Presenting Town and Country Players' 2004 Season

Man of La Mancha
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
Beyond Therapy
Summer and Smoke
Night Must Fall
Fall Play Festival

In addition to these adult productions, please check out our Family Theater productions for this season.

Visit here after each show for pictures.

Man of La Mancha

Written by Dale Wasserman
Music by Mitch Leigh
Lyrics by Joe Darion

Directed by Keith Soester

Miguel de Cervantes, aging and an utter failure as a playwright, poet and tax collector for the government, has been thrown into a dungeon in Seville to await the Inquisition for an offense against the Church. A court of his fellow prisoners will judge him ­ thieves, cutthroats and trollops, who want to steal his only possessions, one being the uncompleted manuscript of a novel called "Don Quixote." In his defense he dons make-up and costume to transform himself into Don Quixote and his faithful servant, Sancho Panza. They play out the story with the help of the prisoners as other characters.

Quixote and Sancho take to the road on horses in a campaign to restore the age of chivalry, to battle evil and right all wrongs. Quixote encounters the enemy in the popular windmill scene, but Quixote declares that his defeat of the "dark Enchanter." In a roadside inn, Aldonza, the inn's serving girl and trollop is propositioned by a rough gang of Muleteers. From a distance Quixote sees the woman as his dream-ideal, the lady Dulcinea. Aldonza is confused and angered by his refusal to see her as she really is. Later, Aldonza finds Quixote holding vigil in the courtyard and question's his ideals and irrational ways, as he sings one of the Tony-award winning songs "The Impossible Dream." As Aldonza starts to believe Quixote's vision of a better life, she falls prey by the Muleteers.
Quixote and Sancho are robbed by a thieving band of Moors and return to the inn to find the disillusioned Aldonza. The Enchanter surfaces challenging and yet again defeating Quixote, leaving him to see himself as a pathetic old man, not the shining young knight. At home the old man who once called himself Don Quixote is dying. Aldonza, having followed, forces her way into the room, pleading with him to restore the dream of glory she once witnessed, and rising from his bed he begins to sing "Man of La Mancha," collapses and dies. It is only then, that Aldonza believes saying, "My name is Dulcinea."

Back in the dungeon the prisoners, dregs of humanity, have been deeply affected by his story and return to him his precious manuscript. Cervantes is summoned by the Inquisition and the prisoners unite to sing as he is led away to "The Impossible Dream."

April 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 30, May 1, 2, 7 and 8

Friday and Saturday night shows have a 8 pm curtain; Sunday matinees start at 3 pm.
Tickets are $15.

Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

By Ed Graczyk

Directed by Gina V. Stevens

In a small-town dime store in West Texas in 1975, the Disciples of James Dean gather for their 20th reunion. Now middle-aged women, they were teenagers with dreams of their own when Dean filmed Giant two decades ago, putting nearby Marfa on the map. Mona, an extra in the film, has a child whom she says was conceived by Dean on the set; the son, Jimmy Dean, was named after his "father". The ladies ­ Mona, Sissy, Stella May, Edna, and Juanita reminiscence with flash-backs to their youth; then the arrival of a stunning and momentarily unrecognized mystery woman, Joanne, sets off a series of confrontations that upset their self-deceptions, turns their world upside down, and exposes their secrets hidden for so long. The movie version starred Cher, Sandy Dennis, Karen Black and Kathy Bates. Expect the unexpected.

This show contains mature content. It is recommended for adults only.

May 28, 29, 30, June 4, 5, 6, 11 and 12

Friday and Saturday night shows have a 8 pm curtain; Sunday matinees start at 3 pm.
Tickets are $15.

Beyond Therapy

By Christopher Durang

Directed by John Rasiej

Bruce and Prudence are deeply into therapy. Prudence's macho therapist is urging her to meet someone of the opposite sex by placing a personal ad while Bruce's wacky female therapist is urging him to meet someone of the opposite sex by placing a personal ad. She does not fully comprehend that Bruce has a male lover who is not pleased by Bruce's decision to date a woman: Prudence. Bruce doesn't know how to handle poor nervous Prudence and Prudence doesn't know what to make of her unpredictable new boyfriend. They sort it all out and learn to live beyond therapy in this delightful comedy.

August 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 20 and 21

Friday and Saturday night shows have a 8 pm curtain; Sunday matinees start at 3 pm.
Tickets are $15.

Summer and Smoke

By Tennessee Williams

Directed by Stephen Stahl

One of the author's most highly regarded works. The play is a simple love story of a somewhat puritanical Southern girl and an unpuritanical young doctor. Each is basically attracted to the other, but because of their divergent attitudes toward life, each over the course of years is driven away from the other. Not until toward the end does the doctor realize that the girl's high idealism is basically right, and while she is still in love with him, it turns out that neither time nor circumstances will allow the two ultimately to come together.

September 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24 and 25

Friday and Saturday night shows have a 8 pm curtain; Sunday matinees start at 3 pm.
Tickets are $15.

Night Must Fall

By Emlyn Williams

Directed by Jim Kirkwood

It is no secret that Danny, a bell hop who arrives at the Bramson bungalow, has already murdered one woman and there is little doubt that he will soon murder another - the aged owner of the house. He skillfully insinuates himself into her affections while preventing her niece - who has guessed his previous connections with murder from giving him away. Dan is a dashing young assassin whom the niece firmly believes she hates, but as a matter of fact, she is fascinated by him beyond measure. Dan is a selfish, self-centered psychopath with no feelings and a vast imagination. He is perpetually acting for his own edification the part of a murderer and is only unhappy because he cannot share this secret with the world.

October 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29 and 30

Friday and Saturday night shows have a 8 pm curtain; Sunday matinees start at 3 pm.
Tickets are $15.

Fall Play Festival

Present Tense - directed by Jon Crea

Elevations - written and directed by Anna Hughes

When Shakespeare's Ladies Meet - directed by Andy McPhee

November 12, 13, 19 and 20

Friday and Saturday night shows have a 8 pm curtain.
Tickets are $5.

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To reserve tickets for any performance, please call us at 215-348-7566.