Canterbury Summer Theatre, one of the Midwest's oldest professional summer companies, is pleased to announce its 57th season of plays and musicals, with weekly performances beginning June 18th through August 9th.
Drawing on talent from throughout the country, the Canterbury Resident Company will present audiences with a summer slate packed with comedy, music and drama, performed at Canterbury Theatre, located at 807 Franklin Street, in the Uptown Arts District of Michigan City.
Ray Scott Crawford returns for his 40th season as Artistic Director. Crawford is also Director of Theatre at Bossier Parish Community College in Louisiana.
Canterbury Associate Artistic Director, David Graham, will helm the award-winning play, The Effect, to kick off the season. Crawford will follow with the musical, A Year with Frog and Toad, based on the beloved children's books by Arnold Lobel.
Returning to Canterbury for his second season, Jakob Innes will be staging the musical, The Mad Ones. Originally from Valporaiso, Innes is now studying at Western Illinois University.
The final production, Laundry and Bourbon, will be directed by Canterbury newcomer, Devon Baxa, a graduate of College of the Mainland.
Artistic Director Ray Scott Crawford offers, "With our season 'Brought to You Live in 2025!', we will offer a wide range of plays and musicals for our audiences this summer."
"After starting with an intriguing look into pharmaceutical drug trials inThe Effect, we will take a turn to fanciful song and dance with the amphibious musical, A Year with Frog and Toad. Next we'll explore the hilarious terror of potential parenthood with Baby, before driving off into trials of early adulthood with the musical The Mad Ones. We will conclude with the hysterically funny three-woman play, Laundry and Bourbon, which fondly looks back on simpler days in a southern small town."
Crawford addded "With our talented cast and crew (some old and some new faces) from all over the country we've got something for everyone!"
Canterbury theatre seating will be by general admission. Season ticket holders still may reserve specific seating, if the box office is notified in advance of the performances that they wish to attend.
Performance times are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2:00 PM, and Fridays through Saturdays at 7:00 PM.
Tickets for all Canterbury productions, as well as season discount cards, can be reserved by calling (219) 874-4269 or by e-mail at info@canterburytheatre.org. Reduced ticket prices are available for seniors, groups and students.
Canterbury Summer Theatre is produced under the auspices of the Canterbury Guild, a nonprofit arts organization began in 1969 (as the Festival Players Guild) by Michigan City businessmen and educators with the goal of bringing professional summer theatre to the area.
In addition to its summer initiative, Canterbury has offered its Winter Arts series for over two decades, highlighting a variety of performing arts programming.
For more information, please visit www.canterburytheatre.org
The 2025 Canterbury Summer Theatre Season
The Effect
By Lucy Prebble
June 18-21
Hearts racing. Minds reeling. Knees buckling. Connie and Tristan have palpable chemistry—or is it a side effect of a new antidepressant? They are volunteers in a clinical trial, but their sudden and illicit romance forces the supervising doctors to face off over the ethical consequences of their work. The Effect takes on our pill-popping culture with humor and scintillating drama!
A Year with Frog and Toad
Book and lyrics by Willie Reale
Music by Robert Reale
June 25-July 5 (no show on July 4)
A hit on Broadway and nominated for three Tony Awards – including Best Musical. Based on Arnold Lobel's well-loved books, and featuring a jazzy, upbeat score, this whimsical show follows two great friends – the cheerful, popular Frog and the rather grumpy Toad – through four fun-filled seasons. The pair celebrate and rejoice in the differences that make them unique and special. Part vaudeville, part make believe... all charm!
Baby
Book by Sybille Pearson
Music by David Shire
Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.
July 9-19
Revised by the authors for a new generation of parenthood, this musical comedy examines the journey from morning sickness to hormone injections to existential angst. Three couples on a university campus deal with the impending arrival of a baby at different stages of life. Danny and Lizzie are college students, barely at the beginning of their adult lives; thirty-somethings Nicki and Pam will do whatever it takes to conceive; Alan and Arlene are looking forward to seeing their last child graduate from college... when a night of unexpected passion lands them back where they started!
The Mad Ones
Book, music and lyrics by Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk
July 23-August 2
Mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved...
18-year-old Samantha Brown sits in a hand-me-down car with the keys clutched in her hand. As she relives her senior year, we meet Sam’s well-intentioned helicopter mother Bev and her high school sweetheart of a boyfriend Adam, but it’s her best friend Kelly that haunts her. When Kelly is killed in a car wreck, Sam loses not only her best friend but also the part of herself that was learning to be brave. Now, Sam has to make a decision: Will she follow her mother’s dreams for her, or will she summon the courage to drive away from her friends and family into a future she can’t imagine?
Laundry and Bourbon
By James McClure
August 6-9
The setting is the front porch of a home in Maynard, Texas, on a hot summer afternoon in 1975. Elizabeth and her friends, Hattie and Amy Lee, are whiling away the time folding laundry, watching TV, sipping bourbon and Coke, and gossiping about the many open secrets which are so much a part of small-town life, but one woman discovers that she is the source of a particularly devastating rumor!