The Marco Players Launches 40th Season! 1974 – 2014

When The Marco Players raises the curtain for its 2014-2015 Season, the oldest not-for-profit theater on Marco Island will launch its 40th season of live performance art with Main Productions, Special Productions and a Lunch Box Series.

Started in 1974 as a children’s play reading group, it was eventually re-created as an adult community theater known as The Marco Island Players.  Originally, a for-profit theater, the Players incorporated as a non-profit corporation in the mid 70’s and is now known as The Marco Players.

Season subscriptions offer discounted ticket prices. Tickets are now on sale at www.TheMarcoPlayers.com or call the box office at (239) 642-7270.

Main Productions

Sunset Park by Marley Sims & Elliot Shoenman

Sunset Park is a contemporary comedy/drama that takes place in Brooklyn, New York. Evelyn Horowitz, a widow in her seventies, lives by herself and is a part-time teacher. Her apartment building is going co-op, but she can’t afford to buy in and cannot, by law, be asked to leave. When, her middle-aged children, Carol and Roger, hear about it, they realize that there’s money to be made in the long run. And that’s when the problems start – when money enters the picture, conflicts arise and old secrets come out.

Directed by: Richard Joyce

Show Dates: November 5 thru November 23, 2014

Becky’s New Car by Steven Dietz

Have you ever been tempted to flee your own life? Becky Foster is caught in middle age, middle management and in a middling marriage. One night a socially inept and grief-struck millionaire stumbles into the car dealership where Becky works. Becky is offered nothing short of a new life…and the audience is offered a chance to ride shotgun. Becky’s New Car is a comedy with serious overtones, a devious and delightful romp down the road not taken.

Directed by: Greg Madera

Show Dates: January 7 thru January 25, 2015

The Interview by Peter Swet

Abie Moscowitz, an aging Jewish tailor is visited by Shannon, an arrogant investigator, who is suspicious about Abie’s motives to increase the value of his life insurance policy. Abie gradually wilts under Shannon’s relentless questioning, and we learn the terrible facts of his past life—his concentration camp experiences, and the murder of his family. And, at the same time, we become aware of the terror in Shannon’s soul too, the vulgar bravado he has assumed to mask his insecurity and fear of failure in the competitive rat race of money and status. In the end there is a real and touching moment of communion between the two men.

Directed by: Jim Corsica

Show Dates: February 11 thru March 1, 2015

Love, Loss and What I Wore by Nora Ephron & Delia Ephron

Based on the book by Ilene Beckerman, Love, Loss, and What I Wore is a play organized as a series of monologues and uses a rotating cast of six principal women. The subject matter of the monologues includes women’s relationships and wardrobes and at times the interaction of the two, using the female wardrobe as a time capsule of a woman’s life.

Directed by: Beverly Dahlstrom

Audition Date: Saturday, October 25, 2014 by appointment

Show Dates: March 18 thru April 4, 2015

Special Productions

Yuletide Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

Students from Marco Island Academy perform some of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets and scenes from Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest, and more!

Directed by: Kaitlynn McRae

Show Date: December 20, 2014

WOW Improv – Let’s Make Stuff Up!

Performed by improvisation comedians, this is an evening of fun and laughter — Let’s Make Stuff Up!

Show Date: March 13, 2015

The Merry Housewives of Windsor by William Shakespeare

One of Shakespeare’s most delightful comedies, Sir John Falstaff is hard up for money and wants to restore his riches. But, the wooed Windsor women see through his schemes.

Directed by: Randall Kenneth Jones

Show Dates: April 16-19 | April 23-26 | May 1-3

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Students from the Marco Island Academy dig into one of William Shakespeare’s most troubled characters in this refreshing performance of Macbeth.

Directed by: Kaitlynn McRae

Show Dates: May 22-24 | May 30-31

Lunch Box Series

Woman Rebel by Janina Birtolo

An original one-woman show about Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood and her struggles to bring birth control to women.

Show Date: January 17, 2015

Let’s Make Stuff Up! By WOW Improv

Fun, laughter and lunch — Let’s Make Stuff Up!

Show Date: February 21, 2015

Wanda’s Visit by Christopher Durang

A restless married couple is thrown into disarray when Wanda, an old high school sweetheart, comes to visit.

Show Date: March 21, 2015