Welcome to Nevada Conservatory Theatre’s 2023-2024 Season.
We are thrilled to bring you a season full of self-discovery, hope, and relationships – with a dash of the ridiculous!
My name is Kirsten Brandt, and I am beyond excited to join this vibrant community as the new Executive Director of NCT. As a director, playwright, producer, and educator, theatre has been my life for over 25 years. I have a passion for playing with theatrical forms, reinterpreting classics, and bringing the voices of new writers to the forefront of American Theatre. My family and I have always loved Las Vegas and the surrounding area, and we are thrilled to now call it home. NCT has been your home for evocative, entertaining, and engaging theatre, and I am eager to learn your story and why NCT is vital to you.
We have a fantastic season planned for you with new engagement initiatives. On behalf of our faculty and staff who have worked incredibly hard to make it happen, I am so happy to say that we are back to a six-show season! Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece Happy Days opens the 2023-2024 season in just a little over a week. Partnering with our friends at the Vegas Theatre Company, we are excited bringing this absurdist classic about time and marriage to life. Featuring the effervescent Kymberly Luke Mellon as “Winnie,” the show is also the NCT directorial debut of Stefano Boselli.
Happy Days will be followed by American La Ronde, a modern reimagining of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1903 play by American writer Steven Dietz. Michael Lugering, who directed last year’s The Cherry Orchard, returns to helm this play – an exploration of our primal human instincts, and the havoc and joy that they bring to relationships.
For the holiday season, we are producing the world premiere of Cinderella, Under the Mistletoe! Created by British director Laura James, Cinderella follows the British Pantomime holiday tradition. Don’t worry – it’s not mime! Rather, a “panto” is a hilarious, wacky, and raucous family-friendly adaptation of classic fairy tales. We open Thanksgiving weekend and hope you will bring the family!
In February we will be presenting SHORTS, An Evening of Six Short Plays. Short plays are an engaging and nuanced type of theatre that allow us to play fast and loose with form and style. They are to-the-point and fun, and we will be bringing in local directors to helm six of them for the NCT stage! Stay tuned for the line up!
Next up, we will present Mud by Maria Irene Fornes in March. This soulful and potent drama about a woman pulling herself out of the literal mud, is written by one of the most inspirational and influential writers of the 20th century. I have been a fan of her work for decades and am beyond elated to produce her work for the first time in Las Vegas. Former NCT Executive Director Norma Saldivar will direct.
We will conclude our season with Kate Hamill’s hilarious and lively adaptation of Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice. NCT favorite Valerie Rachelle will be returning to direct, after bringing us the triumph of last season’s Violet. This won’t be your grandmother’s Jane Austin!
In addition to our exciting season, I’d like to share some of our current initiatives for this year:
- We will offer sensory friendly performances on select shows,
- We will be creating new “Know Before You Go” guides to our shows, so keep an eye out for those, and
- Our new podcast series will launch in a few short weeks.
As you know, there is no theatre without you. You are a vital collaborator. Your presence at our shows and your engagement with our work means everything to us. Theatres across the country are suffering, with many of them suspending their seasons. NCT is no exception to the financial realities of making theatre in 2023. You can help us today by subscribing to the season, as well as donating to our program. Theatre is vital now more than ever.
What we experience in the theatre brings us together and helps us connect in ways that are hard to find elsewhere. Theatre is about our collective humanity – the empathy we feel and the journeys we take, and the compassion and understanding that come from both. We can’t wait to continue to share ideas and experiences with you.
I look forward to meeting you at the theatre. Please come up and say hello – share your favorite restaurant or hiking trail - and let’s talk about your thoughts on the work we do.
See you at the theatre!
Kirsten Brandt
Executive Director, Nevada Theatre Company
Chair, Department of Theatre