Coming Up in 2016 - Kanawha Players

    The Kanawha Players is celebrating its 93rd season, and has announced three shows they’ll be staging in the year ahead.

   Here’s the lineup:

- Failure: A Love Story by Philip Dawkins will be presented Feb. 5, 6, 12 and 13. By the end of 1928, all three Fail sisters will be dead - expiring in reverse order, youngest to oldest. Tuneful songs and a whimsical chorus follow the story of Nelly, Jenny June, and Gerty as they live out their lives above the family clock repair shop near the Chicago River, before their time unexpectedly runs out. A magical, musical fable where, in the end, the power of love is far greater than any individual’s successes or failures.

- The Little Theater’s Production of Hamlet by Jean Battlo will be presented June 9, 10, 12 and 13. A sophisticated New York director reluctantly travels to West Virginia to direct Hamlet under the auspices of a grant for “under served regions.” Only six people show up to audition. Gathering in Hattie’s Restaurant, this group perpetrates the most harrowing production of Shakespeare ever mounted. Some amazing costumes and merry mishaps ladle hilarity on top of sincere attempts to tailor Hamlet to this remarkable cast. The play is the thing, and though limp in quality, the production marches forward in tune to very real and deep human spirits bent on accomplishment. The result, a fractured, quixotic play, provides a fine example of realizing the impossible dream.

- Elvis Has Left The Building by V. Cate and Duke Ernsberger will be presented Aug. 18, 19, 25 and 26. It’s 1970 and Elvis Presley has disappeared. No one, not even his wily manager, “The Colonel,” knows of his whereabouts. But the Colonel is all shook up because he has racked up a secret debt - and with the King missing, the only way to pay it off is to find an Elvis impersonator within 24 hours. Hijinks ensue as the Colonel takes desperate measures to replace a man who is irreplaceable, all while keeping the prying eyes of a nosy reporter at bay and figuring out what happened to the real Elvis.

   The tickets for each show are $15 for adults and $10 for students and children under 17 years of age.

   Don’t miss these unique shows!