Internationally-renowned writer and director Lisa Peterson returns to the Bay Area for her MTC debut to adapt and direct Odyssey, based on Emily Wilson’s 2018 translation of the ancient poem The Odyssey – the first English translation published by a woman. Set in a present-day relocation center for refugees on the Isle of Lesbos, four young women fleeing conflict in Middle Eastern, North African, and Eastern European countries await the next step of their quest for home and family. Through the extraordinary characters of this epic tale, the women explore what it is to host a stranger, follow (or not) the rules of generosity, question what it means to belong without a “place” to call home, and discover the thrill of adventure at the heart of it all. Odyssey promises to bring bold theatricality, humor, and grace to a story we all think we know.

This world premiere adaptation by New York’s The Acting Company is created in association with MTC. The production dates at MTC are the first stop on a nationwide tour.

Dragon Lady starts in the year of the Water Dragon on the eve of Grandma Maria’s 60th Birthday, “your most important birthday of your old people birthdays,” when Maria Porkalob Sr. must share the dark secrets of her fantastical life with her first-born grandbaby Sara “so they remember after you are dead.” Through laughter, shock, singing, and tears, the two women discover that it is never too late to atone for pain we inflict on our loved ones and forgive ourselves for past regrets. Guided by the beats of her grandmother’s new karaoke machine, Sara portrays dozens of characters through 50 years of Maria’s bittersweet memories and sensational adventures – from a Manila nightclub in the ‘60s to a Washington state trailer park. This solo cabaret musical by Seattle-based storyteller and activist Sara Porkalob is the first in her trilogy of “matrilineal” musicals about her Filipino American gangster family; one play for each generation built around grandmother, mother, granddaughter, and her specific hero’s journey. Dragon Lady is a funny and fearless tour-de-force in two acts featuring a live three-piece jazz ensemble on stage. Directed by Andrew Russell, this family tale comes replete with gangsters, murders and more that explores what it means to be an immigrant single mom in America.

What does it take to survive as a couple? Inspired by the Juan Luis Guerra song “Como Abeja Al Panal,"* Bees & Honey by Guadalís Del Carmen is an intimate, two-actor portrait of a Dominican couple's love and dreams in New York City, featuring pivotal moments in a year of their lives. It was love at first sight when Manuel and Johaira met at a Washington Heights club. Now married, the ambitious young couple sets out to achieve their dreams together. Manuel's entrepreneurial spirit drives him to expand his mechanic shop, while Johaira’s law firm lands  is made lead prosecutor on a career-defining sexual assault case that could help her make partner. As they negotiate their differences alongside their expanding careers, the mounting pressure takes its toll on their marriage. When unforeseen tragedy strikes, the pair must reckon with how their love – and future – is put to the test. Fresh from its world premiere at New York’s Off-Broadway theatre Manhattan Class Company (MCC Theater) in partnership with The Sol Project, MTC’s run marks the second production and West Coast Premiere of this vibrant new play about culture, family, joy, and healing in Washington Heights.

MTC closes out its 23-24 season with Torch Song, Harvey Fierstein’s newly revised two-act version of Torch Song Trilogy, a seminal work celebrating gay culture and its evolution over the span of the late 1970s and ‘80s that follows the life of Arnold Beckoff, a torch song-singing, Jewish drag queen living in New York City. Told with a likable, human voice, Torch Song follows Arnold’s odyssey through his cynical disillusionment with love to find happiness in New York. All he wants is a husband, a child, and a pair of bunny slippers that fit, but a visit from his overbearing mother reminds him that he needs one thing more than perhaps anything else: respect. Torch Song Trilogy first opened in its original three-act version on Broadway in June 1982 to great acclaim and played an award-winning three-year engagement, earning two Drama Desks and two Tony Awards, including for Best Play. This MTC revival of a landmark play by Fierstein, himself an icon and staple of American musical theatre and Broadway, draws us in to explore the families we’re born into, the families we choose, and the battles to bring them all home.