Kevin Moriarty

Ensemble member Cedric Neal, who'll play Puck in "Midsummer" and Happy in "Death of a Salesman," in front of Wyly construction a few months ago

The original 1966 cast album cover for "It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman."

Kevin Moriarty met with arts reporters April 14 to announce the 2009-'10 season.

Model of the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre (foreground) with Winspear Opera House behind.

Architectural model of the Wyly Theatre.

DTC ensemble actors Hassan El-Amin and Cedric Neal will co-star in "Death of a Salesman" in 2010.

  

Something old, something new (or two), something borrowed (from seasons past) and something blue. As Dallas Theater Center steps over the threshold into its new home, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre at the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, artistic director Kevin Moriarty is vowing to shake up all previous expectations for the company's 51st season.

Moriarty announced the 2009-10 season lineup at a press conference Tuesday morning at the Trammell Crow Center, where architectural models of the Wyly and the Winspear Opera House are on public view. The first season in the new theater Rem Koolhaas-designed theater will begin in October.

The season:

• A Midsummer Night's Dream (October 23-November 22). Moriarty said he chose Shakespeare's lightest romantic comedy as the inaugural production at the Wyly because "we needed a play that was unequivocally a great play. We didn't want the challenge of picking a new play and wondering `Does this script have legs?' Midsummer is a celebration and it's one of Shakespeare's greatest. It appeals to all ages with a story about teenagers finding themselves through love, and blue-collar workers [the Rude Mechanical characters] becoming real men through the power of theater. It also ends with a group of fairies blessing the house, which I thought was a wonderful thing to do in the new theater." DTC acting company members Cedric Neal and Hassan El-Amin will star as Puck and Oberon, with Liz Mikel as Titania. Moriarty will direct.
• A Christmas Carol (December 1-27). It's the 31st and final go-'round for the annual dose of Dickens at the Kalita Humphreys Theater on Turtle Creek. And for the first time since original DTC company actor Randy Moore played Ebenezer Scrooge back in the 1980s, a Dallas actor, new company member Sean Hennigan, will again play the leading role. (DTC has imported actors for that part for the past 25 years.)
• Give It Up! (January 15-February 14). Moriarty describes this new "pop musical" as a cross between Aristophanes' Lysistrata and Disney's High School Musical. This world premiere features a book and lyrics by Douglas Carter Beane (The Little Dog Laughed) and music by Lewis Flynn (The Winner, which had its world premiere at Lyric Stage a few seasons back). At Athens University, head cheerleader Lysistrata Jones convinces her girlfriends to stop all contact with the losing basketball team until the boys win some games. For this show, Moriarty said, the new and very flexible 600-seat Potter Rose Performance Hall at the Wyly will be converted into a basketball arena. Dan Knechtges will direct and choreograph the show Moriarty predicts will be "the major new comedy event of the American musical season."
• The Beauty Plays (February 23-May 23). A trio of plays by Neil LaBute will be performed in rotating repertory in the 100-seat Studio Theatre at the Wyly. The Shape of Things, Fat Pig and LaBute's latest (if rights are available), Reasons to Be Pretty, will star DTC company members Lee Trull and Christina Vela. They previously starred together in Fat Pig at Kitchen Dog Theater, and Trull starred in Stage West's production of The Shape of Things. Moriarty said these plays offer "a rousing, razor-sharp look at ourselves" and our concepts of physical beauty. Directed by Matthew Gray, Joel Ferrell and Kevin Moriarty.
• Death of a Salesman (April 16-May 16). Company members Hassan El-Amin, Chamblee Ferguson, Matthew Gray, Sean Hennigan, Liz Mikel, Cedric Neal and Sally Nystuen Vahle will star in the Arthur Miller tragedy about Willy Loman, a 62-year-old hosiery salesman who loses his job and his mind as he realizes his dreams have all been shattered. (Interesting note: At the season announcement event, Moriarty added, "This production will be sponsored by Charles Schwab." That would be hilarious, if it also weren't strangely appropriate.)
• It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (June 18-July 25). Another world premiere, but of a show that played on Broadway in the mid-1960s and now is getting a rewrite by a hot new playwright/comic book author. With music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams (the same team from Annie and Bye Bye Birdie), and a new book by Spider-Man comics writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the legend of Superman will come to life on the stage, complete with flying effects. (The original book was by David Newman and Dallasite Robert Benton). The production will feature ensemble members Hassan El-Amin, Sean Hennigan and Cedric Neal. Directed by Moriarty; choreography by Joel Ferrell.

Other changes next season include opening the shows on Fridays instead of Tuesdays, with an opening night party for patrons and cast members in the new arts district. DTC also is expanding its "pay what you can" program at the box office, with a dedicated number of tickets reserved for patrons who can donate whatever they can afford. The Wyly also will offer six levels of ticket pricing (there were only two at the Kalita). Top ticket price (for the musicals) will be $84; but there will always be seats for $15 at each performance.