The Meredith College Theatre Program has been awarded a Kurt Weill Foundation College/University Grant to produce Lady in the Dark.
Lady in the Dark, which premiered on Broadway in 1941, features music and lyrics by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin and book by Moss Hart. The Kurt Weill Foundation provides financial support to individuals and not-for-profit organizations for projects related to Weill, Lotte Lenya, or Marc Blitzstein.
The grant will support the licensing rights for the musical and will fund additional guest artists.
Theatre Program Director Lormarev Jones said these guest artists include “a professional sound engineer to manage both actor microphones and the 20-piece orchestra, community musicians to fill out the pit of student musicians joining us from the music department, and an experienced music director, Julie Florin, who returns to us after being our musical director for Nine (2005) and Gypsy (2007).”
It will also fund additional marketing and materials, since part of the Foundation’s mission is to raise the visibility of Weill’s works.
“In the Meredith Theatre program, we curate a diverse range of shows for students to encounter over their four years at Meredith,” said Jones. “Since we only do one musical a year, we rotate through different genres of musicals, from contemporary modern musicals like Carrie (2012, our 2023 musical), to late 20th century musicals, like Sweet Charity (1967, our 2024 musical).”
Jones said Golden Age musicals, such as Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Carousel, and South Pacific, can be challenging for a women’s college because they often center male leads.
Jones chose Lady in the Dark for the 2026 musical because it features women in lead roles.
“Lady in the Dark features a woman at the center, Liza Elliott, a female character who is not only financially independent, but the character around whom the entire play revolves,” Jones said. “All of the music is filtered through her subconscious, revealing her most secret desires, dreams, and fears. There are several other women in the musical who also work with Liza at the fashion magazine that she runs.”
The production will run from February 25 through March 1, 2026, in Jones Auditorium. This will be the first time Lady in the Dark has been performed in the Triangle area.
While she has choreographed many Golden Age musicals, Lady in the Dark is also a first for Jones, who is directing. “I am excited to expose the students to a different genre of musical theatre performance, and I am excited to direct, as this is my first time directing a Golden Age musical.”