8 El Caminito Road
P.O. Box 1493
Carmel Valley, CA 93924
(map)
831-659-7500
Magic Circle Theatre: State-of-the-art live theater close to Carmel, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, and the Monterey Peninsula.
See a play in an intimate 60-seat theater nestled in a lovely garden setting.
Call 831-659-7500 for reservations.
Current Season
Proof
By David Auburn
August 13 - September 12, 2010
Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. This stunning drama weaves together elements of mystery and surprise as it untangles the relationship of an enigmatic young woman and her brilliant mentally ill mathematician father. On the Eve of her 25th birthday Catherine must deal with her own volatile emotions after the death of her father. The arrival of her older estranged sister, Claire, coincides with that of Hal, a former student of her father’s. Over the long weekend that follows, a painful romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: How much of her father’s madness – or genius – will she inherit? Ultimately, Proof suggests that brilliance can flower even in the most surprising places.
“…a compelling evening of theatre… a smart and compassionate play of ideas.”
NY Daily News
“…fresh and humane… a lovely play.”
NY Observer
Nobody’s Perfect
By Simon Williams
October 22 - November 21, 2010
A fast moving and witty comedy that centers around Leonard Loftus, a bashful nerdy statistician who writes women’s romance novels. To avoid the gender bias of a feminist publisher, he submits his manuscript using the pseudonym Lulabelle Lafita. When Lulabelle wins first prize, Leonard has a major problem. His rebellious daughter and eccentric oversexed father complicate his frantic attempts to maintain the Lulabelle charade. The chaos deliciously intensifies when he falls hopelessly in love with Harriet, the feminist publisher. In high heels and lipstick our hero is caught in a hilarious dilemma of cross-dressing and cross- purposes. Across the UK, Australia and Europe, Nobody’s perfect has been acclaimed as a classic feel good romantic comedy.
“Evenings spent in the theatre do not come any better than this.”
The Stage
“Bristles with sharply funny one liners… I laughed so much I was gasping for breath.”
Birmingham Post
November
By David Mamet
March 12 - April 18, 2010
Central Coast Premiere! David Mamet’s new scathingly hilarious political satire depicts one day in the life of a beleaguered Commander-in-Chief. Incumbent Charles Smith’s chances for reelection are looking grim. He is out of campaign money, approval ratings are “lower than Gandhi’s cholesterol”, nuclear war might be imminent, and his staff has thrown in the towel. Toss in a lesbian speechwriter longing to marry her sweetheart on national television, a cynical chief of staff, Thanksgiving turkeys awaiting pardon, a righteously fuming Native American, and you have a fiendishly funny take on the state of America today and the lengths to which people will go to win. “Adult” language.
*No shows April 2, 3 & 4.
“Ferociously original… rollicks from one politically incorrect punch line to the next.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“Savage merriment… delightful… wild… brilliant.”
San Francisco Examiner
“Sublime! One of the first breezy and intelligent comedies of substance we’ve seen in a long time.”
The Villager
Dead Man’s Cell Phone
By Sarah Ruhl
May 28 - June 27, 2010
Central Coast Premiere! A quiet cafe. A cell phone ringing, incessantly. A somewhat befuddled woman, Jean, finally answers her neighboring tablemate’s cell phone in exasperation… and finds to her surprise and horror that the man at the table is dead! Continuing to answer his cell phone becomes a kind of gift, however odd, to this man she never really met. Jean goes on a challenging and often very funny odyssey as she becomes increasingly more entwined in the dead man’s life. She meets more than his family and friends; she meets her own assumptions, confronts her own morality and finds a sort of redemption as we all explore our connections to life as it is now in our technologically obsessed world.
“A beguiling comedy… a hallucinatory poetic fantasy.”
New York Times