Everyman Theatre Blends Global Perspectives, Women's Voices, and Truth-in-Storytelling for 2017-18 Season

Following up on a successful year accentuated by record-breaking subscribership and trailblazing new work, Everyman Theatre announces the six-play lineup for its 2017/18 Season, celebrating actor-driven storytelling through a lens of global diversity and stories inspired by true-life events.

The season includes acclaimed works from four women playwrights, including the poignant, lauded Intimate Apparel, from two-time Pulitzer winner Lynn Nottage, Lauren Gunderson's ruckus revisionist comedy, The Revolutionists, set during the Reign of Terror, only the second production of The Book of Joseph, the locally-inspired new play by Karen Hartman, and a co-production of Julia Cho's deliciously touching drama Aubergine, in association with Olney Theatre Center.

Everyman will also stage two revivals next season, including Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning masterpiece, Long Day's Journey Into Night and, as previously announced, the gripping, Tony Award-winning drama M. Butterfly, by David Henry Hwang.

"Several overlapping themes organically emerged during the course of designing our newest season," said Founding Artistic Director Vincent M. Lancisi. "From uplifting personal and collective legacies to unexpected truths hidden and discovered, Everyman Theatre's 27th season gives voice to characters and experiences that are not ordinarily heard. Audiences can expect acting and storytelling of the highest caliber, along with a satisfying, stimulating mix of genres, tones and points of view. These are six amazing works designed to illuminate, startle, and surprise-come early, often, and with friends!"

"Whether it's bold new work that inspires you, the incredible talent of our Resident Company of actors, or our mantra, 'great stories, well told,' Everyman's newest season delivers on the core strengths that we-and our audiences-hold most dear," said Managing Director Jonathan K. Waller. "Creating opportunities, experiences, and dialogues around great theatre is why we are here, and, through our mainstage, education and community engagement programs, we are delighted to provide so many ways for audiences to join along."

Everyman Theatre 2017/18 Season:

M. Butterfly
By David Henry Hwang
Directed by Vincent M. Lancisi
September 6 - October 8, 2017
East meets west. Fact meets fiction. Illusion meets reality. When a powerful French diplomat becomes enchanted with a divine Peking opera star, little can quell the thirst of their intoxicating desire-but this diva is hiding more than her true identity. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this season, David Henry Hwang's torrid and timeless Tony Award-winning M. Butterfly brings hide-and-seek to the stage in a gripping fable that proves the allure of fantasy and the power of obsession are a recipe for betrayal.

Intimate Apparel
By Lynn Nottage
October 18 - November 19, 2017
Wearing her heart on her sleeve while sewing intimates for her clientele, Esther is the talented African American seamstress in turn-of-the-century New York who has built a savings for herself making beautiful undergarments-while earnestly daydreaming of new beginnings, romantic possibilities, and the lingering affection she shares with a Jewish fabric merchant. But when an egregious deception cuts short heartfelt desires, can class, culture and circumstance outmatch the strength of human spirit? Inspired by a true story, Intimate Apparel is a heart-rending contemporary work in the style of an enduring classic-from the first female playwright to win two Pulitzers.

The Revolutionists
By Lauren Gunderson
December 6, 2017 - January 7, 2018
East Coast Premiere
Greetings from the French Revolution-where heads will roll. When you put former queen Marie Antoinette, assassin Charlotte Corday, playwright Olympe de Gouges, and Caribbean spy Marianne Angelle in a room together, literally ANYTHING can happen-especially big laughs! France's fight for equality and freedom propels itself to modern times with this bold, brave and blisteringly funny new work about feminism, legacy and standing up for one's beliefs. Who runs the world? The jury's still out, but these girls sure as hell changed it.

Long Day's Journey Into Night
By Eugene O'Neill
Directed by Donald Hicken
January 31 - March 4, 2018
What begins as an ordinary summer day at the Connecticut home of the Tyrone family morphs into a night filled with foggy, drink-laced demons where long-buried secrets are revealed - and once exposed cannot be ignored. A long-revered showcase for tour-de-force performances, Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning masterpiece (published posthumously) lays bare what we all know to be true: the ardor of familial love cannot always protect you. Long Day's Journey Into Night is an autobiographical insight into its late, legendary playwright - and a compassionately brutal look at one family's struggle to fight for and love itself.

Aubergine
By Julia Cho
Directed by Vincent M. Lancisi
Produced in association with Olney Theatre Center
March 14 - April 15, 2018
Mid-Atlantic Premiere
When words fail, a home-cooked meal transcends differences in this touching story of intergenerational connectedness, forgiveness and the sweetest spice of life: love. As a Korean family struggles to relate across emotional and cultural divides, it's the ingredients they share in common that lead to understanding. A perceptive and lyrical exploration of the act of cooking as a form of expression, Aubergine is a mouthwatering meditation on the beauty of life where hope is no mere ingredient-it's the main course.

The Book of Joseph
By Karen Hartman - Based on the life of Joseph A. Hollander and his family
Directed by Noah Himmelstein
May 9 - June 10, 2018
East Coast Premiere
Like so many great mysteries, it all began in