Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Kitchen Theatre Company announced its 2019-20 season Wednesday: seven exciting productions that explore what it means to be part of a family, and finding both our inner and outer strength. This season begins with a Broadway hit and finishes with an energetic, engaging world premiere. The Kitchen Theatre's 29th season runs from September 8th, 2019 to June 21st, 2020. Single tickets and subscriptions are on sale now!

"This is my third season as the Producing Artistic Director here at the Kitchen, and I am so thrilled about the direction we are headed," says M. Bevin O'Gara. "We are excited to build on the momentum of our last season and share these wonderfully crafted stories in conversation with each other. Every audience member will find something that resonates with them this season. We had a record number of subscribers last year, and we are hoping that even more people join us this year to share the journey through our seven plays. Come experience the place that was voted Ithaca's Best Cultural Asset."

The Children
By Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by Margarett Perry
Sep 8 - Sep 29, 2019
A Compelling Broadway Hit
Featuring Susannah Berryman and Dean Robinson

Hazel and Robin, retired nuclear scientists, have set up camp on the British coast. Though living in the wake of a nuclear disaster, they have found a way to lead a quiet life of yoga and farming. That is, until an old colleague turns up at the door and makes them question their past-and their future. A gripping and thought-provoking story about the messes we make of our lives and our planet, and how we attempt to clean them up.

Director Margarett Perry says, "I am absolutely thrilled to be returning to KTC this season! When Bevin sent me The Children by Lucy Kirkwood, I couldn't say "yes!" fast enough. I can't imagine a better play for the Kitchen Theatre audience. It's a cautionary tale about our responsibility to our planet and explores the themes of ethics and self-sacrifice in the wake of a nuclear disaster."

The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up
By Carla Ching
Directed by Meg Taintor
Oct 20 - Nov 3, 2019
An Explosive Look at Love and Dysfunction
Featuring Shannon Tyo

Diana and Max meet as kids the day their parents start having an affair. During their parents' tumultuous on-and-off relationship over more than two decades, Max and Diana are perpetually forced together and become the most unlikely of friends. They see each other through highs and lows, trying not to make the same mistakes their parents did. The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up is a hilarious, touching, and explosive play about trying not to fall in love with your best friend.

"It's a play in snapshots about those people in your life who see you grow up, change, fail, fall in love and out of it," says playwright Carla Ching. "It's about falling in and out of each other's lives and finding each other again when you need each other most. It's about inventing family when your own family is too screwed up. It's about finding home in a person rather than a place."

Proof
By David Auburn
Directed by M. Bevin O'Gara
Nov 23 - Dec 15, 2019
A Poignant American Classic
Featuring Rom Barkhordar, Turna Mete, and Aila Peck

"A dramatic and comic ride through the lives of a brilliant, deranged mathematician and his two daughters" -The New York Times

Catherine has spent years taking care of her father, a famous mathematician. In the wake of his death, she grapples with what she may or may not have inherited-from brilliance to madness. With the appearance of Catherine's estranged sister, an unexpected suitor, and a notebook containing a groundbreaking proof, Catherine's life, and the future of the field, change forever. This Pulitzer Prize-winning drama is a poignant portrayal of explosive genius and the complexity of love and reconciliation.

"David Auburn's Proof asks us to take a close look at the variables we accept as constants every day and opens a door to a world where the questions are more important than the answers-and the journey, so much more than the destination, says actress Aila Peck. "This is a dream artistic team, a dream play, and a dream theatre and I cannot wait to bring this story to life at the Kitchen Theatre!"

Cry It Out
By Molly Smith Metzler
Directed by M. Bevin O'Gara
Feb 2 - Feb 22, 2020
A Comedy about Parenthood
Featuring Erica Steinhagen

"Tender, revealing and incisive... CRY IT OUT is consistently masterful in creating characters who feel real." -WFPL Louisville

With little in common besides new babies and adjacent backyards, Jessie, a corporate lawyer, and Lina, a nurse, form an unlikely friendship over a series of naptime coffee breaks. The addition of their career-oriented neighbor Adrienne, another new mom, puts the duo's friendship and their individual conceptions of motherhood to the test. Cry it Out is an unexpected and candid comedy about parenthood, friendship, and class in America.

