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Encore Theatrical Company held its 2024 Season Preview Party Saturday evening, announcing the six productions it will produce next year.

As supporters of the theatrical company arrived at the event, they found hints scattered around alluding to what they can expect to see from Encore next year.

In anticipation of the upcoming season Candace Moore, Encore’s Executive Artistic director, discussed her excitement for next year’s shows.

“We got a great and “iconic” season ahead,” Moore said. “Everything is very notable and everyone will know the titles.

“This year we have six productions, last year we had five, so we are moving on up as we grow and continue to provide quality entertainment.”

After guests chatted and predicted what shows would hit the stage in 2024, the show announcements began.

Paige Mattocks, chair of the season selection committee, explained what it does and how it chooses productions each season.

“Our main objective is to come together to curate a season that is appealing to both audiences and performers,” Mattocks said. “We aim to select a collection of shows to which the Lakeway Area will respond, that will showcase our current talent fully and that our company can successfully produce.

“We brainstorm, make suggestions and discuss why some suggestions will work and some won’t. We collaborate. We have to think about everything from set requirements to costumes and also actors and performers.”

“We consider what will draw both performers and our audiences and what we can do well. We want a balance of classic and contemporary, humor and pathos and bring a spectacular experience to our audiences.”

The first production taking the stage is based on the classic Hasbro board game and the iconic 1985 Paramount movie, “Clue.”

The tale begins at a remote mansion, where six mysterious guests assemble for an unusual dinner party where murder and blackmail are on the menu. When their host turns up dead, they all become suspects.

Led by Wadsworth – the butler, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock and Colonel Mustard race to find the killer as the body count stacks up.

Clue is the comedy whodunit that will leave both cult-fans and newcomers in stitches as they try to figure out who did it, where, and with what.

The second production will have a cast consisting of the talented youth in the community. The cast will have performers ranging from Kindergarten to eighth grade as they perform the classic, “Charlotte’s Web.”

As the sun rises on the Arable’s farm, Fern Arable discovers that her father is planning on killing the runt of the litter of pigs born during the night. She runs to save it and persuades her father to let her keep the pig, whom she names Wilbur.

Wilbur is taken to the farm of her uncle, Homer Zuckerman, where he meets the other farmyard animals. However, Wilbur is lonely without a special friend of his own, until he meets Charlotte, a spider.

Charlotte creates a miracle by spinning the words “Some Pig” in her web, Charlotte weaves a solution which not only makes Wilbur a prize pig but also ensures his place on the farm forever.

The Stephen Schwartz musical structured as a series of parables and based on the Gospel of Matthew, “Godspell,” will take the stage as Encore’s third production of the season.

A small group of people help Jesus Christ tell different parables by using a wide variety of games, storytelling techniques and hefty doses of comic timing.

An eclectic blend of songs, ranging in style from pop to vaudeville, is employed as the story of Jesus’ life dances across the stage.

Dissolving hauntingly into the Last Supper and the Crucifixion, Jesus’ messages of kindness, tolerance and love come vibrantly to life.

“Godspell” features a parade of beloved songs, including “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord,” “Learn Your Lessons Well,” “All for the Best,” “All Good Gifts,” “Turn Back, O Man” and “By My Side.”

With the fourth production, Encore will show “Something Rotten” as its big summer musical.

The musical which was created by Grammy Award-winning songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick, and screenwriters Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell received several Best Musical nominations and hailed by Time Out New York as “the funniest musical comedy in at least 400 years.”

It is set in the 1590s, where brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit play but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rock star known as “The Bard.”

When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theater involves singing, dancing and acting at the same time, Nick and Nigel set out to write the world’s very first musical.

But amidst the scandalous excitement of opening night, the Bottom Brothers realize that reaching the top means being true to their own self, and all that jazz.

The fifth production will be the company’s Young Stars Musical and happens to be a Disney Pixar classic, “Finding Nemo Jr.” will take the stage at the end of September.

Disney’s Finding Nemo JR. is a 60-minute musical adaptation of the beloved 2003 Pixar movie Finding Nemo, with new music by award-winning songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who wrote the music for “Frozen” and “Frozen 2”.

The final production will put the community in the Christmas spirit as everyone’s favorite elf takes the stage in “Elf.”

“Elf” is a musical based on the motion picture of the same name, with a score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin

Buddy Hobbs, a young orphan child, mistakenly crawls into Santa Claus’ bag of gifts and is transported back to the North Pole. After discovering the baby, Santa and his elves decide to raise the child as an elf. Years later, Buddy finds out that he’s actually a human being and, at Santa’s prompting, heads off to New York City in search of his father, Walter Hobbs.

Faced with the harsh reality that Walter is on the naughty list and his son, Michael, doesn’t even believe in Santa, Buddy is determined to win over his birth family and help New York City remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Season tickets can be purchased online at Encore’s website for the 2024 season.