1st Stage Announces Updates To 2019-2020 Season And Reveals New 2020-2021 Season

By: Apr. 09, 2020
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1st Stage Announces Updates To 2019-2020 Season And Reveals New 2020-2021 Season

1st Stage will remain closed in compliance with federal, state, and local guidelines until it is safe to welcome audiences back to the theatre. Programming changes have been necessitated by this prolonged closure. 1st Stage will next produce A New Brain by William Finn and James Lapine, directed by Kathryn Chase Bryer. Dates will be announced when possible. The Waverly Gallery, originally scheduled for spring 2020, will now be part of the 2020-2021 season.

In response to the current crisis, the theatre has made the extremely challenging decision to cancel this year's Logan Festival of Solo Performance, scheduled for July 16-26, 2020. Artistic Director, Alex Levy said, "We are very grateful to the Logan family for their continued friendship. They have pledged to continue their support for the festival and 1st Stage, and we are so appreciative." The Logan Festival will return in the summer of 2021.

The 2020-2021 season begins in September with Mlima's Tale, by Lynn Nottage, directed by José Carrasquillo. Pulitzer Prize Winner and Macarthur Genius Grant Winner Nottage gives us the story of Mlima, an elderly "big tusker" elephant from a protected reserve in Kenya. The productions has been praised in The New York Times for its "theatrical inventiveness and discipline."

In December, Deidra LaWan Starnes directs the beloved romantic classic The Rainmaker, by N. Richard Nash. The story follows the Curry family as they love each other in the midst of the Great Depression. The New York Daily Mirror called it, "a hit you must see."

February features The Waverly Gallery, written by Kenneth Lonergan and directed by Alex Levy. In this 2019 Tony Award nominee for Best Revival of a Play, Gladys, the elderly matriarch of the Green family is always irascible but now increasingly erratic, Gladys becomes a cause for concern to her family. "Deeply theatrical and often deeply funny," raved The New York Times.

In April, Nick Olcott directs The Nance, by Douglas Carter Beane. This witty, Tony Award-Nominated play, filled with music, dance, and comedy sketches, introduces us to Chauncey Miles, a gay burlesque performer at the Irving Place Theater. The Nance is a "funny but bittersweet portrait of a vanished era" according to The Chicago Tribune.

May features a look into the potential future with The Phlebotomist, by Ella Road, directed by Alex Levy. In a sci-fi-inspired world where genomics are the norm, every person gets assigned a "rating" at birth based on their genetic map. The Guardian celebrated the production as "...a racy dystopian thriller that is part Black Mirror and part Brave New World."

1st Stage will conclude its exciting 13th Season with The Logan Festival of Solo Performance, a festival of solo performances featuring national, award-winning performers.

The 2020-2021 season is generously sponsored in part by Sandy Laeser, in honor of her husband, Dick Laeser.

Subscriptions and Flex Passes are available for savings of up to 40% off regular price tickets. Tickets, Subscriptions, and Flex Passes can be purchased online at www.1ststage.org or by calling the 1st Stage box office at 703-854-1856.



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