‘Macbeth’ to Open ART’s 8th Season

SANTA ANA — Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” will launch the Alternative Repertory Theatre’s 1994-95 season in September, the company announced Wednesday.

The upcoming season, ART’s eighth, will also include Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and Paul Zindel’s “The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,” as well as staged readings of Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” and a work to be named.

ART, which operates in a 61-seat storefront venue, has 431 subscribers. That is more than triple the number it started out with, spokesman Gary Christensen said, but also represents a decline from its record of 500 last season.

To encourage new subscriptions, he noted, ART is launching a “pay as you go” plan that will enable playgoers to become season ticket holders for $25 instead of $70, the full subscription price to all five shows. A “pay-as-you-go” subscriber will be charged $7 at the door for each production attended, in addition to the initial fee.

“We hope this will be especially attractive to seniors and students and anybody who lives on a budget,” Christensen said. Single tickets for non-subscribers will remain $16.

The ‘94-95 Season:

* Sept. 29-Nov. 12: “Macbeth,” by William Shakespeare.

* Dec. 9-24: Staged reading of “A Christmas Memory,” by Truman Capote.

* Jan. 20-March 4: “Death of a Salesman,” by Arthur Miller.

* March 30-April 21: To be named (possibly a one-woman black musical or a Latino work with performances in English and Spanish).

* May 12-June 24, 1995: “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,” by Paul Zindel.

All productions will be at Alternative Repertory Theatre, 1636 S. Grand Ave., Santa Ana. Information: (714) 836-7929.