Theater
Jun 29, 2021

GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE ANNOUNCES SEPTEMBER REOPENING AND NEW SEASON LINEUP

GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE ANNOUNCES REIMAGINED 25th ANNIVERSARY SEASON LINEUP FOR SEPTEMBER REOPENING AND A RETURN TO IN-PERSON PERFORMANCES!

Image Credit: Geffen Playhouse

We are so thrilled about the return of live theater, that we had to capitalize the announcement. The Geffen’s 25th Anniversary season will launch September 14, 2021, and run through July 24, 2022. In addition to two productions rescheduled from the partially cancelled 2019/2020 season, The Enigmatist and Man of God, the lineup features new titles Paradise BluePower of Sail and TRAYF, all making their West Coast premieres. Two additional productions to be performed in the Gil Cates Theater will be announced at a later date, completing the season.

To launch its 2022/2023 season next year, Geffen Playhouse will present the Stephen Daldry production of playwright Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance, directed by Mike Donahue. The Inheritance was previously announced as part of the original Geffen Playhouse 25th Anniversary season.

The Anniversary Program runs as follows:

GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE 25th ANNIVERSARY SEASON

THE ENIGMATIST 

(Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater) WEST COAST PREMIERE Written & Performed by David KwongSeptember 14 – October 30, 2021
Can you solve the enigma? From the creator and performer of the hit virtual production Inside the Box comes an immersive experience of puzzles and cryptology. Following a sold-out New York City run in 2019, renowned magician and The New York Times crossword constructor David Kwong brings his popular in-person show to the Geffen Playhouse. Clues are everywhere, so keep your eyes open and be ready for surprises behind every multi-layered illusion.


PARADISE BLUE 

(Gil Cates Theater)WEST COAST PREMIERE Written by Dominique MorisseauDirected by Stori AyersNovember 9 – December 12, 2021
Welcome to the sultry, jazz-filled Paradise Club. It’s 1949 in Detroit, and trumpet-playing club owner Blue has a tough decision to make. Should he sell his jazz joint as gentrification is banging on the door? The house band is desperate to stay, Blue’s demons are tempting him to leave, and the arrival of a seductive stranger turns everything upside down. In Tony Award-nominated playwright Dominique Morisseau’s (Ain’t Too Proud, Skeleton Crew) powerful noir-inspired drama, a makeshift family and their troubled bandleader find themselves fighting for the future of Paradise.

 POWER OF SAIL 

(Gil Cates Theater) WEST COAST PREMIEREWritten by Paul GrellongDirected by Weyni MengeshaProduced with Daryl RothFeaturing Hugo Armstrong, Amy Brenneman, Bryan Cranston, Tedra Millan and Seth NumrichAdditional casting to be announced.February 1 – March 13, 2022
Distinguished Harvard professor Charles Nichols (Emmy & Tony Award winner Bryan Cranston) finds himself in hot water after inviting an incendiary white nationalist to speak at his annual symposium. His colleagues are concerned, his students are in revolt, but Charles is undeterred in his plot to expose and academically thrash his invited guest. This profoundly relevant new play by Paul Grellong (The Boys, Manuscript) examines the insidiousness of hate disguised as free speech and the question of who ultimately pays the price.
Sponsored by City National Bank. 

TRAYF 

(Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater)WEST COAST PREMIERE Written by Lindsay JoelleDirected by Maggie BurrowsMarch 1 – April 10, 2022
Zalmy lives a double life. By day, he drives a Chabad “Mitzvah Tank” through 1990s New York City, performing good deeds with his best friend Shmuel. By night, he sneaks out of his orthodox community to roller-skate and listen to rock and roll. But when a curious outsider offers him unfettered access to the secular world, is it worth jeopardizing everything he’s ever known? This road-trip bromance is a funny and heartwarming ode to the turbulence of youth, the universal suspicion that we don’t quite fit in, and the faith and friends that see us through. 

TO BE ANNOUNCED (Gil Cates Theater)April 19 – May 22, 2022 

MAN OF GOD 

(Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater) Written by Anna Ouyang Moench Directed by Maggie BurrowsMay 24 – July 3, 2022 

During a mission trip to Bangkok, the four members of a Korean Christian girls’ youth group discover that their revered pastor has hidden a camera in their hotel bathroom. Samantha is personally wounded that Pastor would do this to her. Jen is worried about how this might affect her college applications. Mimi’s out for blood, as usual. And Kyung-Hwa thinks everyone needs to have lower expectations for men. Their communal rage and disillusionment fuel increasingly violent revenge fantasies amidst the no-holds-barred neon bubblegum sex-tourism mecca of Bangkok. Man of God is a funny feminist thriller about that moment when girls realize the male gaze has been watching all along—and decide they’re definitely gonna do something about it.


TO BE ANNOUNCED (Gil Cates Theater)June 21 – July 24, 2022