Photo Terry Gannon
FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR What a glorious year for the art of TheatreWorks! Launched with the debut of our greatly-expanded New Works Festival, our 2009/10 season was outstanding in every way, and four of our eight mainstage shows joined the company’s list of top ten best sellers. We celebrated our 40th birthday with two world premieres, won seven awards for excellence from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (including Best Musical), and reveled in the runaway success of our anniversary tribute, Gala 40. Finally, in an astounding year-end finale, the TheatreWorks-premiered musical Memphis won four Tony Awards® in New York, including Best Musical of the Year. And what wonderful shows we shared! Set in a backwoods smithy, the world premiere musical Tinyard Hill launched the season with what The Daily News called a “triumph for TheatreWorks…a tale full of charm, warmth, humor, and social importance.” On its heels, the regional premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face featured the brilliant Francis Jue in a hilarious but poignant “must-see show, rare in its honesty.” (Palo Alto Weekly) “The Chosen packs a hefty punch,” raved the San Francisco Chronicle about our powerful October drama, and equal success greeted our unique holiday premiere A Civil War Christmas; it was hailed by The Mercury News as “A richly detailed musical tapestry…a timeless message of shared humanity.” January brought the season’s biggest hit, the delightful world premiere of Paul Gordon and John Caird’s romance Daddy Long Legs. Metro Silicon Valley called it “a musical that redefines musicals…a revolutionary piece of theatre,” and it has since toured throughout the country. “A family comedy with truly delightful results” (Palo Alto Weekly), the wacky Sunsets and Margaritas offered a mid-winter tribute to our Latino community, soon followed by Harper Lee’s moving To Kill a Mockingbird, which the San Francisco Bay Times described as “100% superb!” When the string quartet of Opus wowed the Bay Area in June, online arts review Stark Silver Creek concluded, “Opus is a truly wonderful capstone to TheatreWorks’ 40th season, which has been, by all definitions, a smashing success.” In a year that doubled attendance at our New Works Festival, offered two world premieres, featured at one point, five different TheatreWorks-developed shows performing around the country, and concluded with a Tony Award®, it’s fair to say that new works have become the highlight of TheatreWorks’ art. We are proud to reflect the spirit of innovation that defines our Silicon Valley, proud of the 80 new plays and musicals we have helped develop since launching our New Works Initiative a decade ago. With solid support from The National Endowment for the Arts, the Irvine, Hewlett, and Packard Foundations, innovative corporations such as Microsoft, and the dedicated donors of The Inner Circle, New Works Director Meredith McDonough has brought exciting new authors and composers to the company and national attention to our work. Most importantly, the wealth of exciting works in development allowed us to select an unprecedented three world premieres for the 2010/11 season. Our 40th year. It is hard to imagine a more inspiring, memorable, and rewarding season. As TheatreWorks begins its fifth decade, we have seen our reputation for artistic excellence and theatrical innovation soar to new heights throughout the Bay Area and across the nation. It has been a thrill and an honor sharing this anniversary year with all of you. Warmly yours,
Robert Kelley Founder and Artistic Director
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