Bristol Riverside Theatre Returns to the Stage with In-Person Shows for 35th Season

Bristol Riverside Theatre (120 Radcliffe St.) is excited for an in-person return to the stage for the company’s 35th season. Co-Producing Directors Amy and Ken Kaissar are delighted to announce their first full season since taking the helm. The curtain will rise again starting with the two-person madcap musical Murder for Two from September 21st to October 10th. Next up, look for Skeleton Crew by award-winning playwright Dominique Morrisseau from November 2nd to November 21st. In winter, BRT presents a mystery between two high school students in Lauren Gunderson’s I and You from January 25th to February 13th. Audiences will then roar with laughter at the hilarious A Comedy of Tenors by Ken Ludwig from March 8th to March 27th. The season will close with Aaron Sorkin’s searing masterpiece A Few Good Men from May 3rd to May 22nd. For a holiday treat in between mainstage shows, the season will also include BRT’s popular holiday special event, An American Christmas Songbook, from December 9th to December 19th. Additional special events and summer programming will be announced at a later date. Season subscriptions and individual show tickets are now available. Student and military discounts are available, as are special discounted tickets for Bristol Township and Bristol Borough residents. For purchases and additional show information, please visit brtstage.org or call 215-785-0100. BRT will follow all local and state guidelines for health and safety. For the start of the season, masks will be required for all patrons regardless of vaccination status, except in designated areas for eating and drink. All subscribers and ticket holders will be notified with any developments in regard to health protocols.

“We are thrilled to return to the stage with in-person shows after 17 months,” said BRT Co-Producing Director Amy Kaissar. “It means so much for our entire company and BRT family to get back to doing what we love and do best. This also is our opportunity to present our first season as new Co-Producing Directors. While the pandemic may have caused a delay, the time is finally here to get our feet wet and dive into a season with high quality work and top notch entertainment that audiences expect from us. We also plan to provide hints around the direction we plan to take the organization moving forward.”

She added, “I don’t think it’s possible to be more excited about making theatre, with people, indoors, in the same room, and then putting shows on the stage and listening to an audience laugh together. Audiences should expect what they always expect from BRT, top notch acting, gorgeous sets, and shows that enable them to feel more deeply, to laugh more joyfully, and to reflect on ourselves and the world in which we live.”

SEASON AT A GLANCE

Murder for Two
Book & Music by Joe Kinosian
Book & Lyrics by Kellen Blair
Directed by J. Scott Lapp

September 21 to October 10, 2021
Opening Night is Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 7:30pm

BRT brings one of the most uproarious musical comedies to hit stages to Bucks County -- the sidesplitting and zany Murder for Two. It’s a whodunit for two actors, one playing the detective, the other playing all thirteen suspects, and both of them taking turns accompanying each other at the piano. It’s Agatha Christie meets Vaudeville and will be an event not to miss.

“Murder for Two is hilariously good fun,” said BRT Co-Producing Director Ken Kaissar. ”It’s just hilarious to watch these two guys try to hold it together playing some 14 parts, plus the piano, throughout a whodunnit murder mystery. It’s full of surprises and laughs. We picked it way before the pandemic and we’re even more excited now that it’s kicking off the season because what could be better for our first show back than a riotous evening?”

Skeleton Crew
By Dominique Morisseau
Directed by Cameron Knight
November 2 to November 21, 2021
Opening Night is Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 7:30pm

Four Detroit auto workers panic as rumors that their factory is closing circulate through the tight-knit work community. With their futures unknown, each of the workers must make difficult choices about loyalty to each other, the company, and themselves. Join BRT for MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” recipient, Dominique Morisseau’s play, Skeleton Crew.

“Skeleton Crew is one of the best plays written in the last decade” said Amy Kaissar. “It’s a brilliant script that encompasses so much of what was, and is, happening as our country and economy changes. It’s a story about pressures between what’s right for each of us as individuals vs. what’s right for us as a community and what happens when the circumstances that underlie the promises we were given changes. While it’s set in Detroit, it has tremendous relevance for our community in Bristol.”

An American Christmas Songbook
BRT’s Annual Holiday Tradition
December 9 to December 19, 2021

The chill of winter is in the air as BRT favorites take the stage to perform favorite carols and heartwarming Christmas songs.

