Hi there!

We are a relatively new theatre troupe. We are just wrapping up our first season, and luckily we have finally found a venue that wants to continue to rent to us (for a fairly cheap price!)

We have a focus on the classics - Our first show was a locally written play that extends the Oedipus trilogy and explains what happens to the youngest daughter, Ismene.
Our second show was contemporary, 'night, Mother, which we performed as a benefit for a local suicide prevention group. All proceeds were given to them.

The show we are working on now is a compilation of Shakespeare scenes that I put together. I call it From Shakespeare, with Love, because all of the scenes have something to do with love.
This was done to first test how our audience will react to Shakespeare, and to see if we even have the actors willing to do it. (You'd be surprised at how many actors refuse to do Shakespeare because they think it's too hard!)

Things are going well, and we've even been asked to produce a Christmas show.
So our next season lineup has been asked about, and here is what we've come up with -
Christmas show - A christmas carol (We want a script with kids in it.)
Spring Show - ?
Summer Show - Taming of the Shrew

I'm at a loss for what to do as our spring show. As this is our first season in the new theatre, I feel like we need to do a range of shows that will display what we can do.
There are a few suggestions on the table, but I would love more!

Suggestions so far:
Noises Off! - I'm hesitant to do this because of the set and the inherent difficulty in doing a true farce.

Prometheus Bound (Aeschylus)

The Brothers Menaechmus (Plautus)

Arsenic and Old Lace

I'm willing to try just about anything!

how about something light  - but with a backbone? - Durang or Henley?

My two-act murder mystery, The Man in Seat 24 or (The Uninvited Guest), has a cast of 15- 8 females and 7 males- and is published by Brooklyn Publishers. www.brookpub.com
     Synopsis: An irate, rude, and combative theatre patron (in your audience!) hijacks the cast, the crew, and his fellow theatre-goers and winds up stone cold dead at center stage. The Man in Seat 24 Or (The Uninvited Guest) is a murder mystery, a play-within-a-play, where a harried and frazzled theatre director investigates a murder--during a night of theatre gone wrong--and realizes that there is more to this evening’s performance than meets the eye.

You've got "family" and "traditional" covered with "Christmas Carol".

"Comedy" and  "classic" covered with "Shrew".

I'd go for "20th century" and "drama".  Look towards Arthur Miller ("All My Sons" is my favorite) or Tennessee Williams ("Glass Menagerie" "Streetcar Named Desire" "Night of the Iguana")  Or Edward Albee. (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?")

If you want to consider something other than A Christmas Carol that is great for families and has name recognition I have a show that was a huge success for our group two years ago and was produced last year by another theater who had sold out performances too.  The audience laughed and cried when they were supposed to so I think it worked well.  The script uses both contemporary and period scenes based on the famous editorial response, Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  Let me if you would like to see an excerpt.