The 13th season for Fort Worth's Amphibian Stage Productions has been announced. The 'Phibs do a calendar-year season, and like the past few seasons, 2012 brings three full productions and three staged readings at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
The readings begin with Two Rooms by Lee Blessing. Then there's an American premiere of The King's Face by Steven Young, a Texas Woman's University theater professor and playwright who adapted August Strindberg's Creditors for Broken Gears Project Theatre in early 2011. The readings round out with a new play by Brenda Withers, who co-wrote and originally performed in the comedy Matt & Ben (along with Mindy Kaling of The Office).
The full productions, in the Betty and Hardy Sanders Theater at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, include regional premieres by Douglas Carter Beane (who wrote the book for the the musical Lysistrata Jones, which just began previews on Broadway and started at the Dallas Theater Center as Give It Up!) and Theresa Rebeck (Bad Dates); as well as a title from a playwright who's been getting a lot of traction in the DF-Dub: Steven Dietz.
Here's the lineup:
Two Rooms by Lee Blessing
January 30, 2012
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
An American teacher is held hostage in a dark room after being captured in Beirut. His wife holds a vigil for him in an empty room in their house outside DC. Michael dictates unsent letters to his wife from his cell, while Lainie vies between Walker, a journalist intent to tell her story to the public, and Ellen, a State department official who wants to keep her quiet. First performed in 1988, Lee Blessing's Two Rooms is as relevant as ever, navigating the worlds of politics, journalism, and terrorism, while examining the ties that bind people together and the forces that would tear them apart.
The King's Face by Steven Young
March 5, 2012 (U.S. Premiere)
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
At the battle of Shrewsbury, King Henry IV's crown is at last secured, only to have his son, Prince Harry of Monmouth, struck down with an arrow to the face. The Prince is given up for dead. As a last resort, surgeon John Bradmore is summoned to examine the young royal. Over the course of several days, the pair develop a unique bond, while examining questions of war, religion, patriotism, and what it means to lead a nation, revealing the true temperament of the future King Henry V.
Mr. & Mrs. Fitch by Douglas Carter Beane
April 12-29, 2012 (regional premiere)
The Hardy and Betty Sanders Theater
Meet gossip columnists Mr. and Mrs. Fitch. When the social circuit no longer provides juicy morsels, and when the pressure to create news in our never-ending news cycle becomes just a bit much, it's time to toss back the martinis, dish out the bon mots, and realize that great celebrity can just appear out of thin air. This wicked, urbane comedy is a scathing look at who is in, who is out, and who may not even exist at all.
The Understudy by Theresa Rebeck
July 19-August 5, 2012 (regional Premiere)
The Hardy and Betty Sanders Theater
The star he's working with doesn't get the play. The disgruntled stage manager happens to be his bitter ex-fiancé. The set technician is high. Just another day in the life of an understudy. The most thankless job in theatre takes center stage in Theresa Rebeck's bitingly funny look at the underbelly of the acting world. Through the course of a dress rehearsal, we glimpse all the genius, bitterness and ridiculousness that underscore a life in showbiz.
Fiction by Steven Dietz
September 13-30, 2012
The Hardy and Betty Sanders Theater
Best-selling authors Michael and Linda Waterman treasure their honest marriage, until a harsh twist of fate compels them to read each other's diaries. Between the lines, stretching deep into the past, a secret liaison with a mysterious stranger surfaces, forever altering married life's delicate balance of fact and fiction.
The Ding Dongs or What is the Penalty in Portugal? by Brenda Withers
December 3, 2012 (regional premiere)
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
When a sweet-faced couple shows up on a suburban doorstep, an unsuspecting homeowner finds himself the victim of a surreal home invasion. Using wit and wordplay to mask a more sinister threat, the couple wages a battle over indigenous rights from the living room, and we are asked to examine the brutality that fuels our system of private property.
For subscription information, visit www.amphibianproductions.org 
