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The Adobe Theater brings 'Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks' to the stage
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This spring, The Adobe Theater is bringing a story of unlikely friendship, second chances and some dancing to the stage.
“Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” by Richard Alfieri opens Friday, April 25, and runs through May 18, offering audiences a heartfelt and funny two-person play.
Directed by longtime Albuquerque director Terri Klein, the production features Georgia Athearn as Lily Harrison, a stern but vulnerable widow, and Jason Godin as Michael Minetti, her sarcastic and guarded dance instructor. The unlikely duo comes together over the course of six lessons, but what begins as a bumpy professional arrangement gradually becomes a tender exploration of trust, friendship and the masks we wear to protect ourselves.
“There’s this beautiful metaphor of dance as a kind of masked ball,” said Klein. “These two people — who on the surface seem like polar opposites — are each hiding something. As the play goes on, those masks start to come off.”
Set in a Florida retirement condo, the play dances between moments of humor and vulnerability. Michael, a former Broadway chorus boy turned dance teacher, is brash and defensive. Lily, the widow of a Southern Baptist minister, is reserved and quick to judge. Their early lessons are filled with tension and misunderstanding, but as music and movement break down their walls, their relationship changes in unexpected ways.
Klein was drawn to the play for its “witty dialogue, rich characters and emotional payoff,” adding that the small cast allows the audience to get to know the characters deeply.
“You watch two people who haven’t had meaningful contact in a long time start to rediscover what it means to connect,” she said. “There’s something really powerful in that, especially after the years of isolation many of us have recently felt after the pandemic.”
The play debuted at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, famously starring Uta Hagen and David Hyde Pierce, and has since been performed in 24 countries and translated into 14 languages. It was also adapted into a 2014 film starring Gena Rowlands. The Albuquerque production at The Adobe Theater keeps it alive.
The show will run Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There will also be two Thursday night performances on May 1 and May 15 with specially priced $10 tickets, and a matinee-only performance on Saturday, May 10.
Tickets can be purchased at adobetheater.org/tickets.
