THE FERRYMAN to Have Post-Broadway Premiere at San Francisco Playhouse

Broadway's The Ferryman is among the plays the 2020-2021 Mainstage Season at San Francisco Playhouse. The production marks the first production of the Tony-winning drama since its Broadway run as well as its West Coast premiere.

The company will also present Oliver!, Lionel Bart's Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel. Yasmina Reza's celebrated comedy Art, which the company produced as part of its 2004/05 Season, will return to the San Francisco Playhouse stage.

American Son by Christopher Demos-Brown, an unrelenting new drama, will receive its West Coast premiere, following a critically acclaimed Broadway run. Finally, the Playhouse will present a revival of the musical classic A Chorus Line by Marvin Hamlisch, Edward Kleban, James Kirkwood, and Nicholas Dante.

The announcement was made on a live streaming "virtual announcement party" with subscribers and special guests. San Francisco Playhouse will announce the full calendar of dates for the 20/21 Season, as well as a sixth play selection, at a future date.

"This is a season all about challenges," said Bill English, Artistic Director. "We all face the challenge to be our best selves as humans and are constantly tested by external obstacles and catastrophic forces of nature. Often, however, these obstacles are made of fictional constructs: oppression, hatred, prejudices, racism, inequity, as well as self-imposed standards by which we measure our own worth. This season, we are going to explore the ways in which these fictions get in our way and how we watch as people struggle to break through them or are enabled by them. It is a season about challenges and about the hope that awaits on the other side."

Get full details here:

THE FERRYMAN

West Coast Premiere by Jez Butterworth

It's 1981 in Northern Ireland, and the Carney farmhouse is a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest. A day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor. The Ferryman was the recipient of 4 Tony Awards in 2019, including Best Play.

OLIVER!

Musical Revival

Music, Lyrics, and Book by Lionel Bart
Based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

The streets of Victorian England come to life as Oliver, a malnourished orphan in a workhouse, searches for what it means to be part of a family. Lionel Bart's classic musical received the 1963 Tony Award for Best Original Score, and was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film.

ART

By Yasmina Reza

Serge has purchased a very expensive modern work of art: a five-feet-by-four-feet painting of white diagonal lines on a white canvas, Marc cannot believe that a friend of his could possibly spend so much money on such a piece, and Yvan wants everyone to get along. Their friendships are tested as they wonder, "are you who you think you are, or are you who your friends think you are?"

AMERICAN SON

West Coast Premiere by Christopher Demos-Brown

In this gripping and unrelenting drama, an estranged bi-racial couple must confront their feelings about race and bias after their son is detained by the local police following a traffic stop incident. American Son asks us who we are as a nation, and how we deal with love, loss, and identity.

A CHORUS LINE

Musical Revival

Music by Marvin Hamlisch, Lyrics by Edward Kleban, and Book by James Kirkwood, and Nicholas Dante

Seventeen Broadway dancers are auditioning for eight spots on a chorus line. Exploring the inner lives and bittersweet ambitions of performers, A Chorus Line captures the spirit, tension, and hope of an audition.

The Playhouse's award-winning Sandbox Series of World Premieres will begin its 12th season of new plays in 2020. The lineup for the Sandbox Series will be released in a separate announcement this summer.

Season Subscriptions are available immediately online at
https://www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/subscribe-2020-21-season/, or by calling the box office at 415-677-9596. Single Tickets will go on sale to the public in summer 2020.