Loft Ensemble Reveals 11th Anniversary Season Lineup

Loft Ensemble in North Hollywood has announced its 11th anniversary season. The slate of plays, chosen by the company’s member-elected artistic committee, represent a desire to celebrate new voices while re-examining the fundamentals of theatrical storytelling. The season will feature five world premieres and two West Coast premieres. Four of the shows will be presented in Sawyer’s Playhouse, the company’s intimate black box space above the mainstage.
 
The plays are about relationships, identity, truth, culture, healing, and change. They address issues including examination of the human experience, love and identity, accountability, battling our inner critic, a long hot summer, and the various people you meet in a New York City restaurant.  In 2021 Loft began to operate with seasonal modular sets to do its part in making theatre responsibly with an eye to recycling materials to reduce its environmental impact. The season set will be shared by all shows on the mainstage; it will include various pieces and platforms that can be moved around the stage and reconfigured to give each show and its furnishings a unique geography.
 
The season will open on September 8 in Sawyer’s Playhouse with the West Coast premiere of The Value, written by Nicholas Dunn. A trio of petty thieves hides out in a dingy motel room after stealing a work of art, a quick payday on an in and out job. The painting holds a special value to each of them. Money and power are the driving force in this play. While hiding out they learn the real worth of the art they have stolen. They must then face the truth within themselves and their place in society and what is valuable to them and their worth. Directed by Calvin Picou. Next up, opening October 20 on the mainstage, is the world premiere of Monster by April Littlejohn. Hanna has worked herself to the bone for a promotion she doesn’t want, alienated her only friend, and the guy she thinks of as her boyfriend doesn’t want her. To get her life back on track, she must face the Monsters under the bed and in the closet who are there to protect her and help her survive. Directed by Bree Pavey.
 
The new year begins with the West Coast premiere of La Cocina by Tony Menéses. Directed by Adam Chambers & April Littlejohn, the play looks at the back of house of a modern-day NYC restaurant kitchen as cooks and waitstaff juggle orders, dishes, and their own dreams of a better life. The production opens January 19, 2024, on the mainstage. The world premiere of Power to the Queendom by ShaWanna Renee Rivon will follow in Sawyer’s Playhouse, opening on March 1. Four women of the 1970s Black Panther Party find themselves in hot water after a protest goes awry, causing them to hold a Houston police officer hostage in the chapter headquarters. The cops assaulted an unarmed Black man, and the ladies won’t release their hostage until he answers their questions. Directed by Diane Renee. The Lost Women by Nubia Monks is next on the mainstage. The Lost Women is a choreopoem inspired by real people and their real stories about sexual violence and the injustices that Black women face as well as the ancestral power from which they draw strength every day they choose to wake up and brave the world. Directed by Jazmine Nichelle, opening is set for April 12.
 
The world premiere of #caseyandtommygetmarried by Molly Wagner relights Sawyer’s Playhouse on May 17. College friends reunite several years after graduation for Tommy's wedding. But not all of them are onboard with Tommy's choice of partner. After exclusively dating men in college, Tommy is about to marry a woman. Will the friends get onboard or sabotage the wedding to try and "save" Tommy? And will any of them even make it to the wedding after a night of the most elaborate drinking game you've ever seen? Directed by Natasha Renae Potts & Madylin Sweeten Durrie. Next on the mainstage, opening June 28, is the world premiere of The Year Without a Summer by Greer DuBois. Set in 1816, a band of European misfits hides and collides in an Alpine villa during the eponymous summer-less summer of 1816, with salonnière Matilda Dembowski presiding over the mischief. Through games, stories, and philosophical conversations, and with the help of a ridiculous cast of characters pulled from history and farce, the recently separated Matilda tries to determine her uncertain future. Directed by Maia Luer & Danielle Ozymandias.
 
Loft’s 11th anniversary season will conclude in Sawyer’s Playhouse with the world premiere of No Desire to Suffer Twice by Cris Eli Blak. Brendan, a white kid, was adopted by Cedric's Black family as a young boy, and the two brothers both dream of going to Harvard Business School. Brendan was accepted but Cedric, the better student, was rejected. When Cedric learns that Brendan has been hiding his acceptance letter and the truth of how he was admitted, the brothers must face a betrayal from which they may never recover. Opening is set for August 9, 2024.
 
Admission for Loft Ensemble productions is always Donate What You Want. Reservations may be made at www.loftensemble.org.  Loft is located at 11031 Camarillo Street in North Hollywood, 91602.     

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