A Powerhouse season

Slate includes Sheik musical, Lewis Black play

By GORDON COX

A concert reading of the latest Duncan Sheik tuner, a workshop presentation of a play by Lewis Black and readings of plays by John Patrick Shanley, Beth Henley and Theresa Rebeck are all part of the 2009 season lineup at Vassar and New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater.

The 25th annual outing of the Powerhouse developmental program also will include fully staged productions of plays by Joanna Murray-Smith ("The Female of the Species") and Keith Bunin ("The Busy World Is Hushed"), plus the previously announced staging of Gotham-bound tuner "The Burnt Part Boys."

Latest from Sheik ("Spring Awakening"), "Whisper House" is based on the musician's recently released album. Sheik writes the music and co-pens the lyrics with Kyle Jarrow ("A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant"), who also wrote the book. Helmed by Keith Powell ("30 Rock"), the show is set during WWII in a haunted lighthouse.

"Whisper House" is presented as part of Powerhouse's Martel Musicals series, which also includes music industry satire "Tina Girlstar" from book writer Anton Dudley, lyricist Charlie Sohne and composer Brian Feinstein.

Lewis Black's "One Slight Hitch," part of the Powerhouse's Inside Look program, follows a wedding that goes greatly awry. Another Inside Look offering, Ben Snyder's "Shoe Story," is an urban fairy tale directed by Thomas Kail ("In the Heights").

Murray-Smith's new play, "Ninety," centers on a woman trying to win back her ex, while Bunin's "Vera Laughed" follows a love triangle between a Russian writer, his wife and his mistress.

Reading series includes an untitled play by Rebeck, "The Jacksonian" by Henley, "Pirate" by Shanley and "Rain" by Regina Taylor, among other works.

Powerhouse season runs June 26-Aug. 2 on the Vassar College campus in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.