Calendar of Events

An innocuous comment at a dinner of two interracial couples leads to a surreal escalation of Cold War-style paranoia. You Mean to Do Me Harm is a psychological exploration of Chinese and American foreign relations, and of the personal relations we hold most dear. Originally produced as part of last season’s Sandbox series, this captivating new play closely examines the different perceptions we operate under and the difficulty of setting our own boundaries.

By Carla Ching
September 21 – October 21, 2018
Press Opening: September 28
National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere
Directed by Lisa Adler

Alix lives with her family in a tiny motel room, caring for her brothers while her newly divorced mom figures out a plan. Her classmate Mason lives alone in a grand, empty house, composing music while his absent father runs jobs for the Hong Kong mafia.   Until the day his father disappears and Mason has to figure out how to come up with grocery money and dodge Child Services and U.S. Immigration.  Mason and Alix develop an unlikely friendship, learning to scrape by and trying to outrun their parents’ mistakes together. A play about motel kids and parachute kids raising themselves and living without a safety net in a land of plenty.

Muthaland, written and performed by Minita Gandhi, takes us on the epic coming-of-age journey of a first-generation Indian-American woman. The life of a young woman is forever changed on a trip to India during which she unearths family secrets, encounters a prophet, is the victim of an assault, and ultimately discovers her voice within a culture of silence. The familiar and the foreign swap roles in this dark comedy about culture, identity, spirituality, and sexuality. Inspired by true events, Muthaland navigates the tragic and magical on the way to a new sense of home.

An Iliad and Muthaland play in rotating repertory in the Severson Theatre, October 4 – 21, 2018.

Based on the sweeping, internationally best-selling novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns is the tale of the unlikely connection that blossoms between two Afghan women in war-torn Kabul. As rockets shriek down from the heavens, the friendship of Laila and Mariam develops into an iron-bound rapport, forged by their defiance of a life of senseless tyranny. Secrets, lies, and pacts are made in this harrowing yet ultimately beautiful piece about the true cost of sacrifice.

The first Roundabout Underground production of the 2018–2019 Season!

How do girls grow up? Quickly, painfully, wondrously. On an elementary school playground, a boy threatens to tell on the girls for swearing—unless one of them kisses him. But just before lips can touch, Kyeoung tackles the boy to the ground. The victory is short-lived. Over the coming years, Kyeoung’s stories get stranger, funnier, more harrowing—and more familiar. This hilarious, explicit gut-punch of a play bursts with playwright Ming Peiffer’s bold, explosive voice.

THE EARTH IS RUST. All organics have fully transitioned online or are scattered through the cosmos. You keep your head down and your mouth shut. You grind through your days and sleep through your nights. In your electric dreams there is a song you don’t remember when you wake up. Until one day you do. Welcome to your Forbidden Future.

Written by Golda Sargento, Ed Mabasa, and mgb. Directed by Joe Cascasan, Juan G. Berumen, and Judith Ferrer. Performed through live music, staged theater, and shadow puppetry. Inspired by classic sci-fi pulp fiction novels, cyberpunk and post-apocalyptic fiction, and Heavy Metal Magazine, Forbidden Future(s) is guaranteed to be a unique theater experience you won’t want to miss.

Special earlybird price! 50% off with checkout code “Earlybird”, valid until Sep 28.

Limited two-week engagement

Oct 11-20, Thu-Sat, 8pm

Bindlestiff Studio

Tickets on sale now!

$25 – Support-the-Artists (comes with complimentary show poster, excludes discount codes, while supplies last)

$20 – General

$15 – Student/Seniors

When the Donnelly’s gather for a weekend in the country to collect their belongings from their recently sold estate—both an internal storm and literal storm brew. As this brood of famous, longing-to-be-famous, and kind of a mess but totally Caucasian family comes together with their non-white personal assistant, Charlotte, some really really really really really complicated and totally unique secrets are revealed (over white wine). A parody coupled with moments of disorienting sincerity, Two Mile Hollow explores the dysfunctional family genre with brutality, awe, and compassion.

“Unrelentingly hilarious!”—Chicago Tribune
“Extremely funny!”—Bay Area Plays
“There’s a lot of heart in this comedy.”—Star Tribune
“✩✩✩✩”—Time Out Chicago 

Mary Zimmerman’s extraordinary adaptation of the legendary Chinese love story about a snake spirit who transforms into a beautiful maiden and falls in love with a young scholar and is forced to battle a disapproving evil monk.

