Pledges keep Merrimack Rep alive
A month ago, Merrimack Repertory Theatre artistic director Charles Towers was braced for the dismal prospect of turning off the lights at the Lowell theater in late July. ''We were looking at going on hiatus, a sizable downsizing, or closing altogether," Towers says. MRT was $100,000 shy of the ambitious $600,000 goal Towers set last fall, when he launched a fund-raising and public-awareness drive, Keep Theatre Alive.
The campaign ends officially tomorrow, and it won't be over until Towers and company tally up the pledges. But Merrimack's directors have voted to go forward with a season of six shows, starting Oct. 6 with ''The Breadwinner" by Somerset Maugham.
''The board has approved a $2.1 million budget, we're in the black, and we've made a real promise to our donor base that we are well positioned to operate in the coming year," says Towers.
By late June, the 26-year-old company had collected more than $500,000 in pledges from the city of Lowell, the state, individuals, and bankers and developers who are investing in what city boosters call a ''cultural renaissance" in downtown Lowell, Towers says. MRT had raised enough to close budget gaps from the past two seasons, says Towers. ''But this is about next year and the year after. Running a $500,000 deficit on a $2 million budget is ridiculous, and we can't do that anymore."
'Caroline' in the city
SpeakEasy Stage Company has secured the much-sought-after rights to stage the New England premiere of ''Caroline, or Change," the acclaimed musical by Tony Kushner (''Angels in America," ''Homebody Kabul") and Jeanine Tesori (''Violet," ''Thoroughly Modern Millie").
''Caroline" is the story of a motherless boy's complex relationship with a black maid who works for his Southern Jewish family. SpeakEasy will present it May 6-June 3, 2006, as its final production of the 2005-'06 season in the company's new home at the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts.
SpeakEasy will stage ''Caroline" in association with North Shore Music Theatre. The Beverly company had acquired the rights to stage the regional premiere of ''Caroline," hoping to produce and tour the show in collaboration with several other theaters across the country, says North Shore artistic director Jon Kimbell. But that coalition fell apart, pushing the cost of the production beyond North Shore's reach.
Seeing SpeakEasy's recent local premiere of ''Take Me Out," the 2003 Tony Award winner, convinced Kimbell that the South End company had the talent and savvy to mount a local premiere of the Broadway hit, Kimbell says.
North Shore will help out with casting and will offer season ticket-holders the option of buying tickets to ''Caroline" in Boston, says Kimbell. ''But this will be a SpeakEasy production."
SpeakEasy's 15th-anniversary season opens Sept. 30 with the East Coast premiere of ''Theater District," a dramedy about a teenage boy and his relationship with his mother, father, and the latter's gay partner, by Richard Kramer (''thirtysomething," ''My So-Called Life"). Bill Brochtrup, known for his role as John Irwin, a gay administrative assistant on ''NYPD Blue," will star.
Adam Zahler will direct the New England premiere of ''Brooklyn Boy," the latest from Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies (''Dinner With Friends" ''Sight Unseen"), which opens March 3 and runs through April 1. A November production of ''Kiss of the Spider Woman," directed by SpeakEasy artistic director Paul Daigneault, and ''Five by Tenn," a Boston premiere of recently discovered one-act plays by Tennessee Williams, round out the season.
SpeakEasy subscriptions are on sale now, and single tickets are available Sept. 6 at 617-933-8600, www.bostontheatrescene.com.
Lyric adds two shows
The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, which previously announced parts of its 2005-'06 season, has settled on its final selection of seven shows. The company has added the Boston premiere of ''A Number," Caryl Churchill's quiet, chilling drama about cloning and careless parenting, and a revival of Lanford Wilson's ''Talley's Folley" to its season. ''A Number" opens Oct. 21 for a three-week engagement, and ''Talley's Folley" goes up March 21.
Season-ticket packages are on sale now, and single tickets go on sale Aug. 16. 617-437-7172, www.lyricstage.com.
'Jacqueline' in P-town
Actress Angela Reese returns to Theater Go Round in Provincetown Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday for three performances of ''Cirque Jacqueline," her one-woman show about Jackie Onassis.
Tickets: 508-487-9793, www.ptowntix.com.
The Hub's Henriad
Shakespeare East, one of Greater Boston's newest ensembles, is staging ''Hal Harry Henry," Shawn Cody's adaptation of Shakespeare's Henriad, at the BCA's Roberts Theatre through Sunday. Ten years in the making, ''Hal" fuses excerpts and episodes from eight Shakespeare plays.
Tickets: 617 -933-8600, www.bostontheatrescene.com 
