New SRT Artistic Director Picks Bold New Plays for 2008/09
Two Vibrant World Premieres, a Pulitzer Prize Nominee
& Hot-from-New York Regional Debuts
New Orleans — New Artistic Director Aimée Hayes has put the finishing touches on her first season at the creative helm of New Orleans’ premiere professional theatre. The up-to-the-minute 2008-2009 Season includes two world and three regional premieres. On the heels of an incredibly successful 2007/08 season, Ms. Hayes is determined to ensure that audiences are dazzled away from their televisions and into the theatre. “I’m interested in doing modern, intriguing plays with heart,” Hayes noted, “and each of these shows should give theatre-goers an experience they can’t get anywhere else. Seeing theatre at the intimate Southern Rep space is a fun, visceral, and sometimes transformative experience. I’m excited we’re bringing these thrilling plays and fascinating artists to New Orleans.” Hayes vows to continue to make Southern Rep’s stage a canvas for today’s generation of playwrights. She’s proud to present the second in John Biguenet’s Rising Water trilogy, the powerful new piece Shotgun, as well as the National New Play Network “rolling” world premiere of Zayd Dohrn’s hilarious Sick. Regional debuts include the underground-sensation-turned-sold-out Off-Broadway winner, Speech and Debate; the hit Broadway spellbinder The Seafarer; and the gripping Dying City, recently nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Southern Rep’s City Series offering rounds out the season.
Southern Rep warms up its bold 2008/09 season July 10th with a comedy that’s part of its Outreach Program that supports local theatre companies, the City Series. This deliciously cool City Series show, Private Eyes by Steven Dietz, is presented by the Golden Eagle Theatre Company. The play brings together an obsessive suspicious actor, his unfaithful wife, a playboy director and a mysterious stranger in this hilarious tale of affairs, deception and betrayal that could’ve been pulled from today’s headlines. Armed with an MFA from U of Mississippi and a few tricks up his sleeve, Andrew Elliott directs. SRT’s City Series helps emerging theatre companies take flight with all kinds of assistance, from marketing and box office to access to Southern Rep’s Unified Scene/Prop Shop.
SRT starts the mainstage season with a bang September 3rd, when the “flat-out funny” (Associated Press) Off-Broadway smash Speech and Debate by young playwright Stephen Karam hits the stage. Aimée Hayes directs. Speech and Debate brings together Diwata, Howie and Solomon, three misfits who join forces to combat local corruption, sex scandals and bad casting in the high school play. They sign up for the newly formed Speech & Debate club to take their grievances public. Their exposé culminates in a time-traveling George Michael-inspired musical version of Miller’s The Crucible. Alternately zany, hilarious, and heartbreaking, Speech and Debate is unforgettable. Playwright Stephen Karam has been making a name for himself with new work at major theatres such as The Roundabout in NYC, The Kennedy Center and Arena Stage. Aimée Hayes has directed more than thirty productions in New York, regionally and in NOLA, including Clean House at Southern Rep. Local audiences may remember The Red Light District Variety Show, which Hayes directed at Le Chat Noir. She’s sure to bring her special blend of visual magic and comic virtuosity to this play’s Southern premiere.
Next up in November, is the piece on many theatre critics’ Top Ten Lists this year, The Seafarer, by Tony-award winning playwright Conor McPherson. Often billed as “chilling,” we love that Variety also said that the play “pushes through into laugh-out-loud comedy.” It’s Christmas Eve in North Dublin. Sharkey Harkin and his blind brother Richard stock up on booze for some celebratory Christmas Eve poker. When old friends arrive with a dapper if darkly mystifying guest the stakes become deadly serious. Director Mark Routhier tackles the fabulous yarn. As Director of Artistic Development at the much-lauded Magic Theatre in San Francisco, Routhier recently directed the world premiere of Kevin Fisher's Monkey Room. He often directs arresting new work in the S.F. area and is also a playwright himself, with an MFA in dramatic writing from NYU.
Dying City, the enthralling new play Lincoln Center produced to wide acclaim, makes its regional premiere at Southern Rep in January 2009. Young therapist Kelly, whose husband was killed in Iraq, is attempting to move on with her life when her husband’s twin brother arrives unannounced. The handsome twin, Peter, an actor, has just walked offstage during Long Day’s Journey Into Night. His probing questions about his brother’s death reveal a hidden fractured past. Through a series of flashbacks to Kelly’s marriage, the former in-laws are forced to confront the loss they share. Called “achingly compassionate” by Variety, this Pulitzer-prize nominated piece explores, with humor and grace, how profoundly outside events can affect each of us. The New York Times honors Christopher Shinn, author of this “transfixing tale,” as “among the most provocative and probing of American playwrights today.” Julie Hamberg will mount this two-hander. Hayes worked extensively with Hamberg at Vital Theatre in NYC when Hamberg was Associate Artistic Director there. In NYC, she’s known for her work on new plays, having directed over twenty premieres.
Artistic Director Hayes returns to direct the National New Play Network “rolling” world premiere of Zayd Dohrn’s wickedly wise Sick in March 2009. Sick is an uproarious look at a family of germ-o-phobes who have severe allergies to everything from Cheez-Whiz and cleaning supplies to city air. As prisoners inside their vacuum-sealed home and garbed in non-allergic clothing they live each day in terror that a stray mold spore or chemical will sneak in. When Dad brings home one of his graduate students, the family’s fear crescendos -- with chaotic, comedic consequences. Zayd Dohrn is definitely a hot young playwright to catch now. He is a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at Juilliard and has garnered playwriting residencies at Alchemy Theatre and the venerable Royal Court Theatre in London. The National New Play Network (NNPN) selected Sick to participate in the Continued Life of New Plays Fund. Featured during NNPN's 2007 National Showcase of New Plays, the play will have three successive “rolling” openings; Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas and then New Jersey Rep, culminating with Southern Rep’s production.
