InterAct Theatre Company Announces 18-19 Season

InterAct Theatre Company proudly announces planned productions for the upcoming 2018-19 season. Surrounding the themes of home and displacement InterAct will continue its tradition of producing new works that prize contemporary voices, playwrights that speak to the social issues of our time. InterAct will present these four dynamic plays at the Proscenium Theatre at the Drake in Center City starting October 26, 2018.

InterAct begins the 2018-19 season with a dynamic world premiere by Philly playwright Josh Wilder. SALT PEPPER KETCHUP takes place in and around a Chinese take-out joint in South Philly's Point Breeze neighborhood. Owners John and Linda Wu are fixtures in the community, but when hipsters begin to move in with dreams of trendy/healthy food options, John, Linda and their customers are left to wrestle with the forces of gentrification. Who benefits, and who gets chewed up and spit out? SALT PEPPER KETCHUP will be a co-production with Passage Theatre of Trenton.

"We're proud to be launching another season of diverse and thought-provoking plays," says Producing Artistic Director Seth Rozin. "In our 31st season, InterAct continues to tackle the most pressing and complex issues in the contemporary world, told through distinctly human stories that are made explicitly for the theatre."

Idris Goodwin (author of HOW WE GOT ON) has made waves with his poetic contemporary dramas. In InterAct's second offering, Goodwin's HYPE MAN: A BREAK BEAT PLAY, an interracial hip-hop trio on the brink of stardom is forced to examine their personal, political and artistic goals in the aftermath of a police shooting of an unarmed black teenager. HYPE MAN boldly muscles through issues of friendship, responsibility, and what it means to be a true ally in the era of #BlackLivesMatter.

An InterAct commission and NNPN Rolling World Premiere, HEARTLAND by Gabriel Jason Dean is a very human story addressing the unanticipated consequences of historic US interference in Afghanistan. Professor Harold Banks is stunned to learn that his adopted daughter Getee was killed by the Taliban while teaching children outside Kabul. When Nazrullah, an Afghan refugee, arrives at Banks' door, carrying Getee's prized books, the two men strike up an unlikely friendship, leading to secret guilt-ridden revelations. Did one secret photograph condemn Getee to death and how might a CIA propaganda operation over 30 years ago be complicit in her murder?

The fourth and final show in InterAct's season will be the regional premiere of THE GREAT LEAP by one of the country's most exciting new voices, Lauren Yee. Shooting through the time and space between Beijing and San Francisco, and 1989 and 1971, this clever play looks at America's arms-length relationship with China through a story about two generations of basketball players. Smart, funny and ultimately heart-pumping, THE GREAT LEAP will have you on your feet for the final buzzer.

For more information or to subscribe, please visit InterAct's website at www.interacttheatre.org, email boxoffice@interacttheatre.org or call 215.568.8079.

Celebrating its 31st season and new home at the Drake, InterAct is a theatre for today's world, producing new and contemporary plays that explore the social, political, and cultural issues of our time. Founded in 1988 by Producing Artistic Director Seth Rozin, InterAct seeks to entertain audiences by producing world-class, thought-provoking productions, and to use theatre as a tool to foster positive social change and civic discourse. Through artistic and audience outreach programming, InterAct makes a significant contribution to the cultural life of Philadelphia and the American theatre.

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