Playwrights Horizons has announced another promising season, which includes new works by Anne Washburn (Mr. Burns), Taylor Mac, Lucas Hnath, Jordan Harrison, Gregory S. Moss, and Danai Gurira, who is also an actress, portraying Michonne on AMC’s “The Walking Dead” (pictured above.)
THE CHRISTIANS – the New York premiere of a new play by Lucas Hnath (A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac’s Eye, Death Tax), directed by Obie Award winner Les Waters (Doris to Darlene at PH; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; Big Love; eurydice), presented at Playwrights Horizons’ Mainstage Theater. THE CHRISTIANS will be the first production of the season, beginning previews on Friday, August 28, 2015.
Ten years ago, Pastor Paul’s church was a modest storefront. Now it houses thousands, with a coffee shop in the lobby and a baptismal font as big as a swimming pool. But Paul is about to preach a sermon that will shake the foundation of his congregation’s beliefs. Backed by a live choir, THE CHRISTIANS looks at faith in America – and its power to unite or divide.
HIR – the New York premiere of a new play by Obie Award-winning theater artist Taylor Mac (A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, The Lily’s Revenge, The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac, The Young Ladies Of), directed by theater director and performance artist Niegel Smith (Fela!, the company Willing Participant), presented at Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater, beginning October 2015.
Somewhere in the suburbs, Isaac has returned from the wars to help take care of his ailing father, only to discover a household in revolt. The insurgent: his mom. Liberated from an oppressive marriage, with Isaac’s newly out transgender brother as her ally, she’s on a crusade to dismantle the patriarchy. But in Taylor Mac’s sly, subversive comedy, annihilating the past doesn’t always free you from it.
MARJORIE PRIME – the New York premiere of a new play by Jordan Harrison (Maple and Vine, Doris to Darlene at PH; Amazons and Their Men; Kid-Simple; “Orange is the New Black”), directed by Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Detroit, Maple and Vine, Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra at PH; Belleville; This Wide Night; The Thugs), presented at Playwrights Horizons’ Mainstage Theater, beginning November 2015.
It’s the age of artificial intelligence, and 86-year-old Marjorie – a jumble of disparate, fading memories – has a handsome new companion who’s programmed to feed the story of her life back to her. What would we remember, and what would we forget, if given the chance?
FAMILIAR – the New York premiere of a new play by playwright and actress Danai Gurira (In the Continuum, The Convert, Eclipsed, Michonne on AMC’s “The Walking Dead”), directed by Rebecca Taichman (Stage Kiss, Milk Like Sugar at PH; The Oldest Boy; Marie Antoinette; Luck of the Irish; Orlando), presented at Playwrights Horizons’ Mainstage Theater, beginning February 2016.
It’s winter in Minnesota and a Zimbabwean family is preparing for the wedding of their eldest daughter, a first-generation American. But when the bride insists on observing a traditional African custom, it opens a deep rift in the household
ANTLIA PNEUMATICA – the world premiere of a new play by Anne Washburn (Mr. Burns – a post-electric play at PH, The Internationalist), directed by two-time Obie Award winner Ken Rus Schmoll (Iowa upcoming this season at PH, The Invisible Hand, Red Dog Howls, Middletown, What Once We Felt, Telephone), presented at Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater, beginning March 2016.
In a ranch house deep in Texas Hill Country, a once tight-knit group of friends reunites to bury one of their own. But as they look backward through their lives, it becomes clear they’ve lost more than just their old pal. Estranged friends confront their slippery past.
INDIAN SUMMER – the world premiere of a new play by Gregory S. Moss (Reunion, punkplay, La Brea, Orange Hat Grace, House of Gold), directed by Carolyn Cantor (Fly by Night, The Great God Pan, After the Revolution, Essential Self-Defense at PH; Pumpgirl; Orange Flower Water; Stone Cold Dead Serious), presented at Playwrights Horizons’ Mainstage Theater, beginning May 2016.
Abandoned by his wayward mom, Daniel is consigned to spend summer with granddad in a Rhode Island beach town, where the locals don’t look kindly on city kids. But his hapless vacation turns around when he meets Izzy: tough-acting, back-sassing, beguiling and taken. A romantic comedy.
