Plays amid the stars

A preview of what'due south on local stages in 2015

At that place's an embarrassment of riches to exist found on Seacoast stages every year, and 2015 is no exception. The new year offers a mix of original productions from local playwrights and favorite classics. Hither's a expect at what 2015 has in store for Seacoast theatergoers.

Pontine Theatre
Pontine begins 2015 with "New England Utopia: Transcendental Communities." Presented as a café evening with breezy seating and refreshments, Pontine'southward artistic directors Grand. Marguerite Matthews and Greg Gathers perform scenes from their original production, "The Mutual Heart," and lead a discussion of New England transcendentalism. Audiences tin can relive and talk virtually the utopian experiments led past Bronson Alcott and George Ripley and the Concur, Mass. community of transcendentalist thinkers that centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson. Feb. 6-8.

In March, storyteller Jay O'Callahan sets his sights on the heavens in a slightly dissimilar way. His bear witness, "Forged in the Stars," celebrates more than a half-century of American space travel. Commissioned for NASA's 50th anniversary in 2008, "Forged" weaves together stories nigh J.C. High Eagle, a NASA engineer of Cherokee Indian heritage whose childhood dream was to help men state on the moon; astronaut Neil Armstrong; and New Hampshire'due south own Christa McAuliffe, forth with the standing journeys of the two Voyager spacecraft. March thirteen-fifteen.

Springtime is the best time for a footling nonsense. In Apr, Pontine premieres its original adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark." Matthews and Gather bring to life Carroll'southward nonsense poem, nigh the misbegotten voyage of a crew of tradesmen (and a beaver) as they pursue the mythical Snark, using a miniature paper-thin theater, inspired past popular 19th century parlor entertainments.

              STAGE_Marguerite-Mathews-and-Greg-Gathers-perform-NEW-ENGLAND-UTOPIA_PhotoCredit_Andrew-EdgarM. Marguerite Matthews and Greg Gathers in The Common Heart.

All performances are at West End Studio Theatre, 959 Islington St., Portsmouth. Phone call 603-436-6660 or visit pontine.org for ticket information.

The Players' Ring
The Band kicks off the new yr with a premiere. "Blitz," an original play past Callie Kimball and the offset production from Jasmin Hunter's Soul in the Bounding main Productions, takes the stage January. 2-18. The twelvemonth is a mix of new productions and archetype plays: Patrick Dorow Productions presents "Songs for a New World" from Jan. 23 to Feb. viii, while "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" returns to the Ring courtesy of director Matthew Richards from Feb. 13 to March 1.

Also in March: Veterans in Performing Arts brings its production of "A Few Skillful Men" to the theater March 6-22. Bretton Reis directs "Marat/Sade," on stage March 27 to Apr 12, and Todd Hunter directs and produces "Seminar," a satire nigh iv young writers at a New York City writing seminar, April 17 to May 3. The original musical "Hemingway's Wife" makes its world premiere with Gary Locke directing on May 29 to round out the Ring'due south season.

              STAGE_feature_kyle_milner_in_seminar_photo_jasmin_hunterKyle Milner in Seminar.

All performances are at The Players' Ring, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth. Call 603-436-8123 or visit playersring.org for ticket data.

Seacoast Repertory Theatre
After a successful fundraising campaign in late 2014, The Rep is rebuilding and looking toward its hereafter. Its leap 2015 chief stage productions footstep dorsum into the by with a pair of classics. "Guys and Dolls," nearly would-be gambling mogul Nathan Detroit and his attempts to win a large score while keeping his girlfriend Adelaide happy, opens on February. 6. In May, the Rep stages Stephen Sondheim's musical "Into the Forest," a re-telling of fairy tales that follows a baker, his married woman, Little Crimson Riding Hood, Jack (of the beanstalk), and Cinderella as they contend with the consequences of their wishes.

All performances are at Seacoast Repertory Theatre, 125 Bow St., Portsmouth. Call 603-433-4793 or visit seacoastrep.org for ticket data.

New Hampshire Theatre Project
NHTP begins 2015 with "I Am My Own Married woman," an evocative, Pulitzer Prize-winning show featuring CJ Lewis as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, the German antiquarian and transgender person who survived both the Nazi and Communist regimes in Eastward Berlin. Genevieve Aichele directs. In March, NHTP presents "Goblin Market," a mini-musical adapted from Chrinstina Rosetti'south poem, directed by Danielle Howard and starring Heather Glenn Wixon and Linette Miles. And in April, the Intelligent Theatre Festival returns for a third yr, with professional person and community actors reading scripts by local playwrights and contemporary authors. 

              STAGE_NHTP_CJ-Lewis-in-'I-Am-My-Own-Wife'_courtesyCJ Lewis in I Am My Ain Wife.

All performances are at West End Studio Theatre, 959 Islington St., Portsmouth. Call 603-431-6644 or visit nhtheatreproject.org for ticket information.

Garrison Players
The Garrison Players boot off their bound season with "Fiddler on the Roof," the classic musical about Tevye, who tries to maintain his family unit and Jewish traditions while coping with his strong-willed daughters, the encroachment of exterior influences on his family unit life, and an edict from the tsar that evicts his family from their village. March 6-21. In May, the players nowadays "You lot Can't Have It With You lot," about the romance between Tony Kirby and Alice Sycamore, a grand duchess working as a waitress, a press press in the living room, and other mad happenings. May 8-23.

All performances at Garrison Players Arts Center, 650 Portland Ave., Rollinsford. Call 603-750-4278 or visit garrisonplayers.org for ticket information.

The Leddy Center for Performing Arts
Epping'south playhouse enters the new year's day with "Scene Changes," a romantic dramedy written and directed by local playwright Donald Tongue. The play follows Samantha Wheelwright, played by Deirdre Bridge, a unpleasing star who must mentor a young, inexperienced thespian in a traveling product of "A Christmas Carol." Jan. 16-25. In March, "Steel Magnolias," about a shut-knit circle of women who notice friendship at a modest dazzler parlor in Louisiana, takes the stage. March 20-29.

All performances at The Leddy Center, 38C Ladd's Lane, Epping. Call 603-679-2781 or visit leddycenter.org for ticket information.

7 Stages Shakespeare Company
There are plenty of ways to keep the Bard in your life in 2015, but perhaps the well-nigh comfy is at ShakesBEERience, Seven Stages' monthly reading of a different Shakespeare play at The Press Room. The company finishes its 2014-2015 flavour with "Troilus & Cressida," directed by Geoffrey Pingree, on Jan.