Hi Everyone!

This is Molly McMahon, the Community Relations Coordinator for Matrix and I am THRILLED to tell you about our 2012-2013 professional season!  The production department here spent months poring over scripts and we finally settled on some great scripts that run the gamut from funny to nail-biting.

Our first show is Death and the Maiden.  This story focuses on Paulina, a torture survivor who believes she has met her torturer.  It is a play by Ariel Dorfman, a playwright and human rights activist, who experienced first hand the consequences of dictatorship as a citizen of Chile.  This play is extremely complex and will force audiences to confront their own feelings about memory, torture, love and forgiveness.  One of the reasons we've chose this play for Matrix's upcoming season was that it not only highlights issues within the context of social justice, but it also will hopefully encourage our patrons to discuss these issues and their feelings about the play with others.

Our second show of the professional season is decidedly more light hearted.  Puppet Scrooge will delight audiences again this season with its unique retelling of the Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol.  For those of you who have seen productions of Puppet Scrooge in the past, this year's will be better than ever.  The production has evolved over the years from more experimental to a solid production with lots of laughs and holiday spirit.  We have put our own Detroit spin on the show that you won't find anywhere else this holiday season.

Our third and final show of the professional season is Phoenix.  Written by Scott Organ, this play tells the story of the aftermath of a one-night stand between two people searching for very different things in life.  As the characters attempt to reconcile their current situations, they discover that what they think they desire, may not in fact be what they need.  This play is very humorous, but also has tender moments as well.  The script was published in 2010 so this is the most contemporary of the plays we've chosen.  We've decided to produce this play because of its humor but also its willingness to examine themes of isolation and the way people deal with it.

And, we've got something totally new, never before done at Matrix Theatre Company... next January, we are hosting a film festival called Detroit Dreaming.  That's right, we are branching out into other artistic media and adding some film to our theatre season!  We'll start taking submissions for the festival soon so keep your eyes peeled for upcoming information.  We hope through this festival that we can expose our community to films, created by a variety film makers, centered around Detroit themes.

In addition to our professional season, we are also looking forward to our School of Theatre season.  This second stage series features the talents of our Matrix Teen Company.  Their productions of Haunted Theatre in the fall and an originally written show in the spring, are always fun events to look forward to.

Well... that's all I have for now!  Keep checking our blog for more information, announcements and upcoming events.  Thanks for reading and peace!