La Jolla Playhouse Announces First Four Shows of 2022/23 Season

La Jolla Playhouse has announced the first four productions of its 2022/2023 season: the new musical Lempicka: A New Musical (June/July 2022), book and lyrics by Carson Kreitzer, music by Matt Gould, choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly, and directed by Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin (Broadway's Hadestown); the world premiere of Here There Are Blueberries (July/August 2022), by Tony Award nominee Moisés Kaufman (Playhouse's 33 Variations, Broadway's I Am My Own Wife) and Amanda Gronich, conceived and directed by Moisés Kaufman, produced in association with Tectonic Theater Project; the En Garde Arts production of Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes) (August/September 2022), by Andrea Thome (Playhouse's Neva), original music by Sinuhé Padilla, directed by José Zayas; and the world premiere of Mother Russia (September/October 2022), by UC San Diego MFA alumna Lauren Yee (Playhouse's Cambodian Rock Band), directed by Tyne Rafaeli (Playhouse's The Coast Starlight).

The season will also include a re-imagined classic to be co-directed by Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley, the Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse (Come From Away), and Helen Hayes Award winner Will Davis (Off-Broadway's Men on Boats), as well as a new musical, both of which will be announced shortly.

Tickets for the Playhouse's 2022/2023 season productions are currently available via a subscription purchase, available starting December 1 at LaJollaPlayhouse.org.

"All four of these powerful works portray fascinating characters swept up in the forces of history. Lempicka shows us a woman who defiantly sets her own course amid the political turmoil and cultural repression of 1920s Europe. Here There Are Blueberries centers on the discovery of a lost photo album from a Nazi camp that exposes shocking aspects of the human psyche. In Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes), a group of present-day immigrants celebrates family and community through music, dance and song, even as the threat to their own safety looms large; and Lauren Yee follows up her radiant Cambodian Rock Band with a new comedy, Mother Russia, about an unlikely pair of espionage agents who, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, find themselves baffled by the complexity of their newfound freedom," said Ashley. "These new works - from an incredible slate of award-winning creative teams - speak to the resilience of the human spirit throughout history, and how that spirit can triumph amid adversity. A fitting tribute to our current times."

Prior to the start of the subscription season, the Playhouse will mount its acclaimed Without Walls (WOW) Festival at ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station April 21 - 24, 2022. Like previous WOW Festivals, the event will feature four action-packed days of theatre, dance and music, with multiple performances by renowned local, national and International Artists occurring simultaneously throughout the weekend. A complete roster of artists and projects will be announced at a later date. Since its inception in 2009, the Playhouse's signature Without Walls (WOW) series has become one of the region's most popular performance programs. Over the last ten years, the Playhouse has been commissioning and presenting this series of immersive, site-inspired and virtual productions throughout the San Diego community, including eight stand-alone productions, four WOW Festivals and fourteen Digital WOW pieces.

La Jolla Playhouse is a place where artists and audiences come together to create what's new and next in the American theatre, from Tony Award-winning productions, to imaginative programs for young audiences, to interactive experiences outside our theatre walls. Founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, the Playhouse is currently led by Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley, the Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, and Managing Director Debby Buchholz. The Playhouse is internationally renowned for the development of new plays and musicals, including mounting 105 world premieres, commissioning 60 new works, and sending 33 productions to Broadway - including the hit musical Come From Away - garnering a total of 38 Tony Awards, as well as the 1993 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.

About the 2022/2023 Season

Lempicka: A New Musical

Book and Lyrics by Carson Kreitzer

Music by Matt Gould

Choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly

Directed by Rachel Chavkin

June/July 2022

In 1917, Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka and her aristocrat husband have fled the Russian Revolution to the dubious safety of Paris. Relying on her raw talent and relentless ambition, she soon emerges as a star of the Parisian bohemian art scene. But as the world around her teeters on chaos, Tamara finds herself torn between her husband and the passion and decadence ignited by her free-spirited muse Rafaela. A thrilling pop-infused score drives this epic new musical through decades of political upheaval and the personal turmoil of a woman caught between two worlds. Directed by Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin, Lempicka: A New Musical is the remarkable true story of a painter who transformed herself from penniless refugee to an icon of the art world - and a fascinating look at the beauty and danger of one woman pursuing it all. The world premiere of Lempicka was originally produced in July 2018 by the Williamstown Theatre Festival; Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director.

Here There Are Blueberries - World Premiere

By Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich

Conceived and Directed by Moisés Kaufman

In Association with Tectonic Theater Project

July/August 2022

An album of never before seen World War II-era photographs arrives at the desk of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum archivist Rebecca Erbelding. As Rebecca and her team of historians begin to unravel the shocking story behind the images, the album soon makes headlines around the world. In Germany, a businessman sees the album online and recognizes his own grandfather in the photos. He begins a journey of discovery that will take him into the lives of other Nazi descendants - in a reckoning of his family's past and his country's history. Here There Are Blueberries tells the story of these photographs, and what they reveal about the Holocaust and our own humanity.

The En Garde Arts Production of

Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes)

By Andrea Thome

Original Music by Sinuhé Padilla

Directed by José Zayas

August/September 2022

A group of Latin American immigrants gather in a community center in New York City for a fandango - a festive celebration where stories are brought to life through live performance, music and dance. The group bonds over the concern for their loved ones in the middle of their dangerous journey to the US and worry for their families left behind in their home countries. But amid the cheerful preparations and warm greetings of friends old and new, fears of a city-wide ICE raid permeate the party. Yet in the spirit of the fandango, their resilience and camaraderie grows as strangers become friends, friends become family, and the music plays on. Inspired by interviews with undocumented immigrants, this joy-filled play with music is a heartfelt look into the lives of the real people behind the immigration headlines.

Mother Russia - World Premiere

By Lauren Yee

Directed by Tyne Rafaeli

September/October 2022

Welcome to St. Petersburg in the 1990s - the Berlin Wall has fallen, the Soviet Union has dissolved and opportunity abounds. But barely-competent government surveillance workers Euvgeny and Dmitri find themselves lost in their strange new world of glasnost, perestroika and McDonald's. When they're assigned to track Katya, a fallen pop-star with international allure, a love triangle, mistaken identities and some really shoddy espionage tactics are set in motion. It's possible they might just make it out of this mess and find happiness - if only they could make a decision. UC San Diego alumna Lauren Yee's world-premiere comedy is about the curse of freedom and having to choose between the Filet-o-Fish and the Big Mac.