Our Season

Nov 20, 2021 - Jan 1, 2022 I Previews Nov 17-19, 2021

Book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado  
Music by Galt MacDermot  
Directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes

Hair is the rock musical that started it all. This joyous rebellion proudly reclaims love as the heart of what it means to be American.  Packed with music that is beautiful, irreverent, and deeply evocative, the quirky, all-inclusive vibe doesn’t shy away from poignant social commentary. This iconic musical and Grammy award-winning score, get an exuberant and resonant retelling in the hands of Broadway and Asolo Rep favorite, Josh Rhodes. Unforgettable numbers like “The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In),” “Aquarius,” “Good Morning Starshine,” and “Hair” will bring audiences to their feet!      

Jan 14 - March 26, 2022 | Previews Jan 12-13, 2022

By Thornton Wilder  
Directed by Desdemona Chiang

Perhaps no other play rings truer today. Thornton Wilder’s magnificent  Our Town  is, at its heart, about us. All of us who are swept up by time and subject to inescapable change. As another ordinary day begins, the inhabitants of a small American town go about their business: newspapers are delivered; people go to work; gardens are tended. And a boy and girl fall in love. But as life's events unfold, one question remains: "Do any human beings ever realize life as they live it?” Long after it won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Our Town remains one of the most enduring American plays of all time, reminding us to celebrate love, family, community, and the beauty in the ordinary.   

Jan 21 - April 1, 2022 I Previews Jan 19-20, 2022

By  Bess Wohl  
Directed by Celine Rosenthal 

You’re never too old to learn, but what if you learn that the person you’ve been married to for 50 years is making you miserable? Bill and Nancy practically breathe in unison; they anticipate each other’s sighs, sneezes, and ends of sentences. But just as they settle into their new retirement home in Florida, Nancy wants out. As their two adult sons struggle to cope with the news, they’re forced to question everything they assumed about the people they thought they knew best. Sophisticated, funny, delightfully – and sometimes provocatively – honest, this new Broadway hit comedy takes an intimate look at the unpredictable and enduring nature of love.    

Feb11 - April 2, 2022 I Previews Feb 9-10, 2022

By  Lauren Yee  
Directed by Vanessa Stalling

Born in the United States but inextricably tied to far off and forbidden China, Manford Lum finds his home on the basketball courts of San Francisco’s Chinatown. As fast-talking as he is athletically skilled, Lum wisecracks and dazzles his way onto a college team headed for a “friendly” exhibition game in Beijing. As the story bounces between 1989 and 1971, past relationships collide with present day revelations right up to the final buzzer. Smart, feisty and hilarious, The Great Leap is about family, history, and learning that every game is a second chance.   

April 23 - May 11, 2022 I Previews April 15-22, 2022

Book by Frank Galati
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens  
Based on the novel A Death in the Family by James Agee
Based, in part, on the play All the Way Home by Tad Mosel
Directed by Frank Galati

The world premiere of Knoxville is made possible by a generous grant from The Roy Cockrum Foundation.  

This moving and innovative new musical reunites the dynamic Tony Award®-winning creative team behind Ragtime, one of the most beloved musicals of all time. Based on James Agee's autobiographical Pulitzer Prize®-winning novel, A Death in the Family, the story begins as Agee struggles to write his greatest work—about the event that touched his young life, and the effect it had on his mother, his town and his own future. A powerful illumination of the forces that shape who we are, Knoxville is a universal coming-of-age story about family, faith and love—and about the boy who will grow up to write it. With a sweeping musical score and an extraordinary creative team and cast, this world premiere is a must-see event.   

May 13 - June 4, 2022 I Previews May 11-12, 2022

By Jonathan Spector   
Directed by Bianca LaVerne Jones 

In the Cook Theatre

An illness is spreading through the progressive and painstakingly accepting Eureka Day School–and it isn’t just the mumps. When the outbreak threatens to become an epidemic it’s a race to see what will destroy this community first: the disease or each other. Despite the safe space mentality, gluten-free scones from the local bakery, and open marriages that have ‘moved beyond monogamy,’ secrets, lies, and hidden truths still run rampant. An explosive comedy that skewers sanctimony and the nature of our politics, Eureka Day asks: when does “us” become “them?” 

June 11 - June 26, 2022 I Previews June 3-10, 2022

Book by  Douglas Carter Beane 
Music and Lyrics by Lewis Flinn
Directed by Mark Brokaw
Choreographed by Ellenore Scott
Presented by arrangement with Tom Kirdahy and Hunter Arnold

The world’s sexiest thief. A pair of history’s greatest lovers. The Merry Band that made redistributing wealth cool. Here, finally, is the real story of the disgraced nobleman, forced into the wilderness, who seeks revenge not only for himself, but against an unjust system. He even rescues the damsel, or perhaps along the way, discovers she doesn’t need any rescuing. Five-time Tony(r)-nominated playwright Douglas Carter Beane–who re-invented Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella so deliciously–reunites with Lewis Flinn, his Give it Up/Lysistrata Jones collaborator, to bring to life this hilarious and stirring new musical adventure!  

Asolo Rep and the FSU/Asolo Conservatory are bringing you the next generation of Shakespeare with BardWired: Much Ado About Nothing. In this innovative 45-minute adaptation experience the Bard like never before--as part of a neighborhood block party!

While their soldiers have been away at war, the community of Messina has learned to lean on each other for support. The intrepid (and self-appointed) Neighborhood Watch are young scouts, led by troupe leader Dogberry--and scout surveillance is at high alert. As the neighborhood’s war heroes Benedick, Claudio, and Don Pedro return home, they have to renegotiate their place on the block. While young Hero and Claudio immediately fall in love, quick witted Benedick and Beatrice need a matchmaker’s push, but their love and re-integration into Messina are jeopardized by dastardly Don John’s villainous machinations. Fall in love with this uproarious, witty, and charming story, designed to connect communities through Shakespeare.