The Brooklyn Papers / Greg Mango

Behind closed doors: In the Gallery Players' first production of its new season, "Bedroom Farce," Alex Domeyko (Malcolm), Daniel Damiano (Trevor), Nicole Allen (Susannah) and Inga Wilson (Kate) engage in a tug-of-war.

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The Gallery Players presents a remarkably wide range of comedies, dramas and musicals season after season. In their 37th season, the troupe - 2000 recipients of the Off-Off Broadway Review’s Award for Lifetime Achievement - will be presenting four plays, three musicals and a new play festival - all at the very affordable price of $88 per subscription.

"We don’t want to give our subscribers a lot of the same," Gallery Players president Heather Curran told GO Brooklyn. "We want to give them a smorgasbord. These plays are all very exciting and very different."

This smorgasbord includes revivals of Broadway and off- Broadway hits, productions of rarely performed works and ends with the Black Box New Play Festival.

The season opens with Alan Ayckbourn’s "Bedroom Farce" (Sept. 6-21), directed by Ted Thompson, who directed last season’s excellent "Fuddy Meers."

"Bedroom Farce" centers on the comings and goings in three bedrooms during one winter night. Set designer Brian Massolini has staged the show with a trio of bedrooms allowing the audience to take a simultaneous peek behind all of the closed doors to witness the couples’ quirks and foibles.

"It’s a nice, crisp way to start the season," said Curran.

"The Mystery of Edwin Drood" (Oct. 11-Nov. 2), based on Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel, is Rupert Holmes’ rollicking tribute to the British music hall. The show, which won five Tonys in 1985, including Best Musical, has everything a typical whodunit should: a vanishing hero, obvious and not so obvious suspects, murky motives and clues galore.

The one thing it doesn’t have (a la the novel upon which it is based) is an ending. (Dickens died before he could complete the mystery.) So in this play-within-a-play, the audience decides by popular vote who the murderer is, and the performers act out the rest accordingly.

"It’s the reality TV of the theater," said Curran. "It’s a big challenge for the cast." The Gallery Players production will be directed and choreographed by Steven Smeltzer.

Philip Barry’s "Holiday" (Nov. 29-Dec. 14) was immortalized on screen by Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. The play, a funny and bittersweet look at a New York family in the 1920s, depicts what happens when an heiress from a powerful family falls in love with a man from the middle-class.

"It’s a very timely play," said Curran. "The question of how much money you need to make you happy is as valid today as it was then." Yvonne Conybeare directs.

"You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown" (Jan. 10-Feb. 1) is a play close to the heart of many Brooklynites. Its author, Clark Gesner, was a long-time resident of Brooklyn Heights, a playwright-composer-critic whom Curran called "a very good friend to the Gallery Players."

The musical presents a series of moments in the life of Charlie Brown and his friends - both human and otherwise - selected from Charles Schultz’s comic strip "Peanuts."

"We’re doing the original [1971] version, not the revival [1999] one as a tribute to Clark Gesner because that’s what he preferred," said Curran. While the 1999 revival had all new arrangements by Andrew Lippa with two new songs and the character Sally replacing the character Patty, many felt Gesner’s initial off-Broadway version had more charm. Matt Schicker will direct.

Curran calls "Lobby Hero" (Feb. 21-March 7) the "grittiest" play of the season.

Kenneth Lonergan’s story centers on a security guard in the lobby of a high-rise building who has to figure out what to do when his boss’ son is implicated in a brutal murder.

"It’s got fabulous dialogue, a moral dilemma, and it’s very much a New York play," said Curran. "Lobby Hero" will be directed by Tom Herman.

In the fine tradition of Irish playwrights, Conor McPherson makes poetry onstage in his 1999 Broadway show "The Weir" (March 27-April 11) about a woman listening to ghost stories in the local bar of a remote town.

"I’m directing this one," said Curran. "I’m really excited about that. It’s a wonderful ghost story - very intimate, very slice-of-life, beautifully crafted."

"Merrily We Roll Along" (May 1-May 23) is one of the few Stephen Sondheim musicals that is rarely performed. Set in 1980, the musical tells the story of a celebrated songwriter and film producer who returns to his high school, scornful of his youthful ideals. (The director has yet to be announced.)

The Black Box New Play Festival is the Gallery Players’ culminating event of the season, taking place June 3-27, but Curran said they’ll start reading scripts as early as this fall. The festival provides a workshop environment for playwrights collaborating with directors and actors.

According to Curran, last year’s festival was "the most successful ever" - with 20 brand-new plays, featuring 15 directors and more than 50 actors. Three of the plays, by playwrights Staci Swedeen, Isabelle Weyer and John Paul Porter, went on to Manhattan’s Samuel French one-act play contest.

The Gallery Players, an Equity Showcase house, attracts some of the best actors, directors, designers and musicians in New York - many of whom, like Harvey Fierstein ("Hairspray," "Torch Song Trilogy") and director John Rando ("Urinetown"), have gone on to prominent careers onstage.

So if you’d like to get more bang for your theater bucks, don’t go to Broadway stay in Brooklyn!

The Gallery Players are located at 199 14th St., between Fourth and Fifth avenues, in Park Slope. The season opens Sept. 6, with Alan Ayckbourn’s "Bedroom Farce," directed by Ted Thompson. "Bedroom Farce" continues through Sept. 21. Subscriptions are $88. Individual tickets are $15, $12 for seniors and children younger than age 12. For reservations, call (718) 595-0547.

©2003 Community Newspaper Group