Works by Lisa Kron, Athol Fugard & More Set for Matrix Theatre's 2016-17 Season

Award-winning Matrix Theatre Company's 2016 - '17 Mainstage Season offers a lineup of plays which includes insightful stories, compelling historical perspectives, and a bit of satirical comedy thrown in for good measure! Opening the season in September is Sizwe Bansi is Dead by Athol Fugard, followed by Lisa Kron's 2.5 Minute Ride in November. Abbey Fenbert's satirical play, Intentions, opens in February. In June, Dream Deferred: Detroit, 1967, an original work featuring a series of thought-provoking interviews compiled by Dr. Xavier Nicholas, closes out the season. Individual tickets go on sale Monday, July 25, 2016. Prices range from $15 to $20. A Season Flex Pass may be purchased at reduced rates. Group rates are available for most shows. All plays are performed at Matrix Theatre located in the heart of Mexicantown at 2730 Bagley, Detroit, MI 48216. For further information on the 2016-'17 season, or to order tickets, go to www.matrixtheatre.org or call 313-967-0599.

"There is something for everyone at Matrix this upcoming season," said Artistic Director Megan Buckley-Ball. "We think we have a winning selection of shows, and we are looking forward to sharing them with the public."

2016 - '17 PLAY DESCRIPTIONS

Sizwe Bansi is Dead

by Athol Fugard

September 23-October 16, 2016

What is an identity worth? Sizwe Bansi, an undocumented worker struggling to survive in apartheid South Africa, has only one hope for supporting his family, but to act on it means he must relinquish his very name. With humor and insight, Sizwe Bansi is Dead exposes the cruel and arbitrary rules that determine who gets by--and who doesn't--in an unjust world.

2.5 Minute Ride

by Lisa Kron

November 11-December 4, 2016

Life is a roller coaster for Tony Award winner Lisa Kron. 2.5 Minute Ride races and glides from comedy to tragedy and back again, interweaving stories of family weddings, amusement park vacations, and a visit to Auschwitz with a father who survived the Holocaust. This autobiographical one-woman-show brings wit and wonder to our means of processing trauma and the highs and lows of daily life.

Intentions

by Abbey Fenbert

directed by Molly McMahon

February 3-26, 2017

Tillerman House isn't just a community, it's intentional. If something's not sustainable, local, shade-grown, fair-trade and cruelty-free, Nell is sure to right it--until Leif comes along. Can the collective's fragile ecosystem sustain an ex-frat bro who doesn't know a zine from a zen garden? Intentions is a satirical comedy about the lengths to which we go, and the lies we tell, for both our principles and our desires.

Dream Deferred: Detroit, 1967

Based on audio interviews recorded by Dr. Xavier Nicholas

June 3-25, 2017

Honoring the 50th Anniversary of a formative time in Detroit history, this original production unearths, for the first time, real interviews recorded in the aftermath of that summer's uprising. By honing in on the singular experiences and perspectives of a cross-section of Detroiters, Dream Deferred: Detroit, 1967 shares the voices and stories from this seismic moment in our shared past that still reverberates half a century later.