"I am beyond honored that Cry it Out will play at Kitchen Theatre this season, in the wondrous hands of Bevin O'Gara," says playwright Molly Smith Metzler. This play is very close to my heart and, in many ways, it's a play about community. The ways we touch each other's lives as neighbors. I love picturing the play in Kitchen Theatre because I know what a wonderful community Ithaca is. I hope you can all come together, and laugh together, and cry it out together. "

Catch As Catch Can

By Mia Chung
Directed by Zoë Golub-Sass

Mar 15 - Apr 5, 2020
A Dynamic Tour De Force
Featuring Karl Gregory and Lena Kaminsky

"A truly ambitious work that flips the family play-and just about everything else-on its head." - Exeunt NYC

Two working class New England families have grown up in each other's homes, weathering the good and the bad. When the adult children come home for the holidays, it feels like the good old days are back. But it's only a matter of time before old behaviors resurface and long-held secrets are confessed. Three actors take on six roles, crossing generation and gender, in this dynamic and explosive reinvention of the classic American family drama.

"I'm thrilled to be back at the Kitchen--an artistic home-working on Catch as Catch Can, a play that so brilliantly explores the challenges and crises of homecoming," says director Zoë Golub-Sass. "Mia Chung has done something revolutionary here, conceiving a format where both the characters and the play itself undertake the same set of questions. This play delivers an innovation in how we tell stories and how we understand ourselves. You've never seen anything quite like this!"

Mr. Joy
By Daniel Beaty
April 26 - May 10, 2020
A Story of Neighborhood Renewal, Healing, and Hope
Featuring Elle Borders

"The most uplifting and inspiring theater you'll see this year" - Theatermania

In this uplifting one-woman show, a Harlem community takes stock when a Chinese immigrant's shoe repair shop mysteriously doesn't open one morning, causing an array of customers to realize what the shop owner has meant in their lives. One actress plays nine distinct characters in this exploration of gentrification, racism, and open-mindedness.

"MR. JOY is a deeply moving story about the invisible impact we have on each other, about our responsibility to our local community, and what we owe to each other as an integrated Global community," says actress Elle Borders. "This story is a microcosm of a much larger conversation that needs to be had across the nation."

Shape
Written and directed by Kara-Lynn Vaeni
June 7 - June 21, 2020
A Wacky World Premiere About Working Out

Meet Puppy, a 47-year-old lifelong East Coast woman who has just moved to Texas and learns how to get strong. Built on adrenaline, determination, transformation, and sweat, this play cracks open fresh conversations about how we relate to our bodies and what we're capable of accomplishing. Come see Puppy get strong live on stage in this wildly hilarious, riotously honest, and uniquely feminist new play. This play also features the best workout playlist you've heard in years. And FYI: laughing burns calories.

Playwright and director Kara-Lynn Vaeni says, "I have always wanted to direct a play that could only be told through intense physical activity. A play that would be almost impossible to stage. A play that throws a gauntlet down to the director and actors... SHAPE created the conditions for me to write a play that challenged my directing. Now I want to bring it to as many bodies as possible."

Plus two musicals for family audiences produced by Fitz&Startz Productions!

Aunt Mae Comes to Brooklyn
October 26 & November 2, 11am & 1pm
Book by Rachel Lampert

Aunt Mae is coming, and Emma can't wait. Because whenever Aunt Mae comes for a visit, she brings her giant bag full of treats, songs, stories! And maybe a little magic too, because all the stories come to life before Emma's eyes, transporting her-and you!-to wonderful times and places.

Emmett & Ella: a Doggone Mystery
February 8 & 15, 11am & 1pm
Book by Rachel Lampert, Music by Lesley Greene

Emmett is a hound dog, Ella is a retriever. Together, they are planning a surprise for their human, Louella. But, things start to go awry, and they find themselves with a mystery they must solve right away. Songs, dogs, humans-and a mystery!

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