Best Medicine Rep Company, the Gaithersburg theater helmed by noted comic playwright John Morogiello, will feature three plays written by Morogiello himself in its 4-play 2018-2019 season.
Can you imagine George Bernard Shaw in love? I mean with anyone other than himself? Me neither. And yet it happened, when an heiress named Charlotte Payne-Townshend caught his fancy. This resulted not only in a marriage, but in a play — Morogiello’s Engaging Shaw. The New York Times’ Ken Jaworowski called it “a charming romantic comedy featuring four razor-sharp tongues” and noted that “[i]f there’s a minute of the play that’s less than clever, you’ll be hard pressed to find it.” From September 6-30, 2018; Stan Levin directs.
For the holiday season Best Medicine will present the world premiere of The Crater Sisters’ Christmas Special, which Morogiello has written with Lori Boyd. This is a story of a TV star who is so demanding and obnoxious that her crew quits. What’s the solution? Become more demanding and obnoxious, of course. I don’t know how this works out but the protagonist’s surname may be a clue. From November 29 to December 16 of this year.
So, when you and the other parents get together for a play date, who generally brings the Tequila? That, and similar questions, form the narrative spine of Morogiello’s Play Date, where mommy and daddy are very, very bad girls and boys. This play, which closes the Best Medicine season from April 4 to May 5, 2019, contains “contains mature language and themes,” according to the company. As if we didn’t know.
The non-Morogiello play in the season is Philosophus, Colin Speer Crowley’s story of Voltaire’s pursuit by Frederick the Great’s minions after he — ahem — borrowed the Monarch’s treasured notebook. One of the few screwball comedies about Voltaire, Philosophus won the Maxim Mazumdar new play competition. Levin will direct. From January 31 to February 24 of next year.
Best Medicine has not yet made season tickets available.
