The Garland Civic Theatre’s 52nd season will begin Sept. 5 and season tickets are on sale. The great lineup of shows includes:
Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite” – Sept. 5-22 – An all-time comedy classic. An evening of three one-act plays: “Visitor from Mamaroneck” – In room 719 of the Plaza Hotel, a middle-aged married couple tries to rekindle their dying spark; “Visitor from Hollywood” – a film producer invites his childhood sweetheart to a hotel for sex; and “Visitor from Forest Hills” – a bride has locked herself in the bathroom on her wedding day and her parents are desperate to get her out.
“Dial M for Murder” – Oct. 17-Nov. 3 – Ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice wants to have his wealthy wife, Margot, murdered so he can have her inheritance. When he discovers her affair with Mark Halliday, he comes up with a plan to kill her. He blackmails an old acquaintance into carrying out the murder, but the plan fails, and Margot stays alive. When she turns the tables on her assailant, she is convicted of murder. Can the police detective who brought her to trial decipher clues that will save her life? The play that inspired Hitchcock’s suspense classic weaves a web of danger and deception.
“A Tuna Christmas” – Dec. 5-22 – In this hilarious sequel to Greater Tuna, it’s Christmas in the third-smallest town in Texas. Radio station OKKK personalities Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie report on Yuletide activities, including the annual lawn-display contest. In other news, voracious Joe Bob Lipsey’s production of A Christmas Carol is jeopardized by unpaid electric bills. Many colorful Tuna denizens, some you will recognize from Greater Tuna and some appearing for the first time, join the holiday fun.
The “Rat Pack Lounge” – Jan. 16-Feb. 2 – Frank, Dean and Sammy are in heaven, but God
tells them they left unfinished business on Earth. Frank made an unfulfilled promise to Vic, owner of the Rat Pack Lounge. Now they have one night to make things right. No need for impersonators, just a cast who can charm the audience with hits like “My Way,” “What Kind of Fool Am I?” and “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime.” The Rat Pack Lounge leaves you singing and savoring the days of highballs and high rollers.
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” – Feb. 20-March 1 – When Randle Patrick McMurphy gets transferred for evaluation from a prison
farm to a mental institution, he assumes it will be a less restrictive environment. But the martinet Nurse Ratched runs the ward with an iron fist, keeping patients cowed through abuse, medication and electroconvulsive therapy. The battle of wills between McMurphy and inflexible Ratched affects all the patients in this adaptation of the Ken Kesey novel. Mature audiences.
“You Can’t Take it with You” – March 19-April 5 – Sweet-natured Alice Sycamore falls for banker’s son Tony Kirby. But when she invites her snooty prospective in-laws to dinner to give their blessing to the marriage, Alice’s peculiar family — including philosophical grandfather Martin Vanderhof, hapless fledgling ballerina sister Essie and fireworks enthusiast father, Paul — might be too eccentric for the staid Kirbys. Pulitzer Prize winner in 1937!
“Once Upon a Mattress” – April 23-May 10 -If you thought you knew the story of “The 
princess and the Pea,” you may be in for a surprise. Did you know that Princess Winnifred actually swam the moat to reach Prince Dauntless the Drab? Or that Lady Larken’s love for Sir Harry provided a compelling reason that she reach the bridal alter post haste? Or that it wasn’t the pea that caused the princess a sleepless night? Carried on a wave of wonderful songs, this rollicking spin on the familiar classic of royal courtship and comeuppance provides side-splitting shenanigans.
Tickets: Call 972-205-2790, visit www.garlandartsboxoffice.com or stop by Granville Arts Center, 300 North Fifth Street in downtown Garland, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Shows are Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.