Season tickets are on sale now to the Clarence Brown Theatre’s 2018/2019 Season which includes a marvelous collaboration with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, a Margaret Atwood drama, David Sedaris comedy, new history play… and more! Season ticket holders enjoy several exclusive benefits, including free ticket exchanges, priority seating, the opportunity to purchase Lab Theatre and Candide single tickets before they go on sale to the general public, special discounts at selected restaurants, and the inside scoop on special events. The deadline for current subscribers to renew in order to ensure the same seats is May 7, 2018.
“There is something for everyone in this season. I think it is our most exciting season so far and look forward to seeing new and returning patrons in the theatre,” said Calvin MacLean, CBT Producing Artistic Director and UT Theatre Department Head.
“Candide”
By Voltaire
Music by Leonard Bernstein
With the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Aug. 29 – Sept. 16, 2018 CBT Mainstage
“This is the best of all possible worlds.”
Searching throughout the Old and New World for his beloved Cunegonde, Candide’s philosophy of Optimism is challenged by catastrophe after catastrophe.
Bernstein’s brilliant and beautiful score deepens Voltaire’s great satire with contributions from the greatest lyricists of the 20th century.
The KSO and CBT are proud to perform this production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide in 2018, the 100th anniversary of his birth year. Bernstein was an influential composer, conductor,
educator, activist, cultural ambassador, and humanitarian, and his mark on the world of the arts
in the past century will last for generations to come.
“Alias Grace”
By Margaret Atwood
Adapted for the stage by Jennifer Blackmer
Sept. 26 – Oct. 14, 2018 Carousel Theatre
“Based on a true story.”
Ontario, Canada in 1859. Serving a life sentence for murders committed fifteen years ago, Grace Marks says she has no memory of the killings. A doctor investigating psychological trauma in amnesiacs tries to unlock the details and truth from Grace’s memory, but the path is painful and shocking. Is Grace an innocent victim? Is she mad? Or is she a scheming murderess?
“The Santaland Diaries”
By David Sedaris
Adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
Nov. 14 – Dec. 2, 2018 Carousel Theatre
“I laughed ‘til I cried.”
It’s back! After a three-year hiatus, our hugely popular production returns!
Meet Crumpet, the quintessential elf-gone-bad, as he relives a series of less-than-merry adventures as one of Santa’s helpers during the Macy’s Christmas shopping rush. A gut-busting take on how the holiday season brings out the best—and the worst—in all of us.
Note: This production has a different start time!
“A Christmas Carol”
By Charles Dickens
Adapted by Edward Morgan and Joseph Hanreddy
Music by John Tanner
Nov. 29 – Dec. 22, 2018 CBT Mainstage
“We love this production.”
There’s a reason we perform this tale every year. No matter how many times you’ve seen it, the story still proves to be the spirit of the season.
Relive Scrooge’s ghost-guided look into his past, present and future, and his journey of redemption. A yearly tradition to treasure with family and friends.
“King Charles III”
By Mike Bartlett
Feb. 6 – 24, 2019 CBT Mainstage
“The most insightful and engrossing new history play in decades.” The New York Times
Queen Elizabeth II has died. After a lifetime of waiting, Prince Charles is finally King. How will he reign? And what do his children think about his ascension to the throne?
Written like a Shakespearean history, this Broadway and London hit explores the potential rivalries of the Royal Family, the unwritten rules governing Britain’s monarchy, and the contemporary stresses on its democracy.
“Detroit ‘67”
By Dominique Morisseau
Feb. 27 – Mar. 17, 2019 Carousel Theatre
“Mind blowing!” The Huffington Post
Summer, 1967. When the 12th Street riots erupt after a raid on an unlicensed after-hours bar, the fate of the once booming blue collar town takes a turn for the worse on five young Detroiters.
Set to a Motown beat, this Edward M. Kennedy Drama Prize winner explores an explosive and decisive moment in an American city.
“The Real Inspector Hound”
By Tom Stoppard
Mar. 27 – April 14, 2019 Lab Theatre
“Stoppard mines murder mystery conventions and strikes gold.” Independent on Sunday
Attending the premiere of a new murder mystery, two feuding theatre critics soon find themselves inside the play-within-a-play and implicated in the lethal activities of an escaped madman.
“The Madwoman of Chaillot”
By Jean Giraudoux
Translated by Laurence Senelick
Apr. 24 – May 12 CBT Mainstage
“A deliciously comic fable.” Time Out New York
A group of corrupt oil men want to drill right under the streets of Paris. But Countess Aurelia and her band of eccentric followers are having none of it!
A treasure of French poetic satire since its premiere in 1945, the characters, the absurdities, and the political commentary seem just as relevant today. Starring Carol Mayo Jenkins
Current corporate sponsors include The Roy Cockrum Foundation, Mainstage Series sponsor Schaad Companies, Stowers Machinery, the Clayton Foundation, and Pilot Flying J. Current media sponsors include WBIR, WUOT, WUTK, B97.5, Knoxville News Sentinel, and The Daily Beacon.
With a dual mission to train the next generation of theatre artists and to provide top quality professional theatre, the Clarence Brown Theatre at the University of Tennessee Knoxville is one of only 12 academic LORT (League of Resident Theatre) institutions in the nation. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Calvin MacLean and Managing Director Tom Cervone, the CBT season runs from September through May and features eight productions ranging from musicals to drama.
For more information, tickets or accessibility accommodation requests including Open Captioning, ASL, and assistive technologies, please call the CBT Box Office at 865-974-5161 or visit us online at clarencebrowntheatre.com/access. Stay Connected to the Clarence Brown Theatre on Facebook (Clarence Brown Theatre), follow us on Twitter (@ClarenceBrown) (#CBT1819Season), Instagram (@clarencebrowntheatre, and view Clarence Brown videos on YouTube (Clarence Bro).