On a clear day in Rochester, New York, in 1871, atop an observation tower that used to stand on Mount Hope Cemetery’s highest point, thousands of people witnessed a remarkable phenomenon which came to be known as “The Rochester Mirage.” Several days later, a group of locals returns to the scene of the strange sight. Panorama delves deep into a city’s hidden history; reveals the unexpected alliance between the African-, Asian-, and Irish-American communities; and uncovers the untold stories that helped shape this nation.

Night Parade revolves around the brilliant, innovative and deeply troubled Shunkuno Arashi, a pioneer of Japanese art uncovered in the last decade. Her legacy spanned one hundred pieces, all suffused with the theme of demons. But when an art show featuring her work arrives in town, mysterious, unsettling events begin to  place. The walls begin to move and shadows take form. Be warned: nothing is as it seems!

An immersive theatre experience, rated PG-13 for intense situations, suggested sexual situations, and stage violence.

Written by Kendall Uyeji and Tom Dang

Directed by Tom Dang

Featuring: Aimee Decker, Andrew Forrest, Buddy Todd, Eloisa Cardona, Season Qui, Van Pham, Frank Sun and Duncan Pound.

Info at http://wwwrebatensemble.org

Vietgone spins a modern twist on the classic boy-meets-girl story: Quang and Tong are refugees fleeing the Vietnam War, who hook up and fall in love in a relocation camp in Arkansas. Bold, and fearless, Vietgone takes audiences on a hilariously rip-roaring ride across 1970s America with a hot soundtrack that serves up hip-hop, sass, and revolution.

Anthony arrives unexpectedly at Caroline’s door bearing an urgent homework assignment. She hasn’t been to school in months due to illness. As these two sparring, sparking, high school students share their secrets, they unlock a much deeper mystery that has brought them together. I and You is an ode to youth, life, love, and pronouns.

James and Sumi Washington fell in love when he was a young GI serving in Japan 37 years earlier.
But when his retirement from the Army changes their daily lives, James finds his marriage to Sumi unraveling. Can a new life routine (which includes James volunteering at a local community center and Sumi exploring the art of pottery) help them repair what is broken and save what is worth keeping?

Sesar, directed by Richard Feldman, will run October 20–November 1. The play tells the story of a 16-year-old Filipino boy, who having just watched an excerpt of Julius Caesar on The Cosby Show, locks himself in the only family bathroom, determined to make sense of Shakespeare.

By Loretta Seto. Directed by John Cooper.

An investigator for the Public Trustee, Abby Chung is assigned her first case: to find the next-of-kin for an elderly woman named Beatrice, who has died without any family or friends to claim her. As Abby uncovers more details of Beatrice’s lonely life, she is confronted by her own demons and is forced to face the mystery of her own life—the truth about her own father who walked out on her and her mother years ago. Exploring themes of isolation and abandonment, The Ones We Leave Behind poses the question, are the greatest walls the ones we build within ourselves?

From the writer of the smash-hit Dirty Old Woman, comes a new play about the redemptive power of human connection.

The Ones We Leave Behind

16-year old Chris just wants to find a safe place to live with the girl she loves- not an easy task in 1999 Uganda. Determined to be together, Chris, the daughter of American missionaries and Adiel, a local girl, meet in the village church to marry in secret. When the war outside the church walls breaks its way into their sanctuary in the form of a wounded child-soldier, all three lives become tied together forever. Cardboard Piano is a riveting testament to the power of the past to shape the future, and the bonds of love, family, and forgiveness.

Wild Goose Dreams

New York Premiere
Written by Hansol Jung
Directed by Leigh Silverman

After its initial run in Public Studio, Hansol Jung’s fascinating and unforgettable new play WILD GOOSE DREAMSreturns to The Public in a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse, where it had a critically-acclaimed run last season.

Minsung is a “goose father,” a South Korean man whose wife and daughter have moved to America for a better life. Deeply lonely, he escapes onto the internet and meets Nanhee, a young defector forced to leave her family behind in North Korea. Amidst the endless noise of the modern world, where likes and shares have taken the place of love and touch, Minsung and Nanhee try their best to be real for each other. But after a lifetime of division and separation, is connection possible?

Tony nominee Leigh Silverman (Violet, Chinglish, The Outer Space) directs this strikingly original play with music, about two people, from two cultures, forced to choose between family and freedom.

Extended to December 16.