ACADIA REPERTORY THEATRE ANNOUNCES 52ND SUMMER SEASON!

MOUNT DESERT—In a world in constant churn around us, there is something comforting about sitting in an old theatre, seemingly outside of time, watching a play in a quiet retreat from the swirling storms outside. The Acadia Rep, at age 52, still looks, feels, and, yes, smells more or less as it did in 1973. These hundred-year-old cedar walls have borne witness now to well over 250 productions, hundreds of talented actors and technicians, and something like 2,000,000 audience members. That enviable legacy stands out even more in a time of great disruption for theatre companies across the country; like a church, the Rep is still here, and still how you remember us when your grandmother brought you, decades ago.

But the plays themselves are different every year, and this season we’ve chosen four of them featuring strong women in the lead roles.

Now your grandmother would want you to bring her here for the excellent shows we have on offer!

Our 2025 Summer Season opens Tuesday June 24 with The Half-Life of Marie Curie by Lauren Gunderson, who was the most-produced playwright in the country in three recent years. Known for writing plays that feature smart, strong women, Gunderson here explores the early 20^th century friendship between Marie Curie and the British scientist Hertha Ayrton, both of them mothers, widows and fearless champions of scientific inquiry with a lot to say! This play for our time runs for two weeks, and closes July 6^th.

Next up is Neil LaBute’s The Shape Of Things. In this comedy of two couples’ relationships, LaBute creates a modern-day Pygmalion in reverse, in which an art student molds her nerdy boyfriend into something else. This darkly funny play explores how far someone is willing to go and how much they’ll change for who (or what) they love, and shows that in life, like in art, appearances can be deceiving! The Shape of Things contains adult language, and runs July 8 through 20.

Then we have the delightful Theatre People, Or The Angel Next Door by Paul Slade Smith, running from July 22 through August 10. In this rollicking comedy, young Oliver Adams is on the brink of a major success. His novel The Angel Next Door is set to be published, and famed Broadway playwrights (and married couple) Charlotte and Arthur Sanders have already adapted his book for what is sure to be a huge stage hit. And who do they have their eye on as the leading lady? Margot Bell, of course, the very person Oliver adores and about whom he has written his novel (though he hasn’t told her yet). When they all converge for a weekend in Newport, Rhode Island, the thin walls of the well-appointed mansion reveal that the angel may not be angelic, and only the power of theatre can save the play, Oliver’s novel, and perhaps most importantly, his heart.

And we end the season with the return of Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web. Dame Agatha’s second-longest running play (after The Mousetrap), this conscious parody of her own detective thrillers features Clarissa, wife of a diplomat, who is adept at spinning tales of adventure, but when a murder takes place in her drawing room, she finds live drama much harder to cope with! Christie delivers suspense and laughter in equal parts in an intricate plot of murder, police, invisible ink, hidden doorways and secret drawers. Spider’s Web runs August 12 through 31¹¹⁵⁴ .

So bring your grandmother and your whole family to the Acadia Repertory Theatre, in a DownEast tradition that, with luck and love, will still be here in another 52 years!

Please note: all Tuesday-Saturday performances are at 8:00 PM and Sundays are at 2:00 PM. You can order tickets online at https://acadiarep.com/ or by calling 207-244-7260 on Tuesdays-Sundays between 12:00PM-5:00PM.