By Anna Fisher, Associate Artistic Director, Emerald Coast Theatre Company
I always treasure the micro seasons we experience in this beautiful white sand corner of Florida. We get a little taste of fall, a miniscule winter, a gorgeous capsule of spring and a large slice of summer. I feel the same excitement when our new season is announced at Emerald Coast Theatre Company. Like fall, winter, spring and summer, we always have four different phases culminating in the run of our new season.
We start with one of the most important phases, the reading and research quarter. This is the time when Nathanael and I read a portion of the stacks and stacks of plays we have in our home library. Our desks at work and our counters at home become the staging area for “must reads” and “maybes” along with every color sticky note to mark our thoughts about each one. Then we order more scripts and do the same thing with them too. This leads to the next phase of impassioned debate and deliberation. Did I mention “impassioned debate”? We discuss each story and its nuances, (always calmly and rationally without throwing any scripts across the room) the characters, the writing, the music, and the overall cohesion of each show choice within the full season. We present our first draft picks and some other top choices to our executive staff for input and collaboration before settling on our new line up.
The next phase is securing production rights and graphic design for all of the show posters and media which leads up to the big announcement of what’s coming in the new season! We aim to get this information out in the spring, well ahead of when we actually launch the new season in the fall. The final large slice kicks off on opening night with a dynamic fall musical and all of the anticipation that a new season brings.
One of the most exciting moments for our patrons is the big spring announcement that happens ahead of the new season- and that day is here! I’m thrilled to present the upcoming 2024-25 Season 12 at Emerald Coast Theatre Company!
We launch in September with Jersey Boys. This toe tapping musical takes you behind the music of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons as they work their way from the streets of New Jersey to the heights of stardom. You can continue the fun in October with Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery as our five talented actors portray more than forty characters complete with silly accents and hilarious disguises.
All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, our holiday show, is an a cappella masterpiece. This remarkable true story is told in the words and songs of the men who lived it. Every Brilliant Thing, an interactive show with depth and humor, premieres during January. The story centers around a young boy as he attempts to ease his mother’s depression by creating a list of all the best things in the world worth living for. Everyone’s favorite man-eating plant, sadistic dentist, and meek yet heroic shopkeeper will also make an appearance next January/February in Little Shop of Horrors.
Always a Bridesmaid, a hilarious “Golden Girls” style romp where four friends have sworn to keep their promise to be in each other’s weddings no matter what, rounds out our winter offerings in February/March. And finally, the can’t miss transformation of the eternally pink Elle Woods in Legally Blonde: The Musical is the perfect spring show to end our Season 12! We also have two spring shows specifically geared towards our younger audience members. P.D. Eastman’s classic children’s book Go Dog. Go! comes to life on stage like a pop-up book full of big and little doggy music fun for the whole family. We are also offering The Tortoise and the Hare: Fast Friends, Slow Foes, a madcap re-telling of the classic, complete with all the forest animals and a pesky possum who just wants to join the fun.
It is always a little astonishing to be in production mode for our upcoming spring show- which this year is Mary Poppins- and launching a new season for the next year. Each phase brings its own set of joys and challenges, and I have so much gratitude for what I get to do every day and the people I get to work alongside. The heart of ECTC is each and every one of those talented artists along with each and every one of you. Here’s to Season 12!
