Red Bull Theater Unveils 2024-25 Season Featuring Productions, Readings & More

RED BULL THEATER revealed details of its 2024-'25 season, including the rolling world premiere of Medea: Re-Versed opening Off-Broadway; a new season of OBIE Award-winning Revelation Readings (offered both in-person and online); the fifth installment of Red Bull's acclaimed Hispanic Golden Age Classics; an all-star benefit performance of the beloved Tony and Drama Desk award-winning musical Two Gentlemen of Verona; and an all-new season of its popular Podcast series of intimate conversations with great artists. Summer will feature the 15th Annual Short New Play Festival, Red Bull's renowned annual presentation of classically inspired ten-minute plays, featuring world premieres by some of the most exciting established and emerging writers from across the country. 

And, coming in 2025: Mark Linn-Baker (“Perfect Strangers,” My Favorite Year, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opposite Nathan Lane, The Music Man with Hugh Jackman & Sutton Foster) will lead the World Premiere of a brand new version of Moliére's The Imaginary Invalid, written by Jeffrey Hatcher (Stage Beauty, Tuesdays with Morrie, Dial “M” for Murder) and directed by Red Bull Founder & Artistic Director Jesse Berger, the team that brought you the hit comedies The Government Inspector and The Alchemist. Dates, venue and additional cast information to be announced shortly.

This season will feature performances from an extraordinary roster of theater artists including Amir Arison, Shirine Babb, Kate Burton, Chuck Cooper, Kelley Curran, Darryl Gene Daughtry, Santino Fontana, Tom Hewitt, Luis Quintero, Mark Linn-Baker, Zachary Fine, Mark Martin, Ismenia Mendes, Jacob Ming-Trent, b Norwood, Maria-Christina Oliveras, William Parry, Mary Beth Piel, Matthew Rauch, Chauncy Thomas, John Douglas Thompson, Sarin Monae West, and many more to be announced. 

"Our 2024-25 season is one of rejuvenation and reunion, bringing together some of the finest artists of today to shine contemporary light on some of the greatest classics of our past – Bookended by Luis Quintero's startlingly fresh take on Euripides's Medea and Jeffrey Hatcher's singularly hilarious version of Moliére's The Imaginary Invalid, audiences and artists alike are in for rare treats of all kinds. And that's just the two Off-Broadway productions. Our signature Revelation Readings series range from the ancient Greeks with Carey Perloff and Timberlake Wertenbaker's new adaptation of Oedipus starring John Douglas Thompson, to contemporary plays in conversation with the classics like Jessica B. Hill's The Dark Lady exploring the love affair(s) that likely inspired Shakespeare's sonnets. And, you definitely don't want to miss a one-night-only chance to take in the great 1970 rock musical version of Two Gentlemen of Verona, on Monday December 16th with an all-star cast in a concert event! As we enter our third decade sharing great classic stories and plays of heightened language, the creative energies at Red Bull are burning bright with excitement for the season ahead, and beyond” said Mr. Berger.  

“I could not be more excited to share our upcoming season with Red Bull's patrons and audiences as we proudly enter our third decade of revitalizing the classics. With two daring adaptations of classics by Euripides and Moliere set to premiere Off Broadway, and the return of our Obie Award-winning Revelation Readings series featuring rarely seen plays brought to life by New York's finest theater artists, there has never been a better time to be a member of the vibrant and dynamic Red Bull Theater family. We look forward to delivering unforgettable experiences and provoking thoughtful engagement with timeless works, and invite all to join us in exploring these remarkable productions, readings, and events throughout the year,” said Red Bull Theater Executive Director Martin Giannini.

The 2024-'25 Season will see the Off-Broadway engagement of the rolling World Premiere of Medea: Re-Versed by Luis Quintero, co-conceived and directed by RBT Associate Artistic Director Nathan Winkelstein. An ice-cold, high-octane adaptation of Euripides' play written in battle rap verse, this brand-new hip-hop version of Medea sheds contemporary light on the classic tragedy of family, power, and revenge – as terrifying and shocking today as it was two thousand years ago. Quintero's version of the story reignites the sacred rage of our ancestors and illuminates in the most human terms the extraordinary lengths that some people will travel to even the scales of justice. Sarin Monae West stars in the title role, joined by Siena D'Addario, Melissa Mahoney, Mark Martin, Jacob Ming-Trent, Luis Quintero, and Stephen Michael Spencer.  Performances will be at the Sheen Center Frank Shiner Theatre beginning Thursday September 12th with Opening Night set for Monday September 23rd. This limited engagement will continue through October 13th only. Originally commissioned and developed by Red Bull Theater, the rolling World Premiere, Co-Produced with Bedlam and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, is in performances now through September 2nd outdoors in Garrison NY immediately prior to the Off-Broadway premiere at the Sheen Center Frank Shiner Theater. 

