Southern Rep Theatre Announces 29th Mainstage & Lagniappe Season

Southern Rep Theatre announces its 2015-2016 Mainstage Season (September 2015 - June 2016): STAGE KISS by Sarah Ruhl (Regional Premiere), SONG OF A MAN COMING THROUGH by Joe and Andrew Doss (World Premiere), ORPHEUS DESCENDING by Tennessee Williams, and COLOSSAL by Andrew Hinderaker (National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere). Lagniappe programs for 2015-16 include the return of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, the sixth season of DEBAUCHERY! (New Orleans' only live, ongoing soap opera), and the return of the 6x6 and 3x3 new play development workshops, also in their sixth year.

"I am thrilled to share our upcoming 2015-16 season," said Producing Artistic Director Aimée Hayes. "It reflects Southern Rep Theatre's continued commitment to nurturing local playwrights as well as featuring world premieres from emerging national writers. Also key is our dedicated focus on highlighting Louisiana's heritage and culture. The season kicks off with STAGE KISS by Sarah Ruhl, who has been a favorite of New Orleans audiences. Her comic dissection of love and romance in the theatre is directed by Jason Kirkpatrick, who last helmed our hit production of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. Lance Nichols returns to our stage going head to head with Robert Doqui in SONG OF A MAN COMING THROUGH by local playwrights Joe and Andrew Doss. Our annual Tennessee Williams offering is the epic Southern fable ORPHEUS DESCENDING. We close the season with Andrew Hinderaker's COLOSSAL, a dynamic, heart-stopping new play that features football, friends, and fatherhood at its center. Thematically, these plays offer room to explore some weighty issues, including questions about the nature of theatre, the value of life, and the necessity of love. I think audiences are really going to be enthralled by the lively, engaging, and thought-provoking work you'll be seeing from us this season. "

Season subscriptions are on sale now at (504) 522-6545 or www.southernrep.com.

See individual production details below. Full artistic teams and performance locations TBA.

About STAGE KISS by Sarah Ruhl

Does art imitate life or vice versa? In Sarah Ruhl's comedy STAGE KISS, it's a little bit of both. Long after their love affair, two actors are reunited on stage - and maybe beyond. By turns whimsical and contemplative, STAGE KISS satirizes and celebrates both the artifice of theatre and the truths it can reveal.

Starring Trey Burvant and Aimée Hayes, Southern Rep's production will be the regional premiere of STAGE KISS. Local audiences have previously seen playwright Sarah Ruhl's work in Southern Rep's hit productions of IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR, THE VIBRATOR PLAY) (2010) and THE CLEAN HOUSE (2008). Ruhl is a past MacArthur Fellowship winner whose past plays have been recognized with Tony award nominations and as Pulitzer Prize finalists. More at www.sarahruhlplaywright.com.

STAGE KISS

By Sarah Ruhl

Regional Premiere

Directed by Jason Kirkpatrick

Featuring Trey Burvant and Aimée Hayes

Performances run September 20 - October 11 (location TBA)

Previews September 16 - 19

"A bright and buoyant thing"- John Lahr, The New Yorker

"Fundamentally enjoyable" - Steven Oxman, Variety

"Moving, smart, and flat-out hilarious" - Jesse Green, vulture.com

"A comedy that aims for big laughs and hits the target" - Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post

About SONG OF A MAN COMING THROUGH by Joe and Andrew Doss

"I want the public to know Earnest Knighton is not all bad." - Earnest Knighton, Jr., shortly before his death at age 38

In 1981, Earnest Knighton, Jr. shot and killed Ralph Schell at a Shreveport convenience store; in 1984, he was executed by the state of Louisiana. What happened in the years between these two deaths? What goes through the head of a man facing the inexorable machinery of death? What becomes of the team-priest, attorney, and paralegal-fighting for his life?

Before he died, Mr. Knighton asked that his story be shared. Bishop Joe Doss, who had been part of his legal team, has taken up that charge with the creation of SONG OF A MAN COMING THROUGH. Using the framework of a jazz funeral and featuring an all-star cast, this compelling original work tells a story of personal transformation and the power of community.

