Strawdog Theatre announces its 2015-2016 season of world premieres and classics

Strawdog Theatre Company has just announced its 2015 – 2016 season that will arrive under the umbrella title of “The Tipping Point.”

The company’s main stage and Hugen Hall season, at its home base at 3829 N. Broadway, will include four world premieres, a U.S. premiere and the debut of an array of new talent. Subscriptions for Strawdog’s 28th season are available now. Call 773.528.9696 or go to strawdog.org. Single tickets for each production will go on sale July 1 at 10 a.m.

Strawdog Theatre’s main stage productions include:

• “After Miss Julie” (Aug. 14 – Sept. 26, 2015), a version of Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” by Patrick Marber, directed by Elly Green. The sexual politics of master and servant come to a boil in Marber’s intimate re-envisioning of the Strindberg classic.
• “Long Christmas Ride Home” (Oct. 30 0 Dec. 12, 2015), Paula Vogel’s play, directed by Josh Sobel. Past, present, and future collide for a troubled family on a snowy Christmas Eve when their car spins out of control after a disastrous holiday dinner. Vogel, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, navigates the lasting impact of a single moment on the lives of those most impressionable — children.
• “In A Word” (Feb. 5 – March 19, 2016), Lauren Yee’s play, directed by Jess McLeod. Selected for a National New Playwright “rolling world premiere,” this work (by the author of Victory Gardens’ recently acclaimed production, “Samsara”), Yee homes in on Fiona, who must sort through what‘s left of her life and sanity when her son mysteriously vanishes. (The National New Play Network is the country’s alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, and fosters the collaboration of theaters to support new plays and playwrights.)
• “Once in a Lifetime” (May 1 – June 13, 2016), the 1930 comedy classic by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, directed by Damon Kiely, who will be making his Strawdog debut. It’s about three people — Jerry, May and George — who leave vaudeville behind in a dash to Hollywood to take advantage of California’s current new “gold rush” — talking pictures. An epic satire about striking it rich that is as timely as ever.

Strawdog Theatre’s Hugen Hall productions include:

• “With Love and a Major Organ” (Sept. 12 – Oct. 13, 2015), Julie Lederer’s play, directed by Thrisa Hodits, is about a young woman who finds she has given her heart — the actual beating muscle — to a boy she’s just met on the subway. Hodits served as assistant director of The Hypocrites’ epic “All Our Tragic.”
• “Robin Hood and Maid Marian” (Nov. 28 – Dec. 29, 2015), adapted for the stage by Forks & Hope, and directed by Mark Pierce, this “family friendly” show looks at the fabled heroic outlaw who, along with his cohorts, and his love, Marion, embark on a swashbuckling adventure.
• “D.O.A.” (March 8 – April 7, 2016), from the film by Rudolph Mate, adapted and directed by Elizabeth Lovelady, this classic noir drama homes in on Frank Bigelow, who walks into a police station to report a murder — his own. He only has a few hours to hunt for his killers and untangle the web of lies that has brought him there.
• “The Name of the Rabbit was Peter” (May 21 – June 18, 2016), adapted for the stage and directed by Sarah Illiatovich-Goldman, this is a madcap theatrical piece for the whole family, with three actors and a trunk full of props and costumes thrown together in a high-energy mashup of Beatrix Potter’s best-loved tales.