Geffen Playhouse Announces 2022/2023 Season, Including New Musical THE LONELY FEW Starring Lauren Patten

Geffen Playhouse today announced six productions that will make up the 2022/2023 season in its Gil Cates and Audrey Skirball Kenis Theaters, with one additional production to be announced for the Gil Cates Theater. The 2022/2023 season will launch September 6, 2022, and run through July 9, 2023.

The season will include a new original musical from Zoe Sarnak and Rachel Bonds, The Lonely Few, featuring Tony Award winner Lauren Patten (Jagged Little Pill). The Lonely Few is a love story between two women searching for a sense of home.

"The Geffen 2022/2023 season mixes epic storytelling and intimate experience, from Matthew López's Tony-winning The Inheritance to Katori Hall's beautifully rendered The Mountaintop," said Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Matt Shakman. "These large-scale masterpieces are interwoven with electrifying world premieres like Ramiz Monsef's thriller The Ants and the heart-pounding new musical The Lonely Few by Zoe Sarnak and Rachel Bonds. Theater is more alive than ever and we are excited to bring these unique worlds to life on The Geffen Playhouse stages."

"As we continue to celebrate our 25th Anniversary season, the 2022/2023 season lineup is one of our most inspired ever to lead us into the next 25 years," said Geffen Playhouse Executive Director Gil Cates, Jr. "Audiences have embraced the return to in-person performances and we are so thankful for our patrons and subscribers who continue to support the performing arts."

The 2022/2023 Gil Cates Theater season will launch with the Tony Award-winning (Best Play, Best Direction of a Play, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play) Stephen Daldry production of playwright Matthew López's The Inheritance, making its West Coast premiere and directed by Mike Donahue. The Inheritance first premiered in London at the Young Vic in 2018 before moving to New York and making its Broadway premiere in November 2019.

The season will continue in the Gil Cates Theater with the West Coast premiere of playwright Lee Edward Colston II's epic drama The First Deep Breath, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, which chronicles the depths families will go to hide their skeletons from the outside world and one another.

Closing the Gil Cates Theater lineup will be playwright Katori Hall's The Mountaintop, a deeply moving story that takes place the night before Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, after delivering his history-altering "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech. The Mountaintop will be directed by Patricia McGregor, who returns to Geffen Playhouse after directing the critically acclaimed and sold-out run of Lights Out: Nat "King" Cole on the Gil Cates Theater stage in 2019, which was also co-written by McGregor and Colman Domingo.

One additional production will join the Gil Cates Theater lineup and be announced at a later date.

The 2022/2023 Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater season will be a full lineup of world premieres and commence with actor and playwright Ramiz Monsef's The Ants, a horror play infused with darkly humorous social commentary. Monsef previously appeared at the Geffen in Guards at the Taj (2015) and Mysterious Circumstances (2019). Next up will be Drama Desk Award-nominated mentalist Vinny DePonto and co-writer Josh Koenigberg's Mindplay. Keeping in the spirit of the Geffen's long tradition of magic, Mindplay is an entirely new theatrical event in which your thoughts play a leading role.

Geffen Playhouse will continue its longstanding relationship with City National Bank (CNB) for its 2022/2023 season.

THE ANTS (Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater)

WORLD PREMIERE

Sep 6 - Oct 16, 2022

Written by Ramiz Monsef

Directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh

A breathtaking house on a hill-complete with the most state-of-the-art security that excessive wealth can buy-should feel like a refuge for Nami, whose recent firing and eviction have forced him to crash at his brother and sister-in-law's luxury home. But on this dark and fateful night, a violent uprising outside leaves the three trapped in what they think is an impenetrable fortress. A horror play infused with darkly humorous social commentary, The Ants asks why we spend so much money protecting ourselves instead of investing in our shared humanity.

This play was created during The Geffen Playhouse's The Writers' Room program, in which Los Angeles playwrights develop new works with the support and guidance of The Geffen Playhouse artistic team. Major support for this world premiere production provided by the Edgerton Foundation New Play Production Fund.

