UNPACKING IN P'TOWN Comes to New Conservatory Theatre Center in March

In March, New Conservatory Theatre Center will welcome the return of double Lambda Literary Award-winning playwright Jewelle Gomez with Unpacking in P’town.  A final chapter in her decade-long Words and Music Trilogy, this warm-hearted world premiere commission is directed by Kimberly Ridgeway.

Every summer, former vaudevillians Buster, Lydia, Minty, and Scottie reunite in Provincetown to drink, dance, and forget about the real world. But this year is different. It’s 1959, the fight for Civil Rights is heating up, and a restlessness hangs heavy in the humid air. In between the reminiscing, this chosen family is forced to face changes they’ve been hiding from for so long. Both a nostalgic remembrance of shared history and a battle cry for the future, Unpacking in P’town is a portrait of the queer artists of color who paved the way for others to live out loud.

Playing March 1 – 31, 2024, the Opening Night for Unpacking in P’town is Saturday, March 9 at 8pm. Wednesday and Thursday evening performances will have an early showtime of 7:30pm.  Tickets are $25–65 and are available at nctcsf.org, by emailing boxoffice@nctcsf.org, or by calling (415) 861-8972. Pay-what-you-wish tickets are available for preview performances, March 1-8, and can be reserved starting one week before the first performance through the box office. An enhanced safety performance with additional COVID safety precautions will take place on Thursday, March 14. 

Audiences can enjoy these special events during the run of the show:

• Low-cost Previews: Friday, Mar 1 - Friday, Mar 8, 2024

• Opening Night will take place on Saturday, Mar 9, 2024 at 8pm

• Enhanced Safety Performance with limited capacity seating and additional COVID safety precautions will take place on Thursday, Mar 14, 2024 at 7:30pm

• Onstage Insight, Post-Show Discussion featuring the cast, and moderated by the director will take place after the performance on Sunday, Mar 17 at 2pm

• Additional special events to be announced!

Jewelle Gomez (Playwright, Cabo Verdean/Ioway/Wampanoag, pronouns: she/her) is a novelist, poet, and playwright. She is the author of seven books including the double Lambda Literary Award-winning, Black lesbian vampire novel, The Gilda Stories. Waiting for Giovanni, her play about James Baldwin, and Leaving the Blues, about Alberta Hunter, were commissioned and premiered at NCTC. She has written for numerous publications including The Village Voice, MS Magazine, The Advocate, San Francisco Chronicle, and Black Scholar.

Kimberly Ridgeway (Director, pronouns: she/her) is a director, actor, playwright, and producer. Kimberly has directed projects locally for Altarena Playhouse, African American Shakespeare Company, Contra Costa Civic Theatre, Dragon Productions Theatre Company, Ubuntu Theatre Project, Bay Area Performing Arts Collective, Bay Area Drama Company, SF Playhouse, Town Hall Theatre, Playwrights Center of San Francisco, SF Playground, Theatre Rhinoceros, 3Girls Theatre and TheatreFirst. She has also directed projects for Three Willows Theatre (TX), National Black Theatre (NY), and Spokane Civic Theatre (WA). Kimberly wrote, produced and directed the full-length stage plays Prospect Place, Heavy Burdens, No More Secrets, The Confession, The Gigolo Chronicles, and The Drowning Pool.  Some of Kimberly’s notable acting roles include The Revolutionists, The Piano Lesson, Colman Domingo’s DOT, and her award-winning portrayal of Camae in Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop. Kim can be found on Instagram @khaoss15 and on New Play Exchange.

The cast of Unpacking in P’town includes Awele (ah WAY lay) (Lydia), Stephen Kanaski (Anando), Desiree Rogers (Minty), Matt Weimer (Scottie), and ShawnJ West (Buster). Desiree Rogers appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. The creative team includes dramaturgy by Arturo Catricala, lighting design by Stephanie Anne Johnson, set and props design by Thomas O'Brien, sound design by Lana Palmer, and stage management by Emilio Racinez.

New Conservatory Theatre Center has been San Francisco’s premier LGBTQ+ and Allied performing arts institution and progressive arts education conservatory since 1981. NCTC is renowned for its diverse range of innovative, high-quality productions, touring productions and shows for young audiences; its foundational anti-bullying work with youth and educators through YouthAware; and its commitment to developing new plays to continue expanding the canon of queer and allied dramatic work.

Supported in part by The Bernard Osher Foundation, Horizons Foundation, Grants for the Arts, and the generosity of NCTC's individual donors.

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