Steven Leon is Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s new executive director. The announcement was made official yesterday in a press release, and my full story is in The Sun today. 

Ironically, while MRT scoured the country and interviewed four finalists for the position, Leon comes from right down the road in Cambridge – the American Repertory Theatre, to be exact. He’s been assistant general manager for six years at the prestigious Harvard Square theater and has a 30 year career in theater, including directing, lighting design and management duties, on his impressive resume.

He’s a Chicago area native and married to painter Sarah Leon. He replaces Tom Parrish, who left MRT in early February to head the GEVA Theater Center in Rochester, N.Y.

The press release includes kudos for Leon from such big names in American theater as Bob Brustein, founding director of the ART, and Rob Orchard, former executive director of the ART and current executive director of Boston’s ArtsEmerson.

Leon found a lot to like about Lowell on his four official visits here. But it’s the quality of work on the MRT stage that first attracted him to the job, he said.

Unbeknownst to Charles Towers, MRT’s artistic director, Leon has been in the audience for several  MRT productions in recent years and praised Towers’ talents and eagerness to present new works.

It sounds like a match made in theatrical heaven, and both Towers and Leon seemed ecstatic about the prospects of working together during phone interviews yesterday.

“It ’s better than we could have ever expected,” said Towers.

“I’m thrilled to be coming to the Merrimack Rep,” said Leon.

He officially begins the job at the start of the next fiscal year on July 1. But he’s already in the email loop and will be officially introduced to the community at MRT’s annual meeting on June 28.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s production of Seth Rozin’s comedy Two Jews Walk Into a War opens tomorrow in previews and runs through April 10. This is a production I’ve anticipated with great glee ever since MRT artistic director Charles  Towers told me nearly a year ago that he had nabbed Jerry Kissel and Will LeBow to play the last two remaining Jews in Kabul, Afghanistan, who are trying to maintain their temple even though they hate each other’s guts. Kissel and LeBow are two of Boston’s finest actors, both comedic geniuses and they haven’t appeared together at the MRT in nearly 20  years. This is one you won’t want to miss. I interview them along with playwright Rozin in tomorrow’s Curtain Call column in the Sun’s Stepping Out section and will see the play Sunday and plan to post a review next week. They’ll also join Jack Baldwin and me on WCAP-AM next Thursday, March 24 at 11:15 a.m. Be prepared for laughs. I certainly am. And, by the way, Thursday’s preview is pay what  you can night, a real deal at the box office, cash only from 4:30 p.m. to curtain at 7:30 p.m. Lowell residents get in for a measly $10 on Saturday at 8 p.m. (That’s less than the price of a movie). Check www.merrimackrep.org for other specials, including Director’s Dialogues and a cookies and coffee matinee. See you at the theater. 

How far is a mom willing to go to make sure her child has every advantage available to him, or her?

That’s one of the  questions Bob Clyman poses in his new play The Exceptionals,  now playing in a spell-binding world premiere production at Merrimack Repertory Theatre. 

But Clyman also delves into other timely topics –  ethics, eugenics, parenting, competition – in his well-crafted play that’s as current as today’s headlines.

Set in the office and waiting room of a prestigious sperm bank, we meet two moms – Gwen and Allie – who’ve been called in  to discuss their five-year-old sons, Michael and Ethan, and what could lie ahead for these two exceptional little boys, whose biological fathers are from the center’s  catalogue of  ”platinum” donors. 

Gwen, ably played by Carolyn Baeumler, is a single mom, uptight, controlling, terribly dependent on her son. Allie, played to sassy perfection, by Catherine Eaton, is loud, bossy, a bit rough around the edges. Still married to Tom (Joseph Tisa), her nice guy, albeit average husband, they think it might be time to give their boy a baby sister.

Claire, the frosty, controlling assistant to the center’s director (another great performance by MRT vet Judith Lightfoot Clarke), runs the meeting and proposes that they give the boys the chance to become truly exceptional by attending a new school the center is creating for its most outstanding children.

The moms recognize it’s in the kids’  best interest. Or is it? And then there’s Tom’s desire to have a child who is simply “average” like him. And Claire’s admission about her own aversion to becoming a parent. And the nasty bickering between Gwen and Allie that amazingly turns to a bonding friendship, of sorts, at the play’s frightening conclusion.