SONG OF A MAN COMING THROUGH

By Joe and Andrew Doss

World Premiere

Directed by Aimée Hayes

Featuring Robert Doqui, Lance Nichols, Mike Harkins, John Neisler, Samantha Beaulieu, Cecile Monteyne, Ian Hoch and Mark Burton

Performances run November 7 - 22, 2015 (location TBA)

Previews November 4 - 6

About ORPHEUS DESCENDING by Tennessee Williams

When Tennessee Williams took on the Orpheus legend, the result was ORPHEUS DESCENDING, in which, in his words, "a wild-spirited boy wanders into a conventional community in the South and creates the commotion of a fox in a chicken coop." When Val shows up in a small town with a snakeskin jacket and a questionable past, his romance with Lady-an older woman with a dying husband and a sordid history of her own-ignites a chain of events that reveals the hypocrisy and brutality of the community and leads to destruction.

With a full cast of 18, ORPHEUS DESCENDING will feature actresses Beth Bartley and Brenda Currin, whose performances in Southern Rep's production of SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER this spring delighted audiences and critics. In ORPHEUS DESCENDING, Bartley and Currin will reprise the roles they have played to acclaim in touring productions of the play throughout the South and along the East Coast.

ORPHEUS DESCENDING

By Tennessee Williams

In partnership with the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival

Featuring Beth Bartley, Brenda Currin

Performances run March 5 - 27, 2016 (location TBA)

Previews March 2 - 4

"A potent mixture of violence, sweetness, anguish, and desire" - The New Statesman

"Mr. Williams' magic style of writing and his instinct for theatre have created a world that is entirely his own." - The New York Times

"A parable ... about the doomed struggle of the artist to negotiate between flesh and spirit, life and death." - The Guardian

About COLOSSAL by Andrew Hinderaker

What is masculinity? How do we reconcile the past and the future? How can we ever truly communicate with each other? COLOSSAL grapples with these questions and more in an incisive examination of a young football player trying to rebuild his life after catastrophic injury. A theatrical tour-de-force featuring 21 performers-including a football team, a drumline, and a modern dance company-COLOSSAL both celebrates and indicts America's most popular sport.

COLOSSAL is being produced in a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere by Olney Theatre Center* (Olney, MD), Mixed Blood Theatre (Minneapolis, MN), Dallas Theatre Center (Dallas, TX), Company One (Boston, MA) and Southern Rep Theatre (New Orleans, LA) with support from the National New Play Network's Continued Life of New Plays Fund.

*The Olney Theatre Center production of COLOSSAL was the winner of four prestigious Helen Hayes Awards (April 2015), including the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play or Musical.

COLOSSAL

By Andrew Hinderaker

National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere

Performances run May 14 - June 5, 2016 (location TBA)

Previews May 11 - 13

"An energizing and thought-provoking piece of theater" - TalkinBroadway.com

"Enormously satisfying" - Twin Cities Daily Planet

"Exhilarating" - The Washington Post

ABOUT SOUTHERN REP THEATRE:

Southern Rep Theatre is entering its 29th season as the region's premiere professionaltheatre, producing bold world and regional premieres under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director, Aimée Hayes. In addition to mainstage programming featuring the best of Broadway, off-Broadway, and classic plays, Southern Rep's Lagniappe Series supports new play development through DEBAUCHERY!, New Orleans' monthly live soap opera; 6x6 and 3x3 new play development workshops; and the New Play Bacchanal. Additionally, Southern Rep's innovative "school to stage" arts education programs serve New Orleans' students and youth interested in pursuing their creative ambitions, and The Ruby Prize, a new play award named in honor of civil rights veteran Ruby Bridges, supports the work of woman playwrights of color. Southern Rep is committed to keeping theatre as accessible as possible by providing senior discounts, free student matinees, $10 student rush tickets, discounts for theatre professionals, a Blue Star Network discount for military families, and a "Pay What You Can Night" to keep its productions affordable for New Orleanians of every income level. More information at southernrep.com.