Works by Steve Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hunter Bell & Shakespeare On Tap for 2013 Powerhouse Theater Season

New York Stage and Film and Vassar College announced the line-up for the 2013 Powerhouse Theater Season, which includes new works from Steve Martin, Broadway.com Audience Choice Award and Tony Winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hunter Bell and more. The productions will run at Vassar College June 21 through July 28. No casting has been announced.

The Mainstage season kicks off with Downtown Race Riot written by Seth Zvi Rosenfeld (How to Make it in America) and directed by Scott Elliot (Hurlyburly). There’s a riot on in Washington Square Park and a motley band of feckless, funny young men are spoiling for a fight. Against this backdrop of tribal loyalties and petty beefs, 18-year old Pnut McPartland has to pick sides and hustle his family and his friends just to stay alive. Downtown Race Riot runs June 26 through July 7.

Next up is When the Lights Went Out, the playwriting debut of Mozhan Marno. Directed by Kate Whoriskey (Ruined), the show interweaves the stories of six New Yorkers on the night of the Northeast blackout of 2003. In the darkness, two strangers fall in love during an epic walk across Manhattan; an older couple marooned in their apartment must finally grapple with their past; and a conflicted Iraqi immigrant makes her way across the Brooklyn Bridge chasing memories of her lost son and her homeland through the shadows. The play runs July 17 through July 28 on the Mainstage.

The musical of the season staged at the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film will be Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s Bright Star. Directed by Tony winner Walter Bobbie, the bluegrass musical takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina between 1945 and 1922, as a young man returns from war and uncovers hidden yearnings and dark secrets about his past. Bright Star plays July 12 through July 14.

The Martel Musical Workshop continues July 26 through 28 with a new musical by Peter Lerman and Simon Rich inspired by the Brooklyn Hero Supply Company. Directed by Spring Awakening Tony winner Michael Mayer, this new pop musical follows Trey Swieskowski, an idealistic young Brooklynite who fantasizes about becoming a superhero, and Astrolass,“Astroman’s daughter” who is desperate to pack in her cape and escape the burden of her father’s legacy. When the two of them cross paths, they hatch a plan to change their lives forever.

Based on Davy Rothbart's popular Found magazine, comes a new musical comedy about the things we've lost and the ways they bring us together. Book writers Hunter Bell and Lee Overtree join composer and lyricist Eli Bolin to create the semi-autobiographical account of Davy's life and loves as he performs around the country and imagines the stories behind the discarded notes, diaries, love letters, to-do lists, photographs - anything that is a glimpse into someone else's life. When Davy meets and falls for Kate, a schoolteacher, he is forced to choose between his wild existence on the road and a life with her. Directed by Lee Overtree, Found runs July 12-14 at the Susan Stein Shiva Theater.

Also playing the Susan Stein Shiva Theater is James Lecesne’s heart-warming comedy Mother of Invention. Directed by Michael Wilson (The Trip to Bountiful), the show centers on Dotti Rupp and her children, who arrive to move Dotti to an assisted living facility. However, when a mysterious stranger arrives, the Rupps face big questions: was Dottie more or less than they imagined her to be? The show plays July 19 through 21.

Powerhouse Theater’s free Readings Festival at the Shiva Theater includes Lin-Manuel Miranda’s The Hamilton Mixtape (with direction by Thomas Kail and music direction by Alex Lacamoire), Idyllwild by Patrick Burleigh, Kinship by Carey Perloff (directed by Maria Mileaf), Petty Harbour by Martyna Majok, Swimmers by Rachel Bonds and Yellow Kingdom by Patricia Wettig. Additonal works-in-progress will be announced in the coming months.

The Performance of the Classics series at the Vassar Farm & Ecological Preserve will include Mark Lindberg’s production of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon July 5 through 8; Emily Mendelsohn’s production of Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding July 12 through 15; and Drew Cortese’s production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It July 19 through 22.

The Powerhouse season also includes the free apprentice performances of Look Don’t Look, a devised performance about how we pay attention, on July 4, 11, 18 and 25.