Dickens’ classic work centers around the adventures of Pip, the orphaned blacksmith's apprentice who is fashioned to become a gentleman with "great expectations," and the many fascinating people who shape his life: the half-mad spinster Miss Havisham; her niece, the beautiful and icy Estella; Pip's friend, the aristocratic Herbert Pocket; Jaggers, the lawyer made hard and brutal by the indignities of the world, and Magwitch, the escaped convict whose favor starts the plot in motion. 
"…a joy and a wonder; a compelling story told with richly inventive, involving theatricality." —Seattle Times. "It's a wonderful evening of classic entertainment suggested for ages six through adult." —Seattle Journal-American.

THE MAGIC FIRE
By Lillian Groag
Directed by Norman Blumensaadt
TPS Black Box Theater, 901 Trinity St, 4th Fl, Austin, Tx 78701
January 11 – February 2, 2019

The title "The Magic Fire" refers to the circle of fire that the Norse god Wotan erects to shield and entrap Brunnhilde, in Wagner's "Ring" cycle. Otto, patriarch of the Berg-Guarneri family--a clan of Austrian and Italian immigrants living in Peronist Argentina--tells the ring of fire story to his young daughter. Wotan's strategy serves as metaphor for the father's efforts to protectively surround his family in a world of literature, culture and, most of all, opera, sheltering them from the ugly political realities just outside their door. Inevitably, the external world intrudes, primarily in the person of a next-door neighbor who shares the family's love of culture but is also an officer in the oppressive regime.

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"This is a full-bodied drama, not minimalist or spare. The characters are flamboyant, the scenes are old fashioned and fully realized…It is delicious theatre…" —CurtainUp. "…considerable and wrenching power…" —Washington Post. "…a real tour de force…absolutely worth seeing…" —Philadelphia CityPaper.

THE BOOK CLUB PLAY
By Karen Zacarias
Director Nikki Zook
Santa Cruz Theater 1805 East 7th St, Austin, Tx 78701
March 22 – April 13, 2019

Bibliophiles Behaving Badly? Ah, don’t act surprised. Why should book clubs be different from all the other small groups we humans belong to: families, committees, PTAs, spy rings? It’s all clashing egos, hidden jealousies, things unsaid, and even though it’s “just books”—dry words on dry paper—we know someone, inevitably, is going to get punched in the face. The Book Club Play is a delightful new play about life, love, literature and the side-splitting results when friends start reading between the lines.

A DOLL’S HOUSE
By Henrik Ibsen Adapted by Frank McGuinness
Directed by Norman Blumensaadt
Location: TBA
June 21 – July 13, 2019

The play, hugely controversial when first published and performed in Copenhagen in 1879, is about the unravelling of a family. Nora and Torvald Helmer believe they are happily married and on the brink of a blissful new phase of life: Torvald has been promoted to bank manager and their money worries are over. But Nora has a secret debt, incurred with good intentions and a forged signature, and with her husband's new power comes the threat of blackmail.

“Raw, gut-twisting and gripping.” - USA Today. "Bold, brilliant and alive." —Wall Street Journal. "A thunderclap of an evening that takes your breath away."—Time