Charles Towers directs the production. Clyman is here on a regular basis, watching audience reaction as he tweaks the script.. It’s a great opportunity to watch the world premiere of a play that is sure to have a life in other theaters around the country.  

Funny, poignant, heart-breaking, disturbing,  The Exceptionals is one you shouldn’t  miss at MRT. Runs through  March 6. Visit www.merrimackrep.org for  times and ticket information.

And, during Lowell Women’s Week,  get $10 off the price of a ticket with a LWW button, available button, at all Women’s Week events, beginning  Monday, Feb. 28. Visit www.lowellwomensweek.org for details and check the cover story on LWW  in the Lowell Sun Steppin’ Out section on Thursday, Feb. 24

In these last frantic days leading up to Christmas, it’s nice to sit back for a bit and savor the holiday’s  joys and meaning – love, acceptance, family ties and generosity.

That’s what you’ll find in Beasley’s Christmas Party, a tender,  bittersweet ode to Christmases past playing only through Sunday at Merrimack Repertory Theatre.

Adapted by C.W. Munger from an early 20th-century novella by Booth Tarkington, the production, originally produced by the Keen Company in New York City and directed by Keen Company’s artistic director Carl Forsman, is a story about an eccentric bachelor – David Beasley – and the sweet, simple boy who lives with him as his ward. The youngster, the orphaned son of Beasley’s cousin and friend, inhabits a fantasy world that he allows all to enter, including Beasley, who loves to go along with the game.

The story, which moves along with narrative by Booth, a journalist living in a boarding house next-door to Beasley’s, is a lively one, filled with marvelous language, vivid images and, ultimately, the true meaning of Christmas that shines through.

The production only features three actors, the sublimely talented Joey Collins, Crystal Finn and Tony Ward. Ward’s job is the easiest, since he’s Booth all the way through. Collins and Finn have the most fun, since they take on numerous roles – the boy, the spinster math teacher next door who has a history with Beasley,  a fellow lawyer who knows Beasley well, a couple of political operatives and another young reporter.

Finn is especially joyous as the boy, frail, fragile, all eyes and mouth staring out at the world from his wagon. Booth is a marvel in all the parts he plays, but  particularly as Beasley, dancing and cavorting with the numerous characters the young boy has conjured in his mind.

Sitting in the audience Tuesday with students from Lowell, Lawrence and Groton, it was a joy to see how the play, with its rich, lovely language and sweet, simple story, took  young people in. They laughed, clapped and were totally immersed in the story, despite the lack of costume changes or props.  The story and the actors who told it said it all.

Beasley’s Christmas Party is sweet, sentimental and a perfect alternative to other holiday shows that show up so often on local stages each holiday season.  This is a Christmas carol you’ll remember time and again, like every tradition we hold near and dear.

On through Sunday, some seats remain. Call MRT at 978-654-4MRT or visit www.merrimackrep.org for tickets

Chelmsford wunderkind actor Sebastian Hoffman, 13, steps in tonight and tomorrow in Johnny Baseball, the new Red Sox-Yankee rivalry musical now playing at American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge. He’s done plenty of theater already – Gavroche in Les Miz, shows at Stoneham Theatre, community stuff, etc. This outing gives him a chance to work with ART artistic director Diane Paulus (she revived Hair on Broadway last year) and perform in a world premiere. Watch out for this young man. He’s on the rise. www.americanrepertorytheatre.org

Honchos at Lowell Memorial Auditorium launched the 2010-2011 season tonight with a bang-up event to showcase the shows. And what shows they are - Legally Blonde, the Musical, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Garrison Keiller of Prairie Home Companion fame, plus the return of popular shows like Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line, perennial favorite Grease, Menopause, the Musical, the Boston Pops, the Vienna Choir Boys, Loretta LaRoche and many more. Over 20 shows are logged onto the season already. They’ll have so much for the holidays, it could be overload. But it’s a sure sign the economy must be turning around with the line-up and number of shows they’ve got. Read my story in Curtain Call in the Lowell Sun’s  Thursday Steppin’ Out section – www.lowellsun.com. And check out the LMA website for a full lineup of the season at www.lowellauditorium.com. What’s  your favorite?