2018-2019: Beyond Ideas

Senior year (and falling in love) is hard enough, but when the discovery of her mother’s old trophy throws open the locked doors of the past, a young girl must reckon with a world turned upside down – and the arrival of strange new abilities that seem to hint at a destiny beyond her wildest imaginations. Taking rich threads of Puget Sound history and folklore, musical mastermind Justin Huertas weaves a thrilling modern myth of love, family, and transformation.

Alarmed by his grisly writings, a professor invites a troubled student to her office to shed light on – and build a bridge across – the dark clouds that surround him. As the clock ticks down and tensions rise, she learns that notions of “good” and “bad” are dangerous illusions. A stirring call for empathy and a bold experiment in form, this searing play tackles thorny issues of gun violence, immigration, and “the other” to reveal our essential, human need for connection.

JOHN March 14 – April 7, 2019 By Annie Baker Time Magazine – 10 Best Shows of 2015 Nominated for 6 Drama Desk Awards Nominated for 5 Lucille Lortel Awards At a weekend bed & breakfast, the shadow of infidelity hangs over a young couple struggling to rebuild their relationship – when the elderly owner shares her own memories, ghosts real and imagined arrive to haunt the living. Blending keen realism with the eerily supernatural, this quiet tale from a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright is unafraid to seek beauty in one of the most startling places: the solitude of human experience.

M. BUTTERFLY January 24 – February 17, 2019 By David Henry Hwang 1988 Tony Award Winner – Best Play 1988 Drama Desk Award Winner – Outstanding New Play 1989 Pulitzer Prize Finalist When we build fantasies to hide the truth, what happens when it all comes tumbling down? Clever parallels to the famous opera Madame Butterfly abound in this fearless play about a French diplomat who falls for a Chinese opera star: the ideal, exotic woman in his mind, but in reality, a man with a secret mission. Rich with deeper themes, M. Butterfly confronts the perception of Eastern culture by the West and the persistent romanticism that clouds it.

When a spirited young orphan finds an unexpected home with a wealthy family, she also – against all odds and expectations – finds love. But strange voices from the attic and dark secrets from the past spark flames of fate that could consume them all. With sweeping music in a new chamber version of the celebrated musical, Charlotte Brontë’s classic love story soars to life and introduces this trailblazing heroine to a new generation.

In the depths of the 2008 Great Recession, rumors of shutdown start to spread at one of Detroit’s last auto-stamping plants, forcing a tight-knit family of workers to face a devastating question: what will you sacrifice to survive? In the spirit of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, award-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau’s bold and compassionate new play lays bare the trials of the human spirit with verve, wit, and an electrifying voice of uncommon poetry.