Two acclaimed new plays, The Whale, one of the most talked about plays to emerge from the Humana Festival and Sunset Baby, winner of this year’s Kennedy Prize for Drama will receive their area debuts as part of the Rep Stage 2014/2015 season.
This will be the first season planned by Rep Stage co-Artistic Directors Joseph Ritsch and Suzanne Beal, who wrote: “All four plays speak to the theme of transformation, whether it be transformations of the body, heart or soul. We feel that this theme could not be more apropos with the new artistic leadership at Rep Stage. Suzanne and I hope that our first season will represent both the wonderful changes to come as well as honoring the Rep Stage’s history of artistic excellence as we move the theatre into next 20 years.”
VENUS IN FUR
by David Ives
Directed by Joseph W. Ritsch
October 1 -October 19, 2014
When a young actress arrives several hours late to her audition for a play based on a nineteenth-century erotic novel, the playwright-director is less than impressed. But the actress’s masterful performance flips the script on the demanding creator’s expectations and turns the session into an electrifying battle of the sexes. Hailed as “seriously smart and very funny” by The New York Times, the award-winning “Venus in Fur” is a laugh-out-loud game of cat and mouse that blurs the lines of fantasy and reality.
THE WHALE
by Samuel D. Hunter
Directed by Kasi Campbell
***BALTIMORE/DC AREA PREMIERE
January 14 – February 1, 2015
Since the death of his partner, a morbidly obese man confines himself to his small apartment on the outskirts of Mormon Country, eating himself into oblivion. Desperate to reconnect with his long-estranged daughter, he reaches out to her, only to find a viciously sharp-tongued and wildly unhappy teen. Championed by the Associated Press as “compelling, funny, and unexpectedly impactful,” “The Whale” tells the story of a man’s last chance at redemption, and of finding beauty in the most unexpected places.
CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION
by Annie Baker
Directed by Suzanne Beal
March 4- March 22, 2015
When a group of small town residents enrolled in a community center drama class begin to experiment with seemingly harmless theatre games, hearts are quietly torn apart and tiny wars of epic proportions are waged and won. Love triangles, family troubles, and personal triumphs abound in Baker’s critically acclaimed play hailed by the New York Times as “absorbing, unblinking, and sharply funny.”
SUNSET BABY
by Dominique Morriseau
Directed by Joseph W. Ritsch
***BALTIMORE/DC AREA PREMIERE
April 29-May 17, 2015
When a former black revolutionary and political prisoner decides to reunite with his daughter, he discovers that fatherhood might be the most challenging revolution of all. The Huffington Post names Morisseau as a “direct heir to the magical wordsmiths named Lorraine Hansberry, Tennessee Williams, and August Wilson” for her vibrant exploration of the point where the personal and political collide. Morriseau is a 2014 recipient of the Kennedy Prize for Drama.
Season subscriptions will be available shortly. For information, call the Rep Stage box office: 443-518-1500.
Rep Stage closes out this season with a production of The Fantastiks, April 30 – May 18th.
