out to write the world’s very first musical. But amidst the scandalous excitement of opening night, the Bottom Brothers realize that reaching the top means being true to thine own self, and all that jazz.
FPAC’s season will conclude June 9-11 with the musical “Violet.” As a girl, Violet was struck by a wayward ax blade when her father was chopping wood, leaving her with a visible scar across her face. With enough money finally saved, she’s traveling across the Deep South in 1964 towards a miracle – the healing touch of a TV evangelist who will make her beautiful. Although she may not succeed in having the scar on her face healed, Violet is able to repair those scars that are lying deeper than her skin. On the way, she meets a young soldier whose love for her reaches far past her physical “imperfections.”
Franklin Performing Arts Center is an Actors’ Equity Small Professional Theater company based at The Black Box, 15 W. Central St. in downtown Franklin. Each season, FPAC produces musicals, plays, ballets, and more featuring Broadway stars, professional actors, local artists and students of the arts. Tickets for the 2022-23 season will be on sale soon at https://www.theblackboxonline.com/. Follow Franklin Performing Arts Company and The Black Box on Facebook and Instagram for updates on programming.
