Oakland Theater Project Announces 2024 Season: GHOSTS OF PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Oakland Theater Project (OTP) has announced its 2024 Season: Ghosts of Past, Present and Future, featuring seven plays that echo from the past into the present—in hopes of illuminating the future. 

“In our 12th year, we seek to interrogate the ghosts that haunt our collective past, present and future so that we might gain clarity about our global predicaments, and find inspiration to move forward,” said OTP Co-Artistic Director Michael Socrates Moran. “With seven shows from divergent lenses all focused on this central theme, we hope this season helps to illuminate the ways in which our experiences can inspire solidarity across difference.”

The season opens with the Bay Area Premiere of Martyna Majok's 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony-nominated play Cost of Living, directed by Emilie Whelan (A Streetcar Named Desire; Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus).

Cost of Living follows two people with disabilities and their caretakers, all seeking connection in the midst of isolating circumstances—both existential and economic. This intimate and sensitive play about people dealing with the ghosts of their past reveals the inspiring power of human tenderness in the midst of impossible circumstances. Cost of Living plays at Oakland Theater Project from March 1—24.

Up next, ancient myth and the post-modern present collide in the genre-bending queer love story and World Premiere of Red Red Red by Amelio Rodriguez, inspired by Anne Carson's novel Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse and directed by OTP Co-Artistic Director William Thomas Hodgson. 

In Greek myth, Geryon is a triple-bodied, red-winged monster, slayed by Herakles (Hercules) in one of his mythical labors. In Carson's telling, however, “Geryon is a young boy who is also a winged red monster who begins an autobiography at age five.” Later in life, Geryon falls in love with Herakles. 

Hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “a profound love story... sensuous and funny, poignant, musical and tender,” this novel and poem is a “portrait of an artist coming to terms with the fantastic accident of who he is.”

Red Red Red plays at Oakland Theater Project from April 26—May 19.

Following the sold-out run of Hat Matter: Thoughts of a Black Mad Hatter in 2022 (a show currently on its way to performances Off-Broadway and in London!), OTP is thrilled to stage the World Premiere of Michael Wayne Turner III's new, one-of-a-kind meditation on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—The Ghost of King.

This one-person theatrical tour-de-force takes as its starting point a haunting and oft overlooked statement by King: “Until we commit ourselves to ensuring that the underclass is given justice and opportunity, we will continue to perpetuate the anger and violence that tears the soul of this nation. I fear I am integrating my people into a burning house.” 

Incorporating poetry, spoken word, and excerpts of King's speeches, Michael Wayne Turner III spins these threads into an exuberant, life-affirming and provocative theatrical event not to be missed.

The Ghost of King plays at Oakland Theater Project from June 6—23.

Next, Oakland Theater Project journeys to New York City in 1985 for Angels in America, Parts I & II, directed by OTP Co-Artistic Director Michael Socrates Moran. 

Set in the midst of the AIDS crisis, Tony Kushner's multi-award-winning American epic follows two couples as they struggle to navigate their relationships, families, careers, illness, dreams, and visions. As the journeys of Prior, Louis, Joe and Harper unfold, so do questions of cosmic justice, as each is confronted with truths they have struggled to face—about themselves, about one another, and about the world at large—and the painful, transformative power of those realities.

In a tale that combines the ghosts of historical figures with contemporary prophets and timeless angels, the power of its narrative reverberates into the perils of the present. Is cosmic justice possible? Can the American democratic system and rule of law deliver such justice? Is the system capable of facing difficult truths and transforming, or is America bound to struggle under a political system intent on exclusion and scapegoating? 

In OTP's tradition of reconsidering classics, a radical interrogation of this uncannily relevant play reverberates into our present, as America barrels toward another election. 

As humans—those with the power to change and create—Kushner's timeless drama offers much-needed hope for our future—and an opportunity to re-engage with the “Great Work” before us. 

Angels in America will be presented by Marin Shakespeare Company in their new 165-seat indoor theater. Part I plays from September 27—October 26. Part II plays from October 11—27. Parts I and II will play back-to-back on two Saturdays: October 19 and October 26.

Next, OTP is delighted to stage Dave Malloy's quirky and wondrous ghost-story-musical, Ghost Quartet—a work that's as life-affirming as it is astounding. The piece is author-described as “a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey” in which “a camera breaks and four friends drink in four interwoven narratives spanning seven centuries.” Audiences won't want to miss this stunning musical from the creator whose work has recently delighted Bay Area audiences at Berkeley Rep (Octet) and Shotgun Players (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), with Ghost Quartet what many consider to be his most enchanting work. OTP Co-Artistic Director William Thomas Hodgson directs.

In partnership with New Performance Traditions, this production will take place at Oakland Theater Project from November 1—24.

The season concludes with a thrilling to-be-announced World Premiere by Marcus Gardley, directed by Michael Socrates Moran, in association with California Shakespeare Theater.

Renowned playwright, screenwriter and Oakland native Marcus Gardley and the Oakland Theater Project team up once again for a work to be announced this holiday season. 

Oakland Theater Project is thrilled to produce a Marcus Gardley world premiere as part of the Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions. Previous Marcus Gardley productions with the Oakland Theater Project include Dance of the Holy Ghosts, The Gospel of Lovingkindness and LEAR. This new work will feature Gardley's signature lyrical language, humor, profundity and epic narrative sweep. The project will be produced at a venue to be announced at a later date from December 6—22.

Single tickets are available for $10—60 at oaklandtheaterproject.org, by calling (510) 646-1126, or by emailing boxoffice@oaklandtheaterproject.org.

Season Subscriptions are available for $50—300 at oaklandtheaterproject.org/2024-season, by calling (510) 646-1126, or by emailing boxoffice@oaklandtheaterproject.org.