Louisville, KY: Actors Theatre of Louisville announces the 2019-2020 Season, beginning in September, with exciting work from Idris Goodwin, Fiasco Theater, Sarah DeLappe and Tazewell Thompson. Season ticket packages are now on sale and available at ActorsTheatre.org.
This year will mark the 25th anniversary of Fifth Third Bank’s sponsorship of holiday favorites Dracula and A Christmas Carol. Thanks to strong community support, thousands of audience members each season enjoy thrills, chills and holiday memories with their families at Actors Theatre.
Actors Theatre kicks off the Brown-Forman Series with Hype Man: a break beat play by Idris Goodwin, a Humana Festival alumnus (How We Got On) and producing artistic director of Louisville’s Stage One Family Theatre. Beginning September 11 in the Victor Jory Theatre, Hype Man is the story of an ambitious hip-hop trio who confront their relationships to music, racism, and each other when the shooting of a young black man makes headlines. TheaterMania described Hype Man as “a loud and clear clarion call for blacks and whites, cops and civilians, and everyone to get on up and openly, honestly discuss America’s ongoing problems of racial violence and inequality.”
Actors Theatre and award-winning creative ensemble Fiasco Theater will untangle Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure with “song, sex, slapstick, scandal, and settling scores” (New Haven Independent). Fiasco company members Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld will co-direct in the Pamela Brown Auditorium as part of the Bingham Signature Shakespeare Series; performances begin October 9.
Award-winning playwright Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves will kick off 2020 at Actors Theatre. The titular “Wolves” are a high school girls’ soccer team, and the play follows their warm-ups as they navigate questions big and small, vividly capturing “the scary, exhilarating brightness of raw adolescence” (The New York Times). Critically acclaimed for its incisive voice and heart, and described by Forbes as “a milestone for women in entertainment,” The Wolves was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2016 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Yale Drama Series Prize. Performances begin January 8 in the Bingham Theatre.
The season continues with Jubilee, a moving and uplifting a cappella tribute about America’s earliest and most famous singing group. Described as a “Band of Angels,” The Fisk Jubilee Singers toured the country and Europe, using their glorious voices to sing songs in the hope of raising funds to save their school in Nashville, Tennessee. Written and directed by Tazewell Thompson with vocal arrangements by Dianne Adams McDowell, Jubilee features more than 36 spirituals performed by a company of 13 talented performers. Jubilee begins performances on January 29 in the Pamela Brown Auditorium.
Actors Theatre will celebrate the holidays with Louisville’s favorite traditions: Fifth Third Bank’s Dracula, adapted by William McNulty, September 6—October 31, and Fifth Third Bank’s A Christmas Carol, adapted by Barbara Field, November 23—December 23. Joe Mantello’s theatrical adaptation of David Sedaris’s hilarious The Santaland Diaries is back by popular demand; the irreverent audience favorite will play in the Victor Jory Theatre, November 24—December 23.
The 2019-2020 Season will culminate in the 44th Humana Festival of New American Plays, March 1—April 12, 2020. The Humana Festival is a world-renowned event, and an opportunity to see groundbreaking, brand-new work by the American theatre’s most talented playwrights. The Festival is underwritten by the Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana, Inc. The 44th Humana Festival lineup will be announced in November 2019.
The 2019-2020 Season will once again feature a season of performances produced by the Theatre’s Professional Training Company (PTC) including the New Voices Young Playwrights Festival. The PTC season often includes free or low-cost performances presented outside the Theatre’s downtown complex, part of the Theatre’s commitment to promoting brave and inclusive work. The 2019-2020 PTC season will be announced in early September.
The 2019-2020 Season is generously supported by Brown-Forman, the official season sponsor, with additional support from Fund for the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Council and Yum! Brands, which supports the student matinee series.
2019-2020 Season Ticket Packages are on sale now, with 6- and 8-Play Brown-Forman Series Season Ticket Packages starting at $139. Brown-Forman Season Ticket Holders receive a host of benefits, including free admission to exciting Actors Theatre events, 30% off additional ticket purchases and discounted parking. Packages are also available for seniors, educators and individuals 35 years of age and under. Single tickets for Fifth Third Bank’s Dracula and A Christmas Carol as well as The Santaland Diaries will go on sale on July 9 and the entire 2019-2020 Season will go on sale on July 31. Actors Theatre’s Box Office is located at 316 West Main Street, Louisville, KY, 40202, and can be reached by calling 502.584.1205.
Actors Theatre is committed to making the theatregoing experience accessible to everyone and offers open captioned, audio-described and sensory-friendly and relaxed performances throughout the season. Large print programs, assistive listening devices and sensory sensitivity kits are available at every performance. For a full performance schedule and more information about Actors Theatre’s access services, visit ActorsTheatre.org/accessibility.
ovember 2019.
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