A special highlight of the upcoming season will be the one-night-only, all-star benefit performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona on Monday December 16th at Symphony Space's Peter Jay Sharp Theatre.  This groundbreaking rock musical has a book by John Guare (The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation) and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare, and music by Galt MacDermot (Hair), based on the Shakespeare comedy. The original Broadway production won the Tony Award for Best Musical, beating out Follies, Grease, and Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death. "What I really love about Two Gentlemen is its simplicity. Beneath all the multicolored gimmicks and extravagances, there are real people living and loving, and this I find very moving,” wrote Clive Barnes in The New York Times. Cast will be announced shortly.

Red Bull Theater continues its exploration of Hispanic Golden Age Classics with a Revelation Reading of The Beast of Hungary by Lope De Vega, in partnership with UCLA's Diversifying the Classics Initiative. World premiere English language translation by the UCLA Working Group on the Comedia in Translation and Performance. The live in-person performance, at Sheen Center Shiner Theatre, to also be simulcast online, will take place on Tuesday September 17th. Watch On-Demand from 7:30 PM ET on Wednesday, September 18th  through 11:59 PM ET on Monday, September 23. Directed by Nadia Guevara.

Tuesday October 15th will offer a special event: “Person Place Thing” with Kate Burton, hosted by Randy Cohen (“The Ethicist,” New York Times Magazine). In person at the Sheen Center Shiner Theatre. An interview show based on this idea: people are particularly engaging when they speak not directly about themselves but about something they care about. Guests talk about one person, one place, and one thing that is important to them. The result?  Surprising stories from great talkers. Previous interviews with Red Bull favorites Michael Urie, Santino Fontana and Patrick Page are available at personplacething.org.

Revelation Readings offer the unique opportunity to hear rarely-produced classic plays, and brand new plays in conversation with the classics, performed by the finest actors in New York. This year's slate of readings is sure to delight audiences all season long. Revelation Readings will take place online and in-person at various venues around NYC, and will include:

Tuesday October 8th – In Person Only

Another Medea written & directed by Aaron Mark, with Tom Hewitt

At Sheen Center Shiner Theatre

  

Thursday October 24th  – In Person & Online

Sardanapalus by Lord Byron, directed by Raz Golden, featuring Amir Arison,  Sanjit De Silva, Amir Malaklou, Shayvawn Webster, and more to be announced

In partnership with the Byron Society of America and the Keats-Shelley Association & the Keats-Shelley House in Rome

Live at Sheen Center Loreto Theatre - Thursday October 24th
Watch On-Demand - October 25 through October 30

 

Monday November 18th – In Person & Online

The Dark Lady by Jessica B. Hill

At Sheen Center Loreto Theatre

 

Monday January 27th –  In Person Only

The Tragedy of Hoffmann; Or, Revenge for A Father by Henry Chettle, directed by Nathan Winkelstein

Presented in association with The Acting Company

At Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space

 

Monday February 17th  – In Person & Online

The Misanthrope by Molière, a version by Martin Crimp, directed by Marc Vietor

In partnership with the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF)

Live At Florence Gould Hall at FIAF
On-Demand Tuesday, February 18 through Sunday, February 23
 

 

Monday March 24th – In Person & Online

The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe, directed by Jesse Berger

Live at Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space
On-Demand Tuesday, March 25 through Sunday, March 30

 

Monday April 27th & 28th – In Person Only

Oedipus by Sophocles, translated by Timberlake Wertenbaker, adapted & directed by Carey Perloff

Featuring John Douglas Thompson

Join celebrated stars of stage and screen for the Red Bull Theater Podcast (formerly RemarkaBULL Podversations), available on all podcasting platforms. Informal online conversations investigate approaches to essential passages from the Shakespearean and Jacobean canon and beyond. Dates and guests for the new season will be announced shortly. You can listen to recordings of past conversations with F. Murray Abraham, Kate Burton, Bill Camp, Grantham Coleman, André De Shields, Lisa Harrow, Chukwudi Iwuji, Zainab Jah, Dion Johnstone, Hamish Linklater, Elizabeth Marvel, Patrick Page, Matthew Rauch, Jay O. Sanders, Miriam Silverman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Urie, and more at redbulltheaterpodcast.buzzsprout.com. FREE!

Come Summer, Red Bull will present the 15th Annual Short New Play Festival. The next installment of this  renowned new play festival brings you eight new works by the most exciting playwrights from across the country, writing classically-inspired plays in response to the company's mission and on a singular theme each year. Over the Festival's fourteen-year history, Red Bull Theater has cultivated over 4,000 new short plays of classic themes and heightened language, presenting over 100 of them in one-night-only Festival performances with some of New York's finest actors. Commissioned playwrights have included Robert O'Hara, Madeleine, George, Larissa FastHorse, Marcus Gardley, John Guare, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Jeremy O. Harris, David Ives, Craig Lucas, Ellen McLaughlin, Dael Orlandersmith, Theresa Rebeck, Heather Raffo, José Rivera, Anne Washburn, Doug Wright, and winning entries by writers such as Anchuli Felicia King, Patricia Ione Lloyd, Lynn Rosen, and Jen Silverman. Stage Rights has published a 5-volume collection of the plays from the first 10 years of Red Bull Theater's annual Short New Play Festival as Red Bull Shorts.

Additional announcements about upcoming Classes, Workshops, Readings, Productions, Casting and more will be announced at a later date. Follow redbulltheater.com!

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