Dear Friend,

As you know, we previously announced the schedule for the 2021-2022 season, minus the title of the second of our two world premieres. We’ve got that for you now, along with a change that was precipitated by popular demand.

The world premiere is Bruce Graham’s The Duration, which was given an online reading in March as part of the Drama(in the)works series and was a huge hit, receiving accolades from viewers. The other addition to the schedule is an encore presentation of William Luce’s The Belle of Amherst, which, of course, was originally presented online in April as a coproduction with Actors’ Playhouse. Margery Lowe will return in the role of Emily Dickinson. The Duration and The Belle of Amherst round out a schedule that also features John Cariani’s Almost, Maine; the world premiere of Michael McKeever’s The People Downstairs, which was commissioned by PBD and developed by The Dramaworkshop, and Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel.

You can see the complete 2021-2022 schedule below.

We also want to remind you that Luminaries of Stage & Screen launches online on May 19, with the legendary Louis Gossett Jr. in conversation. On May 26, the guest will be the esteemed actress Lynne Moody. Bill Hayes hosts the conversations, which were pre-recorded. Tickets can be reserved for Gossett and Moody at www.palmbeachdramaworks.org or by calling the box office at 561.514.4042, x2.

Louise and Barry Snyder are the sponsors of PBDonline.

2021-2022 SEASON
ALMOST, MAINE
By John Cariani
Opening October 15
Love – old and new, heart-stopping and weak-kneed, unexpected and unrequited, lost and found – is in the air in the fictional, remote town of Almost, Maine. This wildly popular play takes place on a Friday night in winter, and is made up of nine mostly joyful yet poignant vignettes connected by time and place, the beauty of the aurora borealis, a touch of magic, and a spirit of hope.

 
THE PEOPLE DOWNSTAIRS
By Michael McKeever
Opening December 10
For two years and one month, Anne Frank and seven others hid in four small rooms concealed behind a bookcase in the building where her father worked. Her diary revealed their ordeal to the world. But what of the people who hid them, got them food, and kept them informed? This play explores the complex challenges faced by these brave individuals on their journey of rebellious morality during the horrors of the Holocaust.

THE DURATION
By Bruce Graham
Opening February 4
A young woman makes a weekly trek to a cabin in the middle of nowhere trying to unravel the mystery of why her mother, a noted historian and professor, abruptly disappeared.

INTIMATE APPAREL
By Lynn Nottage
Opening April 1
In this heartfelt and heartbreaking work set at the turn of the 20th century, Esther is a 35-year-old African-American seamstress of exquisite intimate apparel who aches to love and be loved. An unlikely opportunity arises when she enters into a correspondence with a man she’s never met. The play is a lyrical exploration of loneliness and longing, sweet dreams and bitter truths, determination and resiliency.    

THE BELLE OF AMHERST
By William Luce
Opening May 27
Based on the life of Emily Dickinson, this one-woman show tells the story of the independent, enigmatic, reclusive, witty poet through her letters, verse, and the playwright’s rich imagination, interweaving the voices of friends, family, and acquaintances to create a vivid portrait of the artist.

Subscriptions are on sale now.

Please consider donating to PBD. With your support, we can continue to offer a variety of programs virtually and preserve our reserve funds as we await the return to our live, mainstage performances later in the year.

Stay safe.
LOUIS GOSSETT, JR.
ACADEMY AWARD-WINNER
MAY 19
In a celebrated 65-plus year career that spans stage, screen, and television and is still going strong, Louis Gossett Jr. is best known for his Academy Award-winning performance as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman and his Emmy Award-winning performance as Fiddler in the miniseries Roots. He has been a working actor since he was 17 and made his Broadway debut in Take a Giant Step (1953). He has appeared in nine additional shows on Broadway, including the original production of A Raisin in the Sun, in which he created the role of George Murchison, and the musicals Golden Boy and The Zulu and the Zayda. He was also featured in the first American production of Jean Genet’s The Blacks (1961), which became the longest running Off-Broadway play of the sixties. Gossett made his screen debut in 1961, repeating the role of George Murchison in the film adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun. A short list of his film credits includes Travels with My Aunt, The Laughing Policeman, The Deep, Enemy Mine, Daddy’s Little Girls, Why Did I Get Married Too?, and The Cuban. He has worked extensively in television, doing everything from miniseries to made-for-TV films to guest appearances in episodic shows. Some of the highlights include The Josephine Baker Story, Return to Lonesome Dove, Captive Heart: The James Mink Story, Strange Justice, Lackawana Blues, and most recently, Watchmen.

LYNNE MOODY
ROOTS AND ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS
MAY 26
Lynne Moody has been a working actress since 1973, when she appeared in the blaxploitation horror film Scream Blacula Scream. She then went on to forge a distinguished career, particularly in television, where her credits include the mini-series Roots and Roots: The Next Generations (Irene Harvey); That’s My Mama, E/R, Soap, and Knots Landing (series regular); Hill Street Blues (recurring role); and the daytime series General Hospital, for which she received a 2001 nomination for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series. Other notable TV appearances include the mini-series The Atlanta Child Murders, which featured a cast that included James Earl Jones, Jason Robards, Morgan Freeman, and Ruby Dee; the TV movies A Caribbean Mystery (based on an Agatha Christie novel), A Fight for Jenny, Escape to Witch Mountain, Last Light, Lost in London (opposite Ben Vereen), Ray Alexander: A Taste for Justice, which starred Louis Gossett Jr.; and countless guest shots on a wide variety of series. Moody studied at the Pasadena Playhouse and the Goodman Theatre, and her acclaimed stage work in Los Angeles includes David Hare’s A Map of the World at Odyssey Theatre, Jefferson Beeker’s First Couple at Tiffany Theatre, and C. Bernard Jackson’s Piano Bar at Inner City Cultural Center. She also directed Dennis Gersten’s Willie Said To at Playwrights’ Arena.