San Francisco Playhouse Announces 2016-2017 Sandbox Season of World Premieres

San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English and Producing Director Susi Damilano continue to build on the momentum of the Award-Winning Sandbox Series-now celebrating its eighth season-by announcing three world premieres, two of which will be presented in the Rueff space at the Strand Theater.

The three world premieres of the 2016-2017 Sandbox Series follow the theme of transformation introduced in the Mainstage season. "There is a compelling and palpable power you sense standing in the back of our theatre during a performance," mused Bill English, Artistic Director. "It is the collective spirit emanating from the actors to the audience and back again to the stage. You can actually feel how that energy changes us as it races through the minds and hearts of everyone experiencing it together. We create theater to tell stories that enhance our understanding of being alive in our time. The plays we have selected for our new season all tell stories of people who experience a transformation. They have their beliefs challenged and are inspired to question their own identity and their place in the community."

The 2016-2017 Sandbox Series of World Premieres:

ALL OF WHAT YOU LOVE AND NONE OF WHAT YOU HATE (presented at the Rueff theatre)
By Phillip Howze
August 31 to September 24, 2016
Previews: August 31, Sept 1, 2, 3 and 7 at 8pm
Opening Night September 8th at 8pm
Thurs. 7pm, Friday & Saturday 8pm, Saturday 3pm

A lamp flickers on. In her bedroom, a young girl's universe explodes around her. With the future unsettled, she must find answers and new footing in a clash against fate. all of what you love and none of what you hate is a beautiful, emotional journey punctuated by bursts of abstraction.

YOU MEAN TO DO ME HARM (presented at the Rueff theatre)
By Christopher Chen
Directed by Bill English
June 6 to July 1, 2017
Previews: June 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th at 8pm and 6.14 at 7pm
Opening Night, Thursday, June 15th at 7pm
Thurs. 7pm, Friday & Saturday 8pm, Saturday 3pm

An innocuous comment at a dinner of two interracial couples leads to a surreal escalation of Cold War-style paranoia. You Mean to Do Me Harm is a psychological exploration of Chinese and American foreign relations, and of the personal relations we hold most dear.

ZENITH (presented at the ACT Costume Shop theatre)
By Kirsten Greenidge
August 15 to September 8, 2017
Previews: August 15, 16, 17, 18 and 22 at 8pm
Opens August 23rd at 8pm
Thurs. 7pm, Friday & Saturday 8pm, Saturday 3pm

It seems that hardly a day goes by that the media doesn't confront us with yet another unspeakable act. Kirsten Greenidge's Zenith teases out the complex and interwoven threads of one life that ends shockingly. Daring in structure and rich in detail, this play makes us question whether we can ever truly fathom another human being.

Sandbox Series
The Sandbox Series, the new play development aspect of San Francisco Playhouse, begins its eighth season of award winning World Premieres having won two Glickman awards in three years, and presented a successful off-Broadway transfer of the entire Glickman Award-winning production of Ideation.

Mainstage
The San Francisco Playhouse 2016-2017 Season is one of transformation that is sure to captivate with all of its intimate and thought-provoking premieres. The season includes a World Premiere, two regional premieres, and two revivals of major Broadway hits. The mainstage season starts with a sizzle with the World Premiere of Theresa Rebeck's (Seminar, The Scene) Seared, featuring Brian Dykstra who ruled our world in Jerusalem two seasons ago. The holiday season brings hysterical comedy with the world's greatest farce, Noises Off. The New Year begins with a wake-up call in the regional premiere of The Christians, Lucas Hnath's off-Broadway hit that takes an unflinching look at faith in America - and its power to unite or divide. Spring launches with the Bay Area premiere of Jen Silverman's The Roommate, a hit at the 2015 Humana Festival that tackles transformation in mid-life for two "badass women in their 50's," and the summer will explode with joy and gaiety in Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman's La Cage aux Folles. One show remains to be announced.

San Francisco Playhouse
Founded in 2003 and boasting 2500 subscribers, San Francisco Playhouse is the only mid-sized professional venue in downtown San Francisco, an intimate alternative to the larger more traditional Union Square theater fare. Presenting a diverse range of plays and musicals, San Francisco Playhouse produces new works as well as re-imagined classics, "making the edgy accessible and the traditional edgy." And with its bold Sandbox Series, dedicated to nurturing World Premieres, the Playhouse has become a significant player in developing new works as well. San Francisco Playhouse is committed to providing a creative home and inspiring environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and theater lovers converge to create and experience dramatic works that celebrate the human spirit.

Ticket Information
Season Subscriptions are available immediately online at www.sfplayhouse.org, or by calling the box office at 415-677-9596. Sandbox Series subscription packages are available for $60 for all three plays. Single tickets are $30, and will go on sale to the public on June 12th. Six-play Mainstage subscriptions range from $150 to $400. Copyright © 2016 SF Playhouse, All rights reserved.

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