BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO, INTO THE WOODS and More Set for SF Playhouse's 2013-14 Season

San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill Englishand Producing Director Susi Damilano announced selections today for the 2013-14 Season.

"As we searched for exciting drama to launch the first year of our second decade, we were most drawn to plays focused on our contradictory human nature. Our animal instincts, our intellectual curiosity and our spiritual yearning are inextricably intertwined in the human character. The phrase "body and soul" seems to sum up the connection between the powerful plays San Francisco Playhouse will present this season."-Artistic Director, Bill English

Main Stage: The 2013-14 Season includes five plays and a musical. It opens with Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoostarring Playhouse favorites Carl Lumbly, Gabriel Marin and Craig Marker.John Patrick Shanley will usher in the holiday season with the west coast premiere of Storefront Church directed by Joy Carlin. We bring a bold start to 2014 featuring the first American production of Tony award-winning Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, followed by the world premiere of a San Francisco Playhouse commission, Bauer, by Lauren Gunderson, which sheds light on the gifted artist (Bauer, a contemporary of Kandinsky) who mysteriously stopped painting just as he was becoming well-known. The season concludes with a return of one of our favorite writers, Theresa Rebeck and the Bay Area premiere of Seminar. Next summer we'll revive the magical, twisted musical Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.

Founded in 2003 and boasting 2500 subscribers, the only mid-sized professional venue in downtown San Francisco, the San Francisco Playhouse has quickly filled the need for a broad-based intimate, professional presenter of edgy premieres and re-invigorated classics.

Season subscriptions are available immediately online at www.sfplayhouse.org, or by calling direct at 415-677-9596. Packages range from $120 to $360 with savings averaging over $90 from single ticket rates which range from $30 to $100 each.Single Tickets will go on sale to public August 1, 2013.

The 2013-2014 Season:

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Regional Premiere

Written by Rajiv Joseph (Animals Out of Paper), Directed by Bill English

October 1th to November 16th, opens October 5th

In this Pulitzer Prize finalist, two US Marines and an Iraqi translator are thrust into a world of greed, mystery and betrayal after an encounter with a now-deceased but still very pissed-off tiger. The streets of war-torn Baghdad are filled with ghosts, riddles and wry humor in this groundbreaking play that explores the power and perils of human nature.

Storefront Church
West Coast Premiere

by John Patrick Shanley, directed by Joy Carlin
November 26 to January 11th, opens November 30th

God vs. Gelt. Is it a moral failing to collect the rent? Find out when a politically savvy Bronx boroughpolitician faces a Pentecostal minister who's short on faith. Will the mortgage get paid? If so, at what cost?

Jerusalem
West Coast Premiere

by Jez Butterworth, Directed by Bill English

January 21 to March 8th, opens January 25th

Everyone wants Johnny. His son wants to go to the county fair. His mates want his stash and his booze. County officials want him evicted. Whatever happened to the simple life in the country? Come find out in this hit Tony and Olivier winning play!

Bauer
World Premiere

by Lauren Gunderson, Directed by Bill English

March 18th to April 19th, opens March 22nd

Why did he stop? Imprisoned by the Nazis, he sketched on scraps. His fiery love affair with Hilla Rebay (Guggenheim curator) lasted a lifetime. The Guggenheim was built to house his work. Why did the genius that survived all that suddenly stop painting? This is a San Francisco Playhouse commissioned work.

Seminar
Bay Area Premiere

By Theresa Rebeck (The Scene, Smash)

Directed by Amy Glazer

April 29th to June 14th, opens May 4th

Five hundred dollars a week for all the abuse you can take. And maybe sex. That's what four aspiring novelists pay for a ten-week private writing class with the legendary Leonard. It's a smorgasbord of vicious, and very funny, wordplay, as innocence collides with experience in this biting Broadway comedy about power, sex, and art.

Into the Woods
Revival

Music and Lyrics Stephen Sondheim, Book by James Lapine, Directed by Susi Damilano

June 24th to September 6th, opens June 28th

What happens after Happily Ever After? In Sondheim and Lapine's beloved musical retelling of the Grimm classics, a parade of familiar folktale figures find their way "Into the Woods" and try to get home before dark.

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