MTC Announces 2008/09 Season

Marin Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis and new Managing Director Ryan Rilette have announced the 2008-2009 season, which features a mixture of local and world premieres with 20th century classics. It includes the (just announced!) Bay Area Premieres of Conor McPherson's recent Broadway hit The Seafarer (replacing Jason Grote's 1000). Season subscriptions are now available by calling the MTC Box Office at 415.388.5208 (sorry, they are not available on-line yet!).

Frankie and Johnny
in the Clair de Lune
Written by Terrence McNally
Directed by Jasson Minadakis
September 11 – October 5, 2008
(Opening Night Tuesday, September 16)

“People are given one moment to connect. Not two, not three, one! They don’t take it, it’s gone forever…”

MTC revives this touching, often hilarious romantic comedy by Terrence McNally, one of the country’s leading playwrights. Frankie, a waitress, and Johnny, a short order cook, fall into bed together at the end of their first date. Johnny knows this is love; Frankie thinks he’s nuts. Over the course of one beautiful moonlit night, these two damaged souls reveal themselves to each other, and their one night stand begins to offer the promise of something much more.

FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY: This play contains full-frontal female and male nudity. It is not appropriate for children.

The Seafarer | Bay Area Premiere
Written by Conor McPherson
Directed by TBA
November 13 – December 7, 2008
(Opening Night November 18)

“Drink yourself up on to the next shelf in the basement. Drink to where possibility feels infinite and your immortality feels strong.”

It's Christmas Eve and Sharky has returned to Dublin to look after his irascible, aging brother who's recently gone blind. Old drinking buddies Ivan and Nicky are holed up at the house too, hoping to play some cards. But with the arrival of a stranger from the distant past, the stakes are raised ever higher. In fact, Sharky may be playing for his very soul…

My Children! My Africa!
Written by Athol Fugard
Directed by Josh Costello
January 15 – February 8, 2009
(Opening Night January 20)

“Stones and petrol bombs can’t get inside those armored cars. Words can.”

This heartfelt and moving play by Noble Prize winner Athol Fugard follows the friendship of two teenagers – one black, one white – in apartheid-torn South Africa. Against the backdrop of an education system in crisis, Fugard’s hopeful African teacher Mr. M struggles to lift his students above the strife and violence that is boiling in their black township. Inspiring and uplifting, this twentieth-century classic tells a powerful story of political awakening and everyday heroism.

Lydia | Bay Area Premiere
Written by Octavio Solis
Directed by Jasson Minadakis
March 19-April 12, 2009
(Opening Night March 24)

“And I flew on wings of glass. My body como una bird racing with the moon on a breath of air.”

A 1970’s Mexican immigrant family is mired in grief, rage and guilt over a daughter’s debilitating accident on the eve of her quinceanera. When the undocumented Lydia arrives in El Paso from Mexico to work as a maid for the family, her nearly miraculous bond with the brain-damaged girl elates, then angers, and finally destroys the troubled family – and Lydia herself.

This poetic, magical, shocking new play, by award-winning Bay Area playwright Octavio Solis, amazed audiences and drew critical comparisons to O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Miller’s Death of a Salesman in its premiere at the Denver Center Theatre Company earlier this year. Critics are calling this the newest addition to the canon of great American family epics.

FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY: This play contains nudity and extreme situations. It is not appropriate for children.

Magic Forest Farm | Winner of MTC’s First Sky Cooper New American Play Prize | World Premiere
Written by Zayd Dohrn
Directed by Ryan Rilette
April 22 - May 17, 2009
(Opening Night April 26)

From one of America’s hottest young playwrights comes a riveting story of a young woman’s desperate search for her past. Seventeen year-old Allegra is beginning to piece together memories of her early years in the No. Californian woods on a mystical commune. Mixing with joyous recollections are darker revelations, startling images of the people she thinks she trusts most. A journey begins that will take Allegra back to the commune, back to the past, to confront the truth.

FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY: This play contains nudity. It is not appropriate for children.

What the Butler Saw
Written by Joe Orton
Directed by TBA
June 4-June 28, 2009
(Opening Night June 9)

“I’m not mad. It only looks that way.”

Wild, risqué, and ferociously playful, Joe Orton’s uproarious farce is one of the seminal works of modern comedy. When psychiatrist Dr. Prentice tries to seduce an aspiring secretary, his botched efforts leads to comic bedlam involving his insatiable wife, a randy bellhop, a befuddled police officer, and ultimately, the formidable manhood of Sir Winston Churchill.

Now in its 41st year, Marin Theatre Company, a non-profit arts organization, is the largest professional regional theatre company located in San Francisco’s North Bay. MTC produces an annual season of more than 200 performances on its two stages. In addition, MTC provides a forum for contemporary, classic and emerging playwrights and, through the new Expanded Programs forum, an environment that introduces people of all ages to the transformative power of theatre. Through its public performances, school tours, and various educational programs, MTC serves more than 40,000 people annually. Located in Mill Valley, California, just north of San Francisco, MTC’s annual operating budget is approximately $2.5 million.