For many, the most anticipated play of the season will be John Biguenet’s Shotgun, the second play in his Rising Water cycle, scheduled to make its world premiere in early May 2009 at Southern Rep. Set four months after the flood, a white man and his teenage son made homeless by Katrina rent half of a shotgun double from an African-American woman, whose own father has lost his house in the Lower Ninth Ward and moved in with her. These four New Orleanians, white and black living under one roof, try to rebuild their lives in a city still in shambles. Seething racial tensions, however -- stoked by local politicians -- bubble to the surface when love blossoms. Biguenet was honored with the inaugural Theatre Person of the Year Award at the 2007 Big Easy Awards. Southern Rep’s production of Biguenet’s Rising Water also caught the Best Original Play Award and was SRT’s best selling play, ever. Though a native son, his work is enjoyed nationally: the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, “Biguenet possesses a rare lyric gift.” Negotiations arealmost complete with “the perfect” director, says Hayes. Stay tuned.
Theatre lovers can reserve premium seats at the lowest prices by subscribing to Southern Rep without sacrificing flexibility. There’s the Whole Shebang package including all five mainstage shows plus the City Series, or playgoers may prefer a Season Subscription of the five mainstage productions. It’s also possible to Pick your Own subscription: not only do you get to choose which three or four shows you want to experience, you can select which performances you attend. In fact, the best seats in the house are reserved for subscribers until two weeks before each show’s first preview performance. Subscriptions begin as low as $75 – subscribers save up to 20%, plus special discounts for students and seniors. Subscriptions are now available, but tickets for each show don’t go on sale until August 15. Individual tickets range from $18 – $35.
“Come play your part!” at Southern Rep and experience what’s hot now, right in the heart of New Orleans. Southern Rep’s theatre is located on the third floor in The Shops at Canal Place, a world-class shopping center on the edge of the historic French Quarter. Parking is validated with the purchase of any theatre ticket. SRT’s website is a great place to find out more or purchase subscriptions and tickets at www.southernrep.com, or call (504) 522-6545.
With this new season, Southern Rep enjoys its 22nd triumphant year and celebrates the milestone of 25 world premieres. In 2007, the theatre received the Governor’s Louisiana Arts Award for Outstanding Arts Organization. Southern Rep’s mission is to develop and produce new plays by American playwrights, to provide SRT’s audience with professional theatre of the highest artistic quality and achievement, and to establish a creative working environment that nurtures theatre professionals. As New Orleans’ premiere professional theatre, Southern Rep strives to use the artistry of theatre to enlighten, educate, and entertain audiences, and aims to extend that service through educational and outreach programs.
The Southern Rep Theatre Diary follows, with exact dates, on the next page.
Southern Rep 2008/2009 Theatre Diary
PRIVATE EYES
By Steven Dietz
Presented by Golden Eagle Theatre Company
July 10 – 27, 2008
Directed by Andrew Elliott
PREVIEW: July 10.
OPENING/PRESS NIGHT: July 11
Part of Southern Rep’s City Series – SRT’s Community Outreach Program. The City Series encourages and promotes local independent theatre companies. Golden Eagle’s mission is to contribute to the artistic rebuilding of New Orleans by producing thought-provoking, entertaining works by contemporary playwrights as well as American classics.
“Dietz’s . . . breathless pacing provides enough of an oxygen rush to revive any moribund audience member!”
– The Village Voice
SPEECH & DEBATE
Regional Premiere
By Stephen Karam
September 3 – 28, 2008
Directed by Aimée Hayes
PREVIEWS: Sept. 3, 4 & 5.
OPENING/PRESS NIGHT: Sept. 6
“…bristling with vitality, wicked humor, terrific dialogue and a direct pipeline into the zeitgeist…” — Variety
“…Hysterical notes of absurdity…” — Backstage
THE SEAFARER
Regional Premiere
By Conor McPherson
November 5 – December 7, 2008
Directed by Mark Routhier
PREVIEWS: Nov. 5, 6, 7.
OPENING/PRESS NIGHT: Nov. 8
“McPherson is quite possibly the finest playwright of his generation.” — New York Times
“Succinct, startling and eerie, and the funniest McPherson play to date.” — London Observer
DYING CITY
Pulitzer Prize Finalist / Regional Premiere
By Christopher Shinn
January 14 – February 8, 2009
Directed by Julie Hamberg
PREVIEWS: Jan. 14, 15, 16.
OPENING/PRESS NIGHT: Jan. 17
“Dying City is…satisfyingly spooky, crisp and corny as an episode of ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents.’ But in answering the plot’s whodunit-type questions, it spawns a wriggling host of other, deeper questions that stay with you into the night. — New York Times
“Like a leaner, more droll Tennessee Williams” — Variety
SICK
National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere
By Zayd Dohrn
March 11 – April 5, 2009
Directed by Aimée Hayes
PREVIEWS: Mar. 11, 12, 13.
OPENING/PRESS NIGHT: Mar. 14
A Winner of the National New Play Network’s Continued Life of New Plays Fund
SHOTGUN
World Premiere
By John Biguenet
May 6 – 31, 2009
Director: TBA
PREVIEWS: May 6, 7, 8.
OPENING/PRESS NIGHT: May 9
“[Rising Water] grabbed the audience in its first tense moments and never let go. Biguenet has created characters of such opposite dimensions that they generate innate humor, which continues deeper into the play than one would have thought possible. It is natural and needed; otherwise the situation would be unbearable.” — Times-Picayune
