The Curio Theatre Company has announced their 2012-2013 season and it will knock your socks off! It is rich in suspense plays, comedy, and also includes a world premiere by Curio’s Artistic Director Paul Kuhn. The new season begins October 11 with Milan Stitt’s The Runner Stumbles. Here’s the full show schedule:

The Runner Stumbles
By Milan Stitt
Directed by Gay Carducci
October 11 – November 10, 2012

The Real Inspector Hound
By Tom Stoppard
Directed by Dan Hodge
November 29 – December 29, 2012

Equus
By Peter Shaffer
Directed by Liz Carlson
January 17 – February 16, 2013

Madville
By Paul Kuhn
Directed by Rosemary Fox
March 14 – April 13, 2013

The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Adapted by Steven Canny and John Nicholson
Directed by Paul Kuhn
May 2 – June 1, 2013

Tickets are available on the Curio Theatre website. You can also subscribe to the season and see all five shows for the price of four.

Curio Theatre (4740 Baltimore Ave) has had a great season so far, hitting it off with both the public and critics with their first two shows – Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice and Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist. This week the theater presents the Philadelphia premiere of a work based on Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.

The show is directed by Jared Reed and features seven Curio actors (most of them from West Philly) playing some 40 characters. No one in this show remains the same for long, except the time traveling main character Billy Pilgrim. The dynamic sets (built by Curio’s Artistic Director Paul Kuhn) and cast will often change, adding to the confusion Billy experiences during his travels.

The show preview begins Thursday, Feb.2, and the official opening is February 10. All shows begin at 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. For more information and to buy tickets ($10-$20) visit this page.

Tonight is the opening night of Dario Fo’s play Accidental Death of An Anarchist at Curio Theatre (4740 Baltimore Ave). This comedy is probably the best-known play written by Fo and features both real and fictional characters. The shows run through January 7 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets ($15-$20) are still available for tonight’s show. To buy tickets click here.

Check out the promotional video below (it’s hilarious!).

According to the announcement on the Curio Theatre Facebook page, tonight’s performance of Lord of the Flies in Clark Park has been canceled due to rainy weather and soggy ground conditions. Tomorrow’s and Friday performances are still on (scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.).

The Curio Theatre Company is gearing up for another performance. This time West Philly’s own theater will tackle Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, an absurd, tragicomedic twist on Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

We see Hamlet’s story unfold through the eyes of the courtiers and spies Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters from the original work. But in this story Rosencrantz invents the hamburger and discovers gravity.

Liz Carlson directs the play, which features Eric Scotolati, CJ Keller and Brian McCann.

A recent post on the Curio Theatre blog describes the preparations for the run, which begins this week with a series of previews:

“It’s been an absolute inspiration to see Eric Scotolati, CJ Keller and Brian McCann work tirelessly to achieve the seeming effortlessness of Tom Stoppard’s rapier sharp wit; they’re at work when the rest of the cast comes in at the assigned time, and they remain at work when the rest of the cast leaves at the end of the night, perfecting every nuance and giving each movement the specificity it needs.”

Previews will run Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week. Performances begin at 8 p.m. each night.

The show opens on Friday, April 22 at 8 p.m.

For a complete schedule of the run, check the Curio website here.