Dragon Productions Theatre Company In Downtown Redwood City Announces 2020 Season

2020 marks the 20th birthday of the Dragon Productions Theatre Company and is the first season that new co-artistic directors Alika Spencer Koknar and Bora "Max" Koknar have programmed for the company. The theatre season is the typical mix of Dragon produced "Main Stage Series" shows and "2nd Stages Series" plays. However, in 2020, as part of a company re-branding effort in progress, the 2nd Stages series will be renamed the Dragon's Nest Incubator Program to better acknowledge Dragon's commitment to the development of local artists of varying disciplines.

Much like a teaching hospital, for years Dragon has been a kind of teaching theater where emerging artists or artists new to the Bay Area have been able to hone their craft, make connections, and rely on the support of the professionals at Dragon. We are looking to codify this mentality with the Dragon's Nest Incubator Program. The Dragon's Nest seeks to maintain a healthy creative ecosystem in the Bay Area by supporting the development of new works and by developing the skills of emerging artists. To this effect, our current Monday Night, Late Night, and Circus Arts series are now all contained within the umbrella of the Dragon's Nest as all three series' are developmental opportunities for local artists.

Another component of Dragon's 2020 season is the new Dragon Experience Design Lab (DXDL). Leveraging the immersive and devised theater experience of both Max and Alika, Dragon is looking to create new experiences for the community. Immersive art considers the audience's relationship to the performance and empowers the audience to be more than just spectators. It creates opportunities for audience engagements to go beyond the duration of the show or the traditional performance space. DXDL looks to challenge assumptions about the rules and definitions of theatre and other artistic disciplines. DXDL aims to be inclusive as it will take a multidisciplinary approach to creation and design by drawing from a wide range of creative disciplines to explore ethnic and cultural art forms. DXDL looks to connect to contemporary pop-culture to make an artistic experience less alien to community members who have never attended a performing arts event. But above all, DXDL aims to be a communal experience to build community through a shared and unique experience for both the artists and the audience. We tested the DXDL this season with the companion escape room for our play Shoggoths on the Veldt and will continue with related companion events for several shows in 2020.

The 2020 Dragon Theater Season

Dragon's 2020 season is intensely human, with warts and all. It is a season of stories about our intentions and their outcomes and how sometimes those don't always match up. It's looking at two sides of the coin of our nature - the saints and the sinners, the sacred and the profane. It's about virtue and making mistakes. It's about forgiveness... or revenge. It is about morality and conviction, and how sometimes we don't quite understand what's right or wrong, at least not until it's too late. It is ultimately about embracing the journey of being human, and not knowing where the road will end.

The Nether by Jennifer Haley
Directed by Jenny Hollingworth
January 17 - February 9, 2020 (Main Stage Series)

Set in the year 2025, the internet has become The Nether, a totally immersive virtual wonderland where anything goes. When a young detective uncovers a disturbing brand of entertainment, she triggers a dark battle over technology and human desire. Winner of the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, The Nether is both serpentine crime drama and haunting sci-fi thriller that explores the consequences of living out our private dreams.

PRESENTED IN ROTATING REPERTORY March 6 - April 5, 2020.

The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel
Directed by Troy Johnson (Main Stage Series)

A young woman receives a deadly diagnosis - she has a mysterious new disease that has already killed many and has no cure. Trying to escape the pain and anxiety of her uncertain future, she and her beloved brother flee to Europe in a desperate search for a cure. This satirical fantasy is Vogel's brilliant love letter to her brother who died of AIDS in the height of the epidemic in the 1980s.

AND Confession by Barry Slater
Directed by Robyn Braverman (Part of the Dragon's Nest Incubator Program)

Confession is the story of two brothers in the 1980s: one a gangster, the other a priest. Estranged for decades, indelibly connected by the memories of a monstrous childhood, they find themselves together one last time. Will they find redemption or die trying? World premiere.

