{productions}
Upcoming Productions
The Maids
TBD
By Jean Genet
Directed by: Frannie Shepherd-Bates
This play, also directed by Frannie Shepherd-Bates, is exactly what audiences have been demanding and waiting for. Hearkening back to Magenta Giraffe's inaugural production of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit, The Maids is being produced as a direct result of audience feedback. The Maids is an exploration of the process of de-realization from the twisted mind of Jean Genet, whose works are well known for providing an intellectual workout. Two maids play at being mistress and servant but never quite get to the end of their role-playing before their actual mistress arrives home. Presented with an opportunity to kill the woman they both love and hate, the sisters conflate reality and fantasy, blurring the lines between murder and suicide as they finally succeed in ending the game they've been playing for so long. Audiences will love peeling back the layers of truth and falsity as they navigate the twists and turns of this delightfully complex and entertaining play.
Past Productions
Rosmersholm
By Henrik Ibsen
Directed by:
Frannie Shepherd-Bates
This rarely staged play by the master dramatist takes aim at how political motivations can destroy relationships and lives. Johannes Rosmer, whose insane wife committed suicide one year ago, lives at his familial estate with a housekeeper and Rebecca West, friend and caretaker of his late wife. Rosmer and Rebecca have enjoyed a platonic comradeship through the years that is shattered by the entrance of his brother-in-law, Professor Kroll. Kroll asks Rosmer to become editor of his conservative newspaper, but Rosmer refuses, bringing about a number of startling revelations about his late wife, local political figures, Rebecca's past and the impact all of this has on everyone's future. Sigmund Freud wrote a well-known essay on the psychology that motivates the character of Rebecca West. Rosmersholm provides an intense examination of the all-too familiar territories of radical politics, human relationships and psychology. Audience members familiar with Ibsen's work will not want to miss this piece that, while obscure, is considered by many to be one of his masterpieces. Audience members not familiar with Ibsen's work will enjoy this unique introduction.
Last of the Boys (March 11 - April 2, 2011)
by Stephen Dietz
Directed by Frannie Shepherd-Bates
Without sermonizing, and with a great deal of warmth and humor, Last of the Boys examines an all too familiar, still-open wound: the Vietnam War.
As two veterans try to sort through the detritus of their past – one through a relationship with a mysterious woman clad all in black; and the other thorough ethereal encounters with the ghosts of a young soldier and Robert McNamara – the audience realizes that until this massive wrinkle in our national history has been truly ironed out, the country and its people will not be able to move on. The legacy of Vietnam is brought vividly and sharply into focus in Dietz’s jarring, humorous, extraordinary play.
The Agony and The Agony (January 14 - February 5, 2011)
By Nicky Silver
Directed By: Lisa Melinn
Richard Aglow, a (failed?) playwright, has just begun to write a play hoping to illuminate the issue through the character of Nathan Leopold, Jr., a self-proclaimed Nietzschean superman who rose to infamy by committing "the crime of the century" at the age of 17 and then seemingly vanished into obscurity. Richard's wife Lela (who married him in spite of his homosexuality) has just had a chance run-in with a Broadway producer who may be able to resurrect her career, but the plans of both come skidding to an impasse with the arrival of Lela's lover, his pregnant girlfriend… and Nathan Leopold, Jr., who does not think so much of Richard's play. In true Nicky Silver fashion, all is eventually resolved and important conclusions reached, but not before the playwright has us aching from laughter and psychic discomfort, reveling in the humor of this bizarre situation and empathizing with its undeniable familiarity.
The Current
(World Premiere November 12 - December 4, 2010)
By Sean Paraventi
Directed By: Molly McMahon
In the world premiere of The Current, by Detroit playwright Sean Paraventi, bride-to-be Mary and her friends go to see a psychic to kick off her bachelorette party. When the psychic begins to probe too deeply, the women question her ability and leave to celebrate elsewhere. As the evening progresses, though, the psychic's readings begin to reveal the women's insecurities and secrets, culminating in a startling reveal that could jeopardize their friendship. This play provides a fascinating look at honor, trust and friendship with breezy, natural dialogue and sharply etched characters that resonate with us all.
Play It Again, Sam (September 24-October 17, 2010)
By Woody Allen | Directed by Frannie Shepherd-Bates
Originally staged on Broadway in 1969 and adapted for film in 1972, this play marked a shift in the famed auteur's style; here, first, audiences got a taste of Allen's gift for balancing hilarity with philosophy and depth. Allan Felix, a freshly divorced puppy-dog of a man mildly obsessed with Humphrey Bogart, is persuaded to begin dating again by his best friend Dick and coached through his experiences by Dick's wife Linda (with interjections and advice from Bogart himself). When the relationship between these two platonic pill-popping pals begins to turn romantic, Allan must ask himself which is more important: the friendship he has with Dick or the possibility of romance with Linda. Frequently interrupted by apparitions of Humphrey Bogart and his ex-wife, Allan navigates his path with all the grace of… well, Woody Allen, and the play's ending will leave its audience highly satisfied and utterly bemused.
Dog Sees God (March 5-28 2010)
By Bert V. Royal
Directed By: Frannie Shepherd-Bates
This play examines the plight of today's teenagers through the lens of characters very familiar to us: the Peanuts gang. Royal and the teenage Peanuts show us with dark, critical humor just how harrowing life can be for adolescents isolated from parents and ostracized by peers.
The Last Five Years (Jan 1-23 2010)
By Jason Robert Brown
Directed By: Frannie Shepherd-Bates
A gorgeous musical about life, love and the demise of a relationship, follows Jan. 1-23, 2010. Directed by Frannie Shepherd-Bates and with musical direction by Michael Fiedler, the show takes an in-depth look at two lovers who, while not necessarily star-crossed, never quite get it together to make their relationship work after five years of trying. The unusual narrative structure allows us to look at this couple's journey from a fresh perspective, focusing a bright light on all of our relationships.
Dutchman
By Amiri Baraka
Directed By: LoriGoe Nowak
Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman premiered in 1964 in Greenwich Village, winning an Obie Award. It was the last play that Baraka would stage under the name LeRoi Jones and coincided with the playwright’s increasing involvement in Black Nationalism. Through characters mired in racism and guilt, the play forces us to take a hard look at our own prejudices and assumptions. Controversial from the beginning, Dutchman has no less serious an impact today than it did at the time of its first production.
Sitting aboard a subway train, Clay, a young black man, is approached by Lula, a young white woman. Their ensuing banter ranges from playful to deadly serious and even incendiary, until the play reaches its shocking and violent climax. Audiences will be struck by the evident racism seething in both characters, by their frankness, and by the end result of the conversation. Never one to tiptoe around controversial matters, Baraka has given us a play that will provoke no less heated discussion today than it did 45 years ago.
No Exit
By Jean-Paul Sartre
Directed By: Frannie Shepherd-Bates
No Exit was chosen as our first production because it addresses the first issue in our mission statement, "acts to eliminate apathy." Sartre illustrates that we are each defined by the choices we make and every individual action we take. Each of those choices and actions has an effect that reaches further than we could possibly imagine. As individuals and as a society, we need to care - care about our neighbors, care about ourselves, care about the choices we make and be aware of the affects that those choices have on others. No Exit is a powerful demonstration of the results of apathy and we hope our production will help people to realize that we do have a way out and that way is simply by caring.
As a nonprofit corporation, we keep the betterment of the community we serve at the forefront of our mission. In the future, all of our play choices will be related to our mission statement; from edgy new works to Shakespeare, we want to show that theatre does have the capacity to address the issues facing our society.
Theatre is expression; theatre is living; theatre is healing…