Press Release

Ensemble Theatre Company is thrilled to announce its 40th Anniversary 2018-2019 season of shows as it offers a stunning selection of extraordinary experiences for its subscribers and audiences.

ETC opens this historic season with a hilarious new play, The School For Lies by David Ives, based on Molière’s The Misanthrope (Mr. Ives was also the playwright of ETC’s wildly popular 2013 production of The Liar). Next, just in time for the holidays, expect the unexpected with the sweet, funny, and rocking new play The Legend of Georgia McBride, about an Elvis impersonator who inadvertently becomes a drag star. To honor its past, ETC’s founding artistic director, Joseph Hanreddy, will return to direct a stunning new look at Arthur Miller’s classic, Death of a Salesman. Spring 2019 will bring a stage adaptation of the beloved novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything Is Illuminated. Finally, to close this anniversary season, fall in love with the beautiful and touching Dancing Lessons, a story of two isolated and anti-social New Yorkers who teach each other there’s more to life than dancing.

“Forty never looked so good and we have put together one of our most exciting seasons ever,” said Jonathan Fox, ETC’s Artistic Director. “During this anniversary year, we are bringing back some of our most beloved actors, and we’re honored to have founding artistic director Joseph Hanreddy back to direct one of the most influential plays of all time. There really is something for everyone this year and it’s simply a season that is not to be missed!”

ETC’s 2018-19 Season has been generously sponsored by Leatrice Luria.

Founded in 1979, Ensemble Theatre Company is Santa Barbara’s leading professional theater company. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Jonathan Fox and Managing Director Jill Seltzer, ETC has attracted accomplished performing artists from around the country.

Ensemble Theatre Company 40th Anniversary Season:

October 4 –October 21, 2018 (Press Opening October 6)
The School For Lies
Written by David Ives
Directed by Jonathan Fox

A side-splitting, freewheeling adaptation in rhyming verse of Molière’s classic comedy The Misanthrope, from the author who wrote The Liar, Venus in Fur, and All in the Timing. It’s 1666, and Frank, a caustic and crabby guy who despises social niceties, falls for Célimène, a beautiful young widow and dazzling social butterfly.

December 6 – December 23, 2018 (Press Opening December 8)
The Legend of Georgia McBride
Written by Matthew Lopez
Directed By Jenny Sullivan

In a run-down bar in the Florida Panhandle, Casey’s career as an Elvis impersonator is not going well. With his young wife now pregnant, his luck changes when he meets an aging drag queen. An uplifting music- and dance-filled comedy for the holidays.

February 7 – February 24, 2019 (Press Opening February 9)
Death of a Salesman
A Bold New Look at a Great American Classic…
Written by Arthur Miller
Directed by Joseph Hanreddy

The American classic Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play. Willy Loman, nearing the end of his career and struggling to make ends meet, is the tragic hero of this timeless story of life not turning out the way you envision it will.

April 11 – April 28, 2019 (Press Opening April 13)
Jonathan Safran Foer’s
Everything Is Illuminated
Adapted by Simon Block
Directed by Jonathan Fox

Jonathan, a young Jewish-American writer, travels to Ukraine to seek out the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. He hires a randy young Ukrainian tour guide who takes him on a hilarious road trip in search of the woman’s village, as they confront haunting memories along the way. The Southern California premiere of a stunning adaptation of the beloved novel.

June 13 – June 30, 2019 (Press Opening June 15)
Dancing Lessons
Written by Mark St. Germain
Directed by Saundra McClain

A socially awkward young man asks his neighbor, a Broadway dancer whose career has been sidelined by an injury, to teach him enough dance moves so he can survive an appearance at an awards dinner. What follows is a bumpy road of self-discovery in this sweetly witty and touching romantic comedy.