Spring Awakening
Book and Lyrics by Steven Sater, Music by Duncan Sheik, based on the play by ‎Frank Wedekind
Co-directed by Portola Valley Conservatory Artistic Director Noelle GM Gibbs and Maddie Rostami
April 17 - April 19, 2020
(Special Co-Production With Portola Valley Conservatory) - BONUS SHOW

A contemporary rock musical, featuring teen and adult performers, based on the classic German play by Frank Wedekind. Set in Germany, 1891, a world where the grown-ups hold all the cards, 3 teens try to navigate their coming of age anxiety as each experience their first tastes of love, despair, and rebellion. Winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Spring Awakening explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood with an electrifying fusion of morality, sexuality and rock and roll.

Caught by Christopher Chen
Directed by Co-Artistic Director Bora "Max" Koknar
May 8 - May 31, 2020 (Main Stage Series)
(Produced in collaboration with The Xiong Gallery with support from Dragon Experience Design Lab)

In collaboration with legendary dissident artist Lin Bo, Bay Area playwright Christopher Chen has created Caught, a labyrinthine exploration of truth, art, social justice, and cultural appropriation. In the era of "fake news," Caught creates a bracingly unique experience that will keep you wondering what's real and what's theatre. Dragon will host an installation of work by Xiong Gallery Artists during each performance.

AJ's Annual Party, an adaptation of Joseph Moncure March's poem "The Wild Party" by Nathanael Card
Directed by Nathaneael Card
July 10 - Aug 2, 2020 (Part of the Dragon's Nest Incubator Program)
(Presented with support from Dragon Experience Design Lab)

A wild counter-culture costume party inspired by taboo literature from America's past. Hosted by a cast of characters of The Beat Generation, these hep cats and cool kittens who gave birth the hippie movement and hipster style bring you music, poetry, and the karmic fall of a toxic man in a special immersive presentation of the Jazz Age epic poem "The Wild Party." "[t]he book that made me want to be a writer" - W. Burroughs

The Creature by Trevor Allen
Directed by Co-Artistic Director Alika Spencer-Koknar
September 4 - September 27, 2020 (Main Stage Series)
(Presented with a companion piece from Dragon Experience Design Lab)

Based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Creature strips the monster classic of the melodrama and neck-bolts. Instead, the tale unravels before your very eyes, and ears, in the style of classic radio plays; allowing you to rediscover the original story of a brilliant, but ethically questionable scientist, and the monstrous, but sympathetic creature he creates.

Roe vs. Wade by James Kopp
October 30 - November 22, 2020 (Part of the Dragon's Nest Incubator Program)
(please note that there is no show on Oct 31 - have a happy Halloween! There is a special post-election show on Wed, Nov 4)

In this dark satire, we see an America in the not too distant future. Roe vs Wade has been overturned and any woman that seeks an abortion is charged with murder. In Monterey, CA an old bed and breakfast on Cannery Row has become a secret clinic offering safe abortions. The nation turns its eyes to the bed and breakfast after a Catholic priest is killed in their lobby. World premiere. This script is being developed as part of the Dragon's Nest Incubator Program.

TBD Holiday Show

Directed by Bora "Max" Koknar
Dec 3 - Dec 20, 2020

Brought to you by Dragon's Artistic Directors Max and Alika, the Dragon will once again host a night of wacky fun in the style of their previous, sold - out holiday spectaculars: A More Accurate Account of that Infamous Christmas Eve, as Told by the Miser, Ebenezer Scrooge (2016); Walt & Hans are: FRIGID (2017), and The Making of the Star Wars Holiday Special: LIVE! (2018).

Dragon will also produce 7 Circus Arts shows in 2020 with Anna Yanushkevich. Enter the Dragon will resume Sunday night talent shows in January 2020. The Redwood City One Act Festival, produced with Fuse Theatre, will return in June 2020 with three one-act plays centered around a new theme. The Singular Stories Solo Show Festival will return for a second year in August 2020.

WHERE: The Dragon Theatre in downtown Redwood Citya??at 2120 Broadway Street at the intersection of Broadway and Theatre Way

2020 PRICES:

Full Price

$39 general admission
$30 students, seniors, and people age 30 or under
$175 for the VIP box (seats 4 people and includes champagne and chocolates.)
5 FREE Community Care tickets per performance
Pay what you will previews the day before opening of each play

Season subscriptions coming soon. There will be a 3-8 play subscription and a 3-7 show Circus subscription.