A Look Back at the Trials and Triumphs—and the Shared Joy of MTC’s 2021–2022 Season

A LOOK BACK AT THE TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS—AND THE SHARED JOY

OF MTC’S 2021–2022 SEASON

Like many theatres and performing arts organizations, Marin Theatre Company faced neverbefore-experienced challenges during its 2021–2022 season. Again and again, leadership and staff pivoted in the face of surge delays (before 2020, who had ever heard of a surge?), audience and actor concerns, reduced ticket sales income and attending economic woes. But through it all, MTC remained steadfast in its commitment to new American theatre, and the resulting work was some of the finest in this company’s history.

Here is a look back at the 2021–2022 season. We hope you were able to share all of these shows with us, and we’re looking forward to our new season that begins this fall, and to sharing the amazement, discovery, and joy that is theatre.

A holiday gift to our audiences Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley

Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s final installment in their beloved Christmas at Pemberley series extended Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice storyline into the frontier of women’s rights with, of course, a marvelous love story at its heart. Critics raved about the play and the MTC production, calling it “Delightful!” (TalkinBroadway.com) and “a feast for actors” (San Francisco Chronicle), and praising the work of the show’s designers, many of whom were old friends of MTC— including the extraordinary costume designer Fumiko Bielefeldt, whose work you will see in this performance of The Sound Inside.

PICTURED ABOVE (L–R): Lauren Spencer, Alicia M.P. Nelson, Aidaa Peerzada, Madeline Rouverol.

PICTURED LEFT: Lauren Spencer and Zahan F. Mehta

Photos by Kevin Berne

Thrilling theatre from a bold new American voice Pass Over

Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s powerful play challenged audiences and inspired conversations that extended far beyond the life of the production—reminding us of one of the things that theatre does best. The San Francisco Chronicle said “Pass Over is Black freedom on stage. Penetrating in insight, open-armed in sensitivity and game for risk…written with the ear and the precision of a musical score for a chamber opera.” The San Francisco Examiner chose this play as its February theatre pick and other critics praised its “spiritual, emotional, even joyful” spirit.

PICTURED ABOVE (L–R): Eddie Ewell, LeRoy S. Graham III, Adam A. Roy.

PICTURED LEFT: Eddie Ewell.

Photos by Kevin Berne

PICTURED ABOVE: Naseem Etemad as Maha with Wasim No’mani as Seif.

PICTURED RIGHT: Jen Taylor as Jean and Paul Morgan Stetler as Paul.

Photos by Kevin Berne

The end of a love story, in the heart and heat of Cairo Hotter Than Egypt

With razor-sharp wit and “dialogue on a par with the likes of Harold Pinter or Edward Albee” (Theatrestorm.com), playwright Yussef El Guindi’s Hotter Than Egypt chronicled the end of a marriage, the emergence of a woman’s freed spirit, and the complexities that arise when cultures and economic classes collide and intertwine. Critics hailed this “brilliantly crafted” new play, full of “delicious oneliners that bite and tell their own comic truth” (TheatreEddys.com).

MTC proudly continued crafting the second leg of this world premiere co-production with A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle, selected by the Dramaturg and MTC’s Assoc. Artistic Director Nakissa Etemad.

And now…a Tony Award-nominated thriller from a Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright The Sound Inside

The story of this heralded play’s journey to the MTC stage is worthy of its own script, full of twists and turns. Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in the summer of 2018. Directed by David Cromer and starring Mary-Louise Parker and Will Hochman, it was snapped up by legendary Broadway producer Jeffrey Richards and transferred to Broadway with the same cast and director in autumn 2019, running into January of 2020. Immediately, MTC Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis secured the rights to the play, conscious of its extraordinary power and eager to produce the show for MTC audiences.

But then…..

Jasson recalls: “When we first acquired the rights to produce the West Coast premiere of this gorgeous play it had just completed its successful Broadway run in January 2020. Little did we know it would take us two and a half years to finally open the play in Marin.” Between March 2020 and the current season, pandemic concerns prompted a number of shifts in MTC’s plans, even within this season. “We pivoted, and pivoted again,” said Jasson. “In August 2021 we were three days away from starting rehearsal when the Delta surge delayed us another 9 months. I am incredibly grateful to our amazing actors, Mill Valley’s own Denmo Ibrahim and Bay Area native Tyler Miclean, for their dedication and commitment not only to this production, but also to our MTC staff and audiences for their stalwart support throughout this time.”

Minadakis is an unabashed fan of playwright Adam Rapp’s work. “This is the second play I’ve directed by Adam Rapp,” he notes. “The first was Rapp’s break-out play, Nocturne, in 2002 at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival. Nocturneand The Sound Inside, while separated by 20 years, are structurally and thematically the most connected of all of Rapp’s work. Both are densely woven thrillers that weave narrative and performative text into a live experience that are both unique to Rapp and unique within Rapp’s body of work.”

What makes Adam Rapp’s work especially alluring to Jasson, and to audiences? “His obsession with how reader and writer or audience / performer / writer interact,” avows Jasson. “You’ll see that explored in many of his plays. The Sound Inside displays an Escher-like master’s complexity with how the two experiences can warp and twist into each other to create a singular experience. Adam is a master American storyteller, a prolific writer who creates phenomenal novels and compelling works for the screen.”

Images from a mid-pandemic theatre world: Cast, director and designers of MTC’s longawaited production of The Sound Inside gathered for outdoor rehearsals, so they could safely work without

masks. Photos by Richard Mosqueda