Palo Alto Players Announces 2021-2022 Season

Palo Alto Players has announced its 91st season - RECONNECTING. After a long intermission, Palo Alto Players returns to in-person theater once again, ready to share experiences and stories that will inspire, entertain, and enrich local artists and audiences. The 2021-22 line-up, beginning September 2021, was first unveiled on Sunday, June 27th by Artistic Director Patrick Klein at the company's 90th Anniversary Gala and includes WORKING: A Musical; THE REVOLUTIONISTS, MEN ON BOATS, ALLEGIANCE, and TWELFTH NIGHT. All performances are held at the Lucie Stern Theater located at 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. Subscriptions are on sale now at paplayers.org or by phone at 650.329.0891. Single tickets for the September show go on sale in August.

Palo Alto Players' 91st season kicks off in September 2021 with the 2012 version of WORKING, a musical exploration of the American essential worker, followed in November with THE REVOLUTIONISTS, Bay Area playwright Lauren Gunderson's girl-powered comedy set during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror. In January 2022, pack your gear for a 21st-century telling of a 19th-century American explorer, when the company presents MEN ON BOATS. The cast isn't quite what it seems in Jaclyn Backhaus' play set in the 1869 American West. In April 2022, Palo Alto Players presents the Peninsula premiere of the musical ALLEGIANCE, a story inspired by the personal experiences of television star George Takei (Star Trek) in the Japanese internment camps during World War II. Closing the season in June 2021, is William Shakespeare's romantic comedy TWELFTH NIGHT. All performances will be staged in the Lucie Stern Theater to a live in-person audience, in accordance with the CDC and state and local health officials' guidelines at the time of the performance.

"When your wifi goes out, the first thing you do is unplug and plug back in again. That's exactly what we've done at Palo Alto Players now that this extended intermission is behind us," said Artistic Director Patrick Klein. "This exciting time finds us reconnecting. Reconnecting to ourselves. Reconnecting to each other. Reconnecting to the communal experience of enjoying live theatre together. We have an amazing slate of five mainstage shows designed to enhance and expedite that reconnection: shows that celebrate, reimagine, and enrich our understanding of ourselves and our world."

In chronological order, Palo Alto Players' 2021-22 season is as follows:

WORKING: A Musical

September 18 - October 3, 2021 (preview September 17)

Adapted by: Nina Faso and Stephen Schwartz

With additional contributions by:Gordon Greenberg

Songs by :Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor

From the book by:Studs Terkel

"I hear America singing." Based on Studs Terkel's bestselling book, this unique, Tony-nominated musical has been recently updated for the modern age and features the real-life words of average working Americans, set to music by a diverse collection of extraordinary story-telling songwriters including Lin-Manuel Miranda (IN THE HEIGHTS, HAMILTON) and Stephen Schwartz (WICKED), as well as Craig Carnelia and James Taylor. WORKING is a brilliant, hilarious, and heartwarming examination of the "essential" worker.

"Entertaining, funny and touching...Working has been smartly updated, with wonderful new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and new characters, based on new interviews, that reflect how dramatically the world of work has changed just in the past three decades." - New York Theatre

THE REVOLUTIONISTS

November 6- 21, 2021 (preview November 5)

By: Lauren Gunderson

Four badass women try not to lose their heads in this irreverent, rebellious comedy set during the French Revolution. Amidst the Reign of Terror, four renegades-an assassin, a spy, a writer, and, of course, Marie Antoinette-hang out, plot to murder Marat, find friendship, and try to beat back extremist insanity in Paris. With sharp knives and sharper wit, the quartet takes us on an exploration of art, terrorism, and how we actually go about changing the world.

MEN ON BOATS

January 15 -30, 2022 (preview January 14)

by Jaclyn Backhaus

MEN ON BOATS is the tale of ten men, four boats, and two great rivers, told on stage entirely without boats, rivers ... or men! Pack your gear for this 21st-century telling of 19th-century American explorer and one-armed Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell, who assembles a brawny band of soldiers, trappers, and adventurers to explore the waterways of the American West. Inspired by Powell's actual travel log from 1869, Jaclyn Backhaus's nimble and ingenious script is provocative, laugh-out-loud theater, performed by a cast of women who infuse America's legends of male conquest with a sly blast of subtext.

ALLEGIANCE

April 23 - May 8, 2022 (preview April 22)

Book by Mark Acito, Jay Kuo & Lorenzo Thione

Music and Lyrics by Jay Kuo

Inspired by the true childhood experience of TV/film actor and social media icon George Takei (Mr. Sulu on Star Trek), ALLEGIANCE tells the story of the Kimura family, whose lives are upended when they are forced to leave their Salinas, California home following the events at Pearl Harbor, and join 120,000 other Japanese-Americans in internment camps dotted around America. Sam Kimura seeks to prove his patriotism by fighting for his country in the war, but sister Kei fiercely protests the government's treatment of her people. An uplifting testament to the power of the human spirit, ALLEGIANCE follows the Kimuras as they fight between duty and defiance, custom and change, family bonds and forbidden loves.

TWELFTH NIGHT

June 11 - 26, 2022 (preview June 10)

By William Shakespeare

Orsino loves Olivia (who won't give him the time of day). Olivia loves Viola (whom she thinks is a boy). Viola loves Orsino (who doesn't know she's a girl). Malvolio loves being in love; and Sir Andrew, Toby Belch, and Maria love life to its fullest. It's all rollicking confusion, but these hilarious characters do, at last, find love where they least expect it. Palo Alto Players is thrilled to welcome back our friends from the Gunn community to present one of Shakespeare's most loved comedies!

For more information or to purchase season subscriptions, visit the company online at paplayers.org, by phone at 650.329.0891, or in person at the Box Office at the Lucie Stern Theater located at 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto, Tuesday-Friday 11am - 4pm PT. Subscription prices (starting at just $150 for all five productions) are available now. Special discounts for seniors, educators, military and patrons under 30 are also available. Some restrictions may apply. In addition to significant savings, subscribers receive other benefits such as priority seating, free ticket exchanges, discounts on the purchase of additional single tickets, and access to streamed or on-demand recordings, when available.