THE INHERITANCE (Part 1 & Part 2) (Gil Cates Theater)

WEST COAST PREMIERE

Sep 13 - Nov 27, 2022

Written by Matthew López

Directed by Mike Donahue

In contemporary Manhattan, Eric and Toby are 30-somethings who seem to be very much in love and thriving. But on the cusp of their engagement, they meet an older man haunted by the past, and a younger man hungry for a future. Chance meetings lead to surprising choices as the lives of three generations interlink and collide-with explosive results.

The Inheritance reunites Geffen Playhouse alums Matthew López & Mike Donahue (The Legend of Georgia McBride, 2017) for an extended run of the celebrated Stephen Daldry production after its Olivier Award-sweeping London and Tony Award-winning Broadway runs.

A grant from The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation is providing support for this production.

MINDPLAY (Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater)

WORLD PREMIERE

Nov 8 - Dec 18, 2022

Created & Performed by Vinny DePonto

Written by Vinny DePonto & Josh Koenigsberg

Directed by Andrew Neisler

Produced with Eva Price

Mindplay is a love letter to the imperfect mind. Drama Desk Award-nominated theater-maker and mentalist Vinny DePonto leads us on a raucous romp through the back channels of our innermost thoughts, exploring the fragmented and flawed nature of our memories, and asks us to question whether we can trust the voice inside our heads. In the spirit of the Geffen's long tradition of magic comes an entirely new theatrical event in which your thoughts play a leading role.

Major support for this world premiere production provided by the Edgerton Foundation New Play Production Fund.

THE FIRST DEEP BREATH (Gil Cates Theater)

WEST COAST PREMIERE

Jan 31 - Mar 5, 2023

Written by Lee Edward Colston II

Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III

Pastor Albert Jones and his family are proud leaders of the Mother Bethel Baptist Church and pillars of their community. Plans are being made for a special memorial service to honor their late daughter Diane on the sixth anniversary of her passing. But when Abdul-Malik, the eldest son whom Albert blames for her death, returns home from prison, the family's veneer begins to crack as shocking revelations come to light. A ferocious new epic written by Lee Edward Colston II, The First Deep Breath chronicles the depths families will go to hide their skeletons from the outside world and each other.

THE LONELY FEW (Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater)

WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL & Geffen Playhouse COMMISSION

Feb 28 - Apr 9, 2023

Book by Rachel Bonds

Music & Lyrics by Zoe Sarnak

Directed by Tyne Rafaeli

Produced in Association with FourthWall Theatrical

Featuring Lauren Patten

Additional casting to be announced.

Lila (Lauren Patten, Tony Award winner for Jagged Little Pill) is getting by in her Kentucky hometown-scanning groceries at the Save-A-Lot, caring for her erratic brother, and living for Friday nights, when she plays a gig with her band The Lonely Few. And that's enough. Or she thought it was, until Amy, an established musician ragged from the road, passes through and offers her a shot at something much, much bigger. But is Lila ready for the life she never dared to imagine? A world premiere musical by Zoe Sarnak and Rachel Bonds, The Lonely Few is a love story between two women searching for a sense of home.

This play was commissioned as part of The Geffen Playhouse's New Play Development Program thanks to the generosity of Sandra Krause and William Fitzgerald. Major support for this world premiere production provided by the Edgerton Foundation New Play Production Fund.

TO BE ANNOUNCED (Gil Cates Theater)

Apr 4 - May 7, 2023

THE MOUNTAINTOP (Gil Cates Theater)

Jun 6 - Jul 9, 2023

Written by Katori Hall

Directed by Patricia McGregor

It's April 3, 1968 and Martin Luther King, Jr. returns to the Lorraine Motel after delivering his history-altering "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech. When he orders room service, a young maid arrives with a revelation that calls Dr. King to confront unwelcome truths. As a lightning storm rages outside, the legacy of America's most revered civil rights leader is laid bare to reveal his profound humanity. A single night's reckoning with racism, righteousness, and the rocky path toward justice, The Mountaintop imagines what Dr. King's last night on Earth could have been.