season planning futures: 2024-25 (#2)

what the constitution means in an election year

Welcome to Season Planning Futures, a subscriber-only feature where I talk about emerging trends and patterns in the 2024-25 season announcements.

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Before we dive into which theatres are congratulating themselves for programming Primary Trust before its Pulitzer win, a correction from my last report: I incorrectly stated that City Theatre was producing Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. The theatre is producing The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley. Why co-write one holiday Pride & Prejudice adaptation when you can co-write two? I hope the royalties put Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon's children through college.

This round-up is going to cover season announcements from Steppenwolf, The Geffen Playhouse, The Huntington, Milwaukee Rep, ACT, and Geva Theatre. Unlike me, I do not expect you to have memorized every line-up. I'm convinced I could speak five languages fluently if the recesses of my brain weren't occupied with trivial theatre facts and the entire Dave Matthews Band discography. (I grew up in Connecticut, leave me alone.) As a refresher, here are the announcements as they appeared in Nothing for the Group:

Steppenwolf

The Chicago ensemble theatre will produce Michael Frayn’s Noises Off (directed by Anna D. Shapiro, co-pro with Geffen Playhouse), Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love (directed by Jeremy Herrin), Suzan-Lori Parks’ The Book of Grace (directed by Steve H. Broadnax III), Noah Diaz’s You Will Get Sick (directed by Audrey Francis), and the world premiere of Ngozi Anyanwu’s Leroy and Lucy (directed by Awoye Timpo). 

The Geffen

Artistic director Tarell Alvin McCraney’s inaugural line-up at the L.A. theatre includes a 20th anniversary staging of his play The Brothers Size (directed by Bijan Sheibani, co-pro with The Shed), Sara Porkalob’s Dragon Lady (directed by Andrew Russell), Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett in association with Gare St Lazare Ireland), Michael Frayn’s Noises Off (directed by Anna D. Shapiro, co-pro with Steppenwolf), a.k. payne’s Furlough’s Paradise (directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden), and the world premiere of Jake Brasch’s The Reservoir (directed by Shelley Butler, co-pro with The Denver Center and Alliance Theatre).

The Huntington

The Boston theatre announced five of seven plays: Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt (directed by Carey Perloff, in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company), Ricardo Pérez González’s Don’t Eat the Mangos (directed by David Mendizábal), Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel’s musical The Light in the Piazza (directed by Loretta Greco), and the first two plays of Mfoniso Udofia’s epic nine-play Ufot Family Cycle: Sojourners (directed by Dawn M. Simmons) and The Grove (directed by Awoye Timpo).

Milwaukee Rep

Keith Bunin’s The Coast Starlight (directed by Mark Clements), George Brant’s Marie and Rosetta (directed by E. Faye Butler), Fred Alley and James Kaplan’s Lumberjacks in Love (directed & choreographed by Jeffrey Herbst), Colin Escott & Floyd Mutrux’s Million Dollar Quartet (directed by Laura Braza), Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of The Woman in Black (directed by Robin Herford), Romeo and Juliet (directed by Laura Braza), Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, Christine Quintana’s Espejos: Clean and three world premieres: the musical revue Women of Rock (created by Mark Clements); Sean Hartley, Craig Lucas, & Daniel Messé’s Prelude to a Kiss: The Musical (directed by David Ivers); and Mark Clements and Deanie Vallone’s The Craic (directed by Clements).

ACT

The San Francisco theatre will produce a reimagined version of Noël Coward's Private Lives (directed by KJ Sanchez), Itamar Moses and Gaby Alter’s musical Nobody Loves You (directed by Pam MacKinnon), August Wilson’s Two Trains Running (directed by Lili-Anne Brown), Christina Anderson’s modern verse translation of The Comedy of Errors (directed by Devin Brain), Ins Choi’s Kim’s Convenience, and the world premieres of Craig Lucas and Pam MacKinnon’s A Whynot Christmas Carol and Ryan Nicole Austin, Beau Lewis, and Adesha Adefela’s hip-hop musical Co-Founders (directed by Jamil Jude).

Geva

The Rochester, NY theatre will produce the musical Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (directed by Stuart Ross, co-pro with Berkshire Theatre Group and Bay Street Theater), August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned, Christina Ham’s Nina Simone: Four Women, Heather Chrisler’s adaptation of Little Women, Vickie Ramirez’s Pure Native (directed by Randy Reinholz), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (directed by Karen Azenberg, co-pro with Pioneer Theatre Company), Hershey Felder’s George Gershwin Alone (directed by Joel Zwick), and the world premiere commission of Harrison David Rivers’ adaptation of A Christmas Carol (directed by Elizabeth Williamson).