Magic Theatre Announces 2012-2013 Season of Plays

Magic Theatre, the Bay Area's original home for new plays and playwrights, today announced its 2012-13 season featuring two world premieres, a West Coast premiere, a Bay Area premiere, and one last show still to be announced.

Magic's 2012-13 season begins with the West Coast premiere of Sharr White's acclaimed emotional thriller The Other Place. Next find Another Way Home with the Nadelman family in a world premiere production written by Anna Ziegler. Then enter the fever dream of Se Llama Cristina in a world premiere by Octavio Solis. Visit The Happy Ones in a Bay Area premiere by Julie Marie Myatt. Finally, end the season with one more show yet to be announced!

"This is a dynamic lineup of playwrights all traversing the idea of family in a variety of ways," revealed Loretta Greco, Magic Theatre's producing artistic director. "I am proud to launch this dialogue between the plays and with our audiences. I'm also thrilled to welcome back Octavio, Sharr, and Julie to Magic Theatre, and to be able to introduce Anna to our audience. The playwrights are the stars here at Magic and we exist to give them a home and a family of artists to support their work. Stay tuned for next year's legacy celebration announcement!"

The 2012-13 season begins in September with the return of playwright Sharr White (Annapurna – 2011) and the West Coast premiere of his critically acclaimed emotional thriller The Other Place. Hailed as "a cagy, emotionally resonant drama packed with plot twists," by The New York Times, The Other Place follows brilliant scientist Juliana Smithton as she unravels a personal, 15-year-old mystery, sifting through disjointed facts, half truths, and cloudy memories that lead her back to a Cape Cod cottage where a revelation awaits her. "By following Annapurna with the West Coast premiere of The Other Place, Magic is now offering something very special," observEd White. "Not only are we now able to continue an incredibly fulfilling artistic conversation between theatre and playwright, but we're also able to continue a dialogue with an audience almost exactly where we left off. It's something that feels a little like home."

Next up in November, let the Nadelmans help you find Another Way Home in a funny, moving, and uplifting examination of what it means to be a family in this world premiere by Anna Ziegler. While visiting their son at summer sleep away camp, obsessive middle-aged Jewish parents Lillian and Philip are compelled to question everything they thought they understood about their children, their marriage, and their true desires. Zeigler stated, "I'm so thrilled that this play is premiering at the Magic. It's a personal, delicate play and were it debuting anywhere else I'd be a bit frightened. But I know I'm in such good hands at Magic."

In January 2013, enter the incredible, multi-layered fever dream of Octavio Solis' Se Llama Cristina. One of the Bay Area's most cherished theatre artists, Solis presents us with a play derived from the same DNA as famed Magic playwright Sam Shepard. When a man and woman wake up in a strange room, they must piece together their past identities and relationship while constructing a new future free from all that has come before. "I am always surprised and delighted when anyone wants to produce my work, but when it is the Magic Theatre, the legendary venue that drew me west more than twenty years ago, that comes calling, I am stunned and humbled," said Solis. "Proudly, I lend my words to Loretta Greco because I know she will turn them into 'Magic.'"

March brings the Bay Area premiere of The Happy Ones by Julie Marie Myatt (The Sex Habits of American Women in Magic's 2003-4 season). Orange County, California in 1975 is the happiest place on earth for appliance storeowner Walter Wells. But when his world is suddenly turned upside down, Walter must struggle to navigate grief, wrestle with forgiveness, and rediscover the power of friendship in this uplifting, powerful story about new beginnings.

The season will end with a yet to be determined fifth play.

Magic Theatre has built a reputation over its past 45 years as a hothouse for exciting new plays, the hottest writers, and cutting edge professional productions. With its intimate thrust stage, it is the perfect venue for audiences to experience new work up close. That intimacy extends beyond the stage through a number of special events – Thursday night Docent 360s, Friday night TalkBACKs, New Work Development Dialogues with playwrights and directors, and the Martha Heasley Cox Virgin Play Series. Enjoy unparalleled access to new plays, playwrights, and the process of taking a play from the page to the stage at Magic Theatre.

The best (and most affordable) way to ensure your spot on the front lines of exciting new theatre is to become a subscriber! With season subscription packages beginning at only $18 per ticket, there is a subscription package to fit every budget. Subscriptions also come with a number of notable perks: free ticket exchange up to the day of the performance, guaranteed best seating, exclusive pre-show "digiturgy" from the dramaturgy team, reserved seating to the Virgin Play Series – all in addition to receiving the best price on tickets. Find out more online at www.magictheatre.org or call the box office at 415.441.8822.

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