City Lights Theater Company's 33rd Season to Include AMERICAN IDIOT, THE ELEPHANT MAN & More

City Lights Theater Company's 33rd season will take audiences from Victorian England to post-9/11 suburbia, from gripping drama to quirky comedy and contemporary rock. The spirited downtown company presents a six-show mainstage season at 529 S. Second St. in San Jose that offers audiences both fresh works and new takes on the classics.

"We like to say that we present three shows you've heard of and three shows you haven't," Executive Artistic Director Lisa Mallette said. "For our 2015-16 season, our theme is 'Take the Leap...' We want our audiences to be transported with us into the minds of fascinating characters and into worlds they've never experienced."

The season starts this fall with a timeless tale of drama and terror, Jeffrey Hatcher's Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Up next is the romantic comedy Handle With Care by Jason Odell Williams, followed by a quirkier comedy, Tigers Be Still by Kim Rosenstock. The contemporary drama classic The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance opens next spring, with Lauren Gunderson's dark comedy I and You afterward. The rock musical Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT rounds out the season with a bang in summer 2016.

Performance details and synopses (more info is at cltc.org):

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
from the novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Sept. 17-Oct. 18, 2015

On the streets of Victorian London, Dr. Henry Jekyll's exotic experiments have brought forth his other self: Mr. Edward Hyde, a sensualist and villain free from the laws of conscience and society. When Jekyll decides to end his experiments, Hyde has other ideas-and the two sides battle each other in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse to determine who shall be master and who his slave. This new and shocking version of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale is a theatrical feast of depravity, lust, horror, and love.

Handle with Care
by Jason Odell Williams
Bay Area Premiere
Nov. 19-Dec. 20, 2015

Magic can happen anywhere-can't it? In this heartwarming comedy about love, nostalgia, cross-cultural communication, and the importance of GPS tracking devices, a young Israeli woman with little command of English and a young American man with little command of romance are brought together on Christmas Eve under the most bizarre circumstances. Was it chance, or was it destiny? In the tradition of 2013's

Coney Island Christmas, City Lights offers up this delightful holiday romance. Is it love? Or is it the perfect Jewish Christmas story?

Tigers Be Still
by Kim Rosenstock
South Bay Premiere
Jan. 21-Feb. 21, 2016

In this quirky comedy, Sherry Wickman has recently earned her master's degree in art therapy-only to find herself moving back in with her family, where she retreats to her bed until a job opportunity gives her renewed purpose. Now if only her mother would come downstairs, her sister would get off the couch, her first therapy patient would do one of his take-home assignments, her boss would leave his gun at home, and someone would catch the tiger that escaped from the local zoo, everything would be just perfect!

The Elephant Man
by Bernard Pomerance
1979 Tony Award for Best Play
March 17-April 17, 2016

Based on the true story of John Merrick, a young man in Victorian England afflicted with a disfiguring neurological disease, The Elephant Man is a glorious testament to the human spirit. Trapped within a hideously deformed body, a scorned and helpless Merrick is taken in by celebrated young physician Frederick Treves, who gives him medical care and introduces him to the pleasures of London society. As he becomes a favorite of the intelligentsia and aristocracy, Merrick's triumphant redemption teaches that beauty lies within. But is that enough for a man who longs more than anything to be "normal"?

I and You
by Lauren Gunderson
South Bay Premiere
May 19-June 19, 2016

Meet Caroline, a cynical high school senior in need of a new liver. Meet Anthony, an idealistic high school basketball star in need of a partner for his English project. In this poignant and insightful play by the author of last season's Exit, Pursued by a Bear, two teenagers who could not be more different discover just how much they have in common as they work together to complete a homework assignment as the clock ticks away-leading to a revelation that is as startling as it is unexpected.

Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT
music & lyrics by Green Day
book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer July 14-Aug. 21, 2016

This Tony Award-winning rock extravaganza tells the story of three lifelong friends, forced to choose between their unbridled dreams and the safety of suburbia, on a quest for true meaning in a post-9/11 world that leads them on the most exhilarating theatrical journey of their lives. Based on Green Day's Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album, and featuring "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," "21 Guns," "Wake Me Up When September Ends," and the blockbuster title track, Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT boldly takes the American musical and City Lights where they've never gone before.

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