I and You
By Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Gia Forakis
January 25 to February 13, 2022
Opening Night is Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 7:30pm

Homebound due to illness, Caroline hasn’t been to school in months. Anthony, a high school athlete, arrives unexpectedly at her door with an urgent group assignment from their English teacher. As the two begin to let down their guards and share their secrets, they uncover the profound mystery that has brought them together. The end will leave audiences speechless.

“I and You is a really fun ride,” said Ken Kaissar. “I read it first and immediately handed it to Amy saying, ‘I'm not going to tell you anything about this but you need to read it.’ The second Amy finished it, she passed it to the next person with the same words, and it went through the company that way. While we originally just loved the mind blowing ride it takes you on, it turned out that after 2020, a story about a teenager, isolated at home and stuck with remote learning, is far more relevant than we expected it to be. Who can’t relate to this now?”

Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors
By Ken Ludwig
Directed by Amy Kaissar
March 8 to March 27, 2022
Opening Night is Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 7:30pm

Get ready for big laughs in the hilarious A Comedy of Tenors by Ken Ludwig, one of America’s most prolific and successful comedy writers. The “Concert of the Century” is just hours away, there’s a stadium filled with screaming fans, but the three tenors have other concerns. What ensues is a whirlwind of misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and unabashed hilarity.

“We’re both big fans of well constructed comedies and A Comedy of Tenors is just that,” said Amy Kaissar, who also directs. “It’s a really fun farce and those are harder to come by than you might suspect. It’s mistaken identities, accents galore, physical impediments, and a whole bunch of doors.”

A Few Good Men
By Aaron Sorkin
Directed by Ken Kaissar
May 3 to May 22, 2022
Opening Night is Thursday, May 5, 2022 at 7:30pm

Can you handle the truth? From the creator of The West Wing and The Newsroom, comes A Few Good Men. One woman fighting for her place in a world of men, two teenage marines accused of murder, and a world in which lives and nations hang on the precision of orders followed. But if lives depend on following orders, where do you draw the line? See the hard-hitting drama that launched Aaron Sorkin’s brilliant career.

“There’s a reason that this play launched Aaron Sorkin’s career,” said Ken Kaissar, who is also directing it. “Everyone just remembers Jack Nicholson screaming at Tom Cruise. But, this show is so much more. It’s about power structures in America, it’s about our national ethics, it’s about race and gender and entrenched power structures, it’s about one woman facing off against a sea of men. It’s insanely articulate in its full-throated defense of those who protect our freedoms as well as those who make sure that laws are followed.”

On top of the Mainstage performances and additional shows, Bristol Riverside announces a special new way to cruise into the new season with Boat to Bristol Champagne Cruise, running during Murder for Two on September 26 and October 3, 2021. Why drive to BRT when you can take a champagne cruise down the Delaware? We’ll pick you up at the Trenton Marina and cruise you on over to BRT in time to have lunch before the curtain goes up. Tickets are $100 per person, and that includes the champagne boat ride and show ticket. To purchase, call Jackie DiFerdinando, Development Manager, at 215-785-6664. The Boat to Bristol is a fundraising event. Seating capacity is limited and first come, first served until tickets are sold out.

Subscriptions for the 2021-22 season are available now starting at $150. Single tickets are also on sale starting at $43. Student and military discounts are available. For locals, there are a limited number of $10 tickets available for each mainstage show for Bristol Township residents courtesy of Flager & Associates, PC. Also, as always, Bristol Borough residents can receive $5 tickets for preview performances subsidized by Bristol Borough.

Subscriptions, tickets and additional show information is available online at brtstage.org or by phone at 215-785-0100. Connect with Bristol Riverside Theatre on social media at @brtstage on Instagram & Twitter and @BristolRiversideTheatre on Facebook.

ABOUT BRISTOL RIVERSIDE THEATRE

Since 1986, BRT has continued to bring acclaimed theatre to Bucks County. The theatre is the recipient of over 71 Barrymore Award nominations. Now under the direction of Co-Producing directors Amy and Ken Kaissar, and General Manager David J. Abers, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community. In addition to its mainstage productions, BRT offers the William Penn Bank Summer Music Fest, the holiday tradition An American Christmas Songbook concert, the new play development series America Rising, the summer theatre arts camp ArtRageous, and a range of education programs for local youth. For information, visit www.brtstage.org.