GROUP THERAPY Postponed at Theatre Rhinoceros

Group Therapy has postponed opening weekend for a week due to non-COVID related illness. Theatre Rhinoceros will postpone the first performance of Group Therapy to Thursday, November 16, 2023, and Opening Night for Group Therapy to Saturday, November 18, 2023 due to illness in the cast. Performances on November 9, 10, 11, and 12 are cancelled. Theatre Rhinoceros has made this decision to allow for the full recovery of its artists and the protection of all involved in the production. Patrons who have purchased tickets for a cancelled performance may exchange those tickets for a subsequent performance.

Questions about this announcement may be addressed by e-mail to Crystal Liu, Company Manager and Development Director, at cliu@therhino.org.

 

What happens to LGBTQ+ people when they turn forty years old? In Lambda Literary Award finalist and local playwright Kheven LaGrone's world premiere Group Therapy, which will see its first performance in November this year, they enter a metaphysical, ongoing group therapy session together, all teetering on that needle's point between youth, middle age, and eldership. Set in San Francisco, 1995, and led by a non-denominational, sometimes creepily jovial facilitator, Group Therapy is a little like purgatory, but on the other side is a life of freedom and joy earned by facing one's demons, moving through one's grief, and learning to honor and love oneself. It's in this philosophical group therapy session that Manuel, Keisha, an unnamed Engineer, and an anonymous Church Deacon find themselves and each other … but not all of them will make it out to see 40 unscathed.

 

This is not LaGrone's first world premiere, nor his first partnership with Theatre Rhinoceros - 2017 saw The Legend of Pink, a “dazzling” story of Black trans and queer humanity set in Oakland's present day (Adrianson, Theatrius). 2021 saw the virtual world premiere of Pillow Talk, about the many layers of intimacy that exist and unfold between Black men. With Group Therapy, LaGrone continues a kind of quiet revolution, bringing the true complexities of LGBTQ+ life out into the open, especially Black LGBTQ+ lives, championing the stories of the most marginalized within an already marginalized community.

 

Group Therapy is directed by Tanika Baptiste, Theatre Rhinoceros' Arts Leadership Resident and a longstanding collaborator with the theatre, having directed the plays At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen, How Black Mothers Say I Love You, and the aforementioned Pillow Talk. This project is the culmination of her residency, supported by the Arts Leadership Residency program of Theatre Bay Area. Additional support for the production comes from the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

 

In the real world, the question remains to be answered: what happens to LGBTQ+ people when they turn forty years old? Are we ready to talk about it?

 

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