New Works Festival Begins This Weekend At The Long Beach Shakespeare Company
From poetic remix to pitch-black comedy, the New Works Festival is a celebration of daring storytelling and theatrical invention.
The Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s New Works Festival will return to the Helen Borgers Theatre this weekend with a bold lineup of fresh voices and theatrical surprises.
Kicking things off is Speak I Will, a radical reimagining of the Bard’s canon that blends 32 of Shakespeare’s plays, four sonnets, and even the legendary lost play Cardenio into a fever dream of high drama and high fashion. Iconic characters like Lady Macbeth, Henry V, Beatrice, and King Lear collide in a mashup that’s part literary remix, part renaissance rave. Directed with style and swagger, Speak I Will fuses classical language with contemporary urgency—Shakespeare for the Spotify generation.
On Saturday afternoon, the tone turns urgent and emotional with The Lives to Come, a gripping new drama set against the backdrop of a corrupt pharmaceutical empire. When two young lovers discover they’re the key to a life-saving treatment, they’re forced to navigate corporate greed, personal sacrifice, and the thin line between science and survival. With shades of Romeo and Juliet and the high-stakes maneuvering of Succession, this timely piece dives deep into the ethics of medicine and the price of love.
Saturday evening delivers a dynamic dark-comedy double bill: Death Takes a Vacation and The Apollo Waltz.
In Death Takes a Vacation, the Grim Reaper decides to take some much-needed PTO—by crashing with a suburban couple. As Death gets cozy on the couch, boundaries blur and hilarity ensues in a comedy that’s equal parts absurdist and eerily relatable.
Then comes The Apollo Waltz, a sharply observed psychological chamber piece centering on a famous writer, his acid-tongued daughter, and his much younger second wife. Tensions simmer and secrets unravel in a battle of wit and wounds, evoking echoes of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with a noir twist.
Performances take place at the Helen Borgers Theatre (4250 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach, CA). Tickets are $25, with $15 student pricing available. Seating is limited—advance purchases are strongly encouraged at LBShakespeare.org.
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E=MC² Einstein The Musical Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center (7/03-7/26) |
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Gershwin and the Golden Age Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya) (10/11-10/11) |
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Hamilton (Angelica Company) Pantages Theatre (7/28-8/29) |
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Fiddler on the Roof Ahmanson Theatre (2/13-3/14) |
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Liberation Gil Cates Theater (1/27-2/28) |
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Destiny of Desire Mark Taper Forum (11/11-12/20) |
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Peter Hook And The Light Hollywood Palladium (9/19-9/19) |
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‘The Great Clown Bank Show’ Atwater Village Theatre (6/27-8/01) |
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BROADWAY SHOWCASE WITH GLENN ROSENBLUM: VALENTINE TO BROADWAY Coachella Valley Repertory (7/14-7/14) |
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Little Shop of Horrors 40th Anniversary Tour with Ellen Greene (the Original Audrey) Patchogue Theatre (8/30-8/30) |