The historic Bonstelle Theatre is pleased to announce the 2004-2005 season, featuring a fast paced French farce, a warm hearted family favorite and more! Celebrating 54 seasons of great theatre, the Bonstelle Theatre is home to Wayne State University's undergraduate theatre company, over 150 talented and driven young actors and theatre technicians - most of whom are Detroit area natives. These stars of tomorrow produce a well-rounded season of five plays, each running for 2 consecutive weekends.

A misplaced pair of suspenders, a fake love letter, mistaken identities, and an abundance of amorous antics lead to absolute mayhem in Georges Feydeau's best loved work, the fast paced A Flea in Her Ear, which kicks off the Bonstelle 54th season. The flea in Mme. Chandebises - or bee in her bonnet, if you prefer - is the uneasy feeling she has when her previously amorous husband begins neglecting his marital duties. With no fewer than 275 entrances and exits, this is a "tour de farce" of riotous confusion. Of the 39 plays written by Feydeau, A Flea in Her Ear is the most often performed in North America, and is considered by many to be one of the funniest plays ever written. A Flea in Her Ear plays October 29 - 31 and November 5 - 7.

In December, round up family and friends for a visit with Anne Shirley, the indomitable heroine of L.M. Montgomery's beloved Anne of Green Gables, adapted for the stage by Alice Chadwicke. All the magic and charm of Green Gables comes to life in this family favorite! When Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew decided to keep the independent, red-headed orphan girl sent to help out around their farm - instead of the boy they had expected - they never imagined that she would change their lives and touch the hearts of all who came to know and love her. First published in 1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery's enduring Anne of Green Gables is one of the best-selling English-Canadian novels ever, and has been adapted numerous times into plays, musicals, and TV series. Anne of Green Gables plays December 10 - 12 and 17 - 19.

Explore a fresh take on some very old stories with Mary Zimmerman's 2002 Tony Award-winning Metamorphosis. Spun from myths familiar and forgotten, Metamorphosis is a fluid transformation of Ovid's tales of gods and human foible. The gold-obsessed Midas is a Wall Street type with no time for his daughter. Phaeton is a spoiled teenager in therapy and Eurydice slowly forgets Orpheus as he tries to lead her from the underworld. Ethereal, timeless and wonderfully told elemental stories of the forces of earth, fire, wind and water. Metamorphosis plays January 21 - 23 and 28 - 30.

The Black Theatre Program's production of Philip Yordan's Anna Lucasta is next on the Bonstelle stage. This groundbreaking script is best known as the first non-racially themed play produced on Broadway with an all black cast. After Anna Lucasta's family kicks her out of their home, they want her back to help them swindle a young man out of his cash. They didn't count on her falling in love with him. Just when the young streetwalker is ready to change her ways, her family's schemes threaten to expose her past and destroy the couple's chance at happiness. Philip Yordan has written or produced and distributed some of the most notable films of the mid-20th century, including El Cid, Dillinger, Detective Story and Broken Lance, for which he won an Academy Award. In addition to its three year run on Broadway, Anna Lucasta was made into two films, Columbia Picture's 1949 version with an all white cast, starring Paulette Goddard, and a 1958 version released by United Artists, with an all black cast, featuring Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis Jr. Anna Lucasta plays March 4 - 6 and 11 - 13.

Rounding out the season is the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical Evita, winner of 40 international awards, including the 1980 Tony Award for Best Musical. From prostitute to saint to martyr, the rise and fall of Argentina's most infamous and influential first lady Eva Peron is retold in such musical numbers as the unforgettable Don't Cry for Me, Argentina. Evita plays April 22 - 24 and April 29 - May 1.

The season runs from October 2004 through May 2005, and subscription tickets are on sale now. With a season subscription to the Bonstelle Theatre you can see all five shows for as low as $30. Individual tickets range from $9 - $15, and group discounts are available. The Bonstelle Theatre is located at 3424 Woodward Avenue, one block south of Mack at the corner of Eliot in Detroit. The theatre box office is located in the Hilberry Theatre, on the corner of Cass and Hancock, and is open October through May, Tuesday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. To purchase tickets or for more information, call (313) 577-2960.