The venerable Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara will open their 2005-2006 season with a new production of Charlotte Jones’s award-winning comedy "Humble Boy," the story of a young astrophysicist who returns home for his bee-keeper father’s funeral. He finds himself face-toface with his difficult mother and other troubling ghosts from his past. Directed by Albert Alarr, "Humble Boy" opens at 8 p.m. Friday, September 30, and closes Sunday, October 30 at the Ensemble Theatre in Downtown Santa Barbara.

"Humble Boy" introduces us to brilliant, troubled Felix Humble, played by James Calvert, a young Cambridge astrophysicist in search of an elusive holy grail of physics, a unified field theory. With a nod to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Jones’s Felix faces the sudden death of his father and confrontations with his demanding mother which cause him to search for the unity within himself.

The cast also includes Sonya Alarr, returning to the Ensemble stage. She will play Rosie Pye, Felix Humble’s former love. Leonard Kelly-Young, accomplished national stage and screen actor, portrays Flora’s lover George Pye; Emmy Award winner and Ensemble Theatre veteran Laurel Lye as Flora’s confidante Mercy Lott; and Rudolph Willrich, another Ensemble favorite and Indy Award winner, portraying earthy sage Jim the gardener.

Ticket prices for Humble Boy are $27-$37. Tickets are available through the Ensemble Theatre’s Box Office at (805) 962-8606. The Ensemble Theatre Company’s Alhecama Theatre is located at 914 Santa Barbara Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

COURTESY PHOTO

Rudolph Willrich (kneeling) plays Jim the Gardener and James Calvert the troubled Felix Humble in the Ensemble Theater’s "Humble Boy."