NEW CON S ERVATORY TH EATR E C ENTER
2018–19
Season
where
life
stories come to
Letter from Founder & Artistic Director
Ed Decker The theatre is one of the few remaining places where we can gather together to find a collective heartbeat. A chance to witness, question, muse, and reflect in a space that welcomes all who cross its threshold. In this often confusing and digitally dehumanizing world it is comforting to find cathartic respite in art. This season, NCTC once again serves up a smorgasbord of enticing offerings for our LGBT and Allied audiences—musicals and plays with both historical relevance and contemporary urgency. Whether you’re looking for escape from the daily slog, a challenge to the status quo, or simply for a deeper understanding of our shared humanity you are sure to find it here. I invite you to join us for seven exceptional stories that speak to joyfulness, dignity, compassion and unity.
2018–19 Season Powerful. Personal. Profound. Find it all at NCTC Red Scare on Sunset
Late Company
By Charles Busch
By Jordan Tannahill
» Sep 21–Oct 21, 2018
» Jan 18–Feb 24, 2019
Cardboard Piano
Steve
By Hansol Jung
By Mark Gerrard
» Oct 26–Dec 2, 2018
» Mar 1–31, 2019
Avenue Q
The Gentleman Caller
Music, Lyrics and Original
By Philip Dawkins
Concept by Robert Lopez
» Apr 5–May 5, 2019
and Jeff Marx Book by Jeff Whitty
The View UpStairs
» Nov 30, 2018–Jan 6, 2019
By Max Vernon » May 10–Jun 9, 2019
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BY CHARLES BUSCH San Francisco Premiere l Sep 21–Oct 21, 2018 It’s 1950’s Hollywood and the Cold War is about to come knocking on silver-screen star Mary Dale’s palatial front door: her husband’s Method acting class is a front for the Communist party and threatens to destroy everything she holds dear. Mary must rally to defend her marriage, Hollywood and the American way in this outrageously funny and ironically timely parody from Charles Busch, the master of camp.
“
Outrageous plot twists, chicanery and a finale that careens over the top” —LA WEEKLY
“
Seduces with the shameless allure of an old movie trailer” —NEW YORK NEWSDAY
“
No one spoofs classic Hollywood movie genres better than Charles Busch” —STAGE SCENE LA
Charles Busch is the author of Psycho Beach Party, The Divine Sister, Die Mommie Die! (Regional Premiere at NCTC) and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, which became one of the longest running plays Off-Broadway. His play The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, won the Outer Critics Circle John L. Gassner Award for playwriting, as well as a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. In 2003, he received a Drama Desk Award for career achievement as a performer and playwright.
BY HANSOL JUNG Regional Premiere l Oct 26–Dec 2, 2018 16-year old Chris just wants to find a safe place to live with the girl she loves—not an easy task in 1999 Uganda. Determined to be together, Chris, the daughter of American missionaries and Adiel, a local girl, meet in the village church to marry in secret. When the war outside the church walls breaks its way into their sanctuary in the form of a wounded child-soldier, all three lives become tied together forever. Cardboard Piano is a riveting testament to the power of the past to shape the future, and the bonds of love, family, and forgiveness.
“
Deeply moving new play”
“
It’s a story with a resonant and rewarding ring of truth”
—COURIER JOURNAL
—TWIN CITIES PIONEER PRESS
“
Characters and situations will remain in your thoughts long after the show comes to an end” —ARTSATL
“
This play is fascinating” —SAN DIEGO GAY AND LESBIAN NEWS
Hansol Jung is a playwright from South Korea whose work has been developed internationally at Royal Court, New York Theatre Workshop, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, O’Neill Theatre Center’s New Play Conference, and Ma-Yi Theater Company. She holds a Playwriting MFA from Yale School of Drama and is a proud member of the Ma-Yi Theatre Writers Lab.
MUSIC AND LYRICS BY ROBERT LOPEZ AND JEFF MARX BOOK BY JEFF WHITTY | BASED ON AN ORIGINAL CONCEPT BY ROBERT LOPEZ AND JEFF MARX Tony Award-Winning Musical | Nov 30, 2018–Jan 6, 2019 Your favorite foul-mouthed puppets return home for the holidays!
“
A local tradition”
“
A perennial hit...even when seeing it for the second, third, or whatever time”
—SF TRAVEL
—THEATRE EDDYS
Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez have received numerous awards for Avenue Q, such as three Tony Awards (including Best Musical and Best Original Score), five Drama Desk Award nominations (including Best Musical), and a Grammy nomination for Original Cast Album.
“
Only the Grinch could prevent the laughter-filled show from selling out night after night” —SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
“
A smash hit” —BAY AREA REPORTER
Jeff Whitty won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Avenue Q. He also wrote the book to the musical version of Tales of the City and Bring It On, which was nominated for a Best Musical Tony Award.
BY JORDAN TANNAHILL Regional Premiere l Jan 18–Feb 24, 2019 In an attempt to find closure after a family tragedy, Debora and Michael invite their son’s bully and his family over for a dinner party. As the night progresses, pain, loss and rage all come to a head, and there’s enough blame for everybody to have a share. At turns both beautiful and brutal, Late Company is a hotbed of visceral tension as questions are raised that no one is prepared to answer.
“
Utterly transfixing”
“
Excruciatingly good”
“
…a touching, poignant production about some contemporary hot topics”
—THE TELEGRAPH
—VANCOUVER COURIER
—LA SPLASH
Jordan Tannahill is widely celebrated as one of Canada’s most accomplished young playwrights, filmmakers and all-round multidisciplinary artists. His anthology The Age of Minority: Three Solo Plays received the 2014 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama, the 2014 John Hirsch Prize for directing, and multiple Dora Awards.
BY MARK GERRARD West Coast Premiere l Mar 1–31, 2019 What happens when you get bored with “happily ever after”? Steve got his happy ending, but years later, his Prince Charming is sexting another man, his best friend is ill, and he’s hitting the expiration date on his desirability. Chock full of acidic wit, musical theatre references, and plenty of heart, Steve is a hilarious and relatable comedy about growing up, without growing old.
Ben Brantley’s Top Ten in 2015 in The New York Times
“
…some of the funniest dialogue in town” —THE NEW YORK TIMES
“
…the ultimate theater-geek’s tragicomedy” —NEWSDAY
“
Mark Gerrard’s sad and hilarious—sadlarious?— new play” —VULTURE
Mark Gerrard has developed plays at MCC, New York Stage and Film and New Works at The New Group. He earned a B.A. in Classics from the University of Chicago and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU/Tisch, where he won the John Golden Playwriting Award.
BY PHILIP DAWKINS West Coast Premiere l Apr 5–May 5, 2019
“
American theatre, Tennessee Williams
Dawkins…is among the Chicago theater’s brightest young writing talents”
and William Inge were just two aspiring
—CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Two legends. One interview. Plenty of secrets. Before becoming icons of
playwrights sharing a night together,
“
As the liquor flows and confessions
Dawkins writes laser-sharp punchlines that are rooted in character specifics”
begin to spill out, these men reveal
—TWIN CITIES PIONEER PRESS
shut away from the world’s judgment.
sides of themselves the public never saw, in all their vulnerabilities, flaws, and triumphs.
Philip Dawkins is a Chicago playwright whose work has been produced internationally. His plays Miss Marx: or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living and Charm both won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work and he received Joseph Jefferson Award nominations for New Work for The Homosexuals, Le Switch (Regional Premieres at NCTC) and Failure: A Love Story. Dawkins is an Artistic Associate at About Face Theatre and Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens.
BY MAX VERNON ORCHESTRATIONS BY JAMES DOBINSON Regional Premiere l May 10–Jun 9, 2019 Glam-rock, gospel and modern pop collide in the smash Off-Broadway hit The View UpStairs. When impulsive entrepreneur Wes buys a dilapidated building in the
“
The show swells with heart”
“
Filled with biting laughs yet deeply moving”
French Quarter of New Orleans, he’s
—RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
phantasmically transported to its glory days: the UpStairs Lounge in 1973. Serving as a home, a church, and a gay dive-bar,
“
the UpStairs was its own kind of paradise. As Wes meets the larger-than-life lounge
the past can help guide all of us through an uncertain future.
Latches on to the drive and pure energy of shows like Rent...proves itself to be timely and relevant” —OUT MAGAZINE
regulars, he learns what has been gained and lost in the fight for equality, and how
—ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“
[Max Vernon] is equal parts bohemian and Broadway” —THE NEW YORKER
Max Vernon is a playwright whose work has been performed and developed at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Rep, Dixon Place, Disney Creative Entertainment, TheatreWorks, and Two River Theater, among others. He is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Grant, New York Stage and Film’s Founders Award, New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship, and the JFund Award from the Jerome Foundation.
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The View UpStairs By Max Vernon May 10–Jun 9, 2019
The Gentleman Caller By Philip Dawkins Apr 5–May 5, 2019
Steve By Mark Gerrard Mar 1–31, 2019
Late Company By Jordan Tannahill Jan 18–Feb 24, 2019
Become a subscriber and save 30% on tickets! nctcsf.org/subscribe • 415.861.8972
Powerful. Personal. Profound. Find it all at NCTC
25 Van Ness Avenue, Lower Lobby San Francisco, CA 94102
Avenue Q Music, lyrics and original concept by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, Book by Jeff Whitty Nov 30, 2018–Jan 6, 2019
Cardboard Piano By Hansol Jung Oct 26–Dec 2, 2018
Red Scare on Sunset By Charles Busch Sep 21–Oct 21, 2018
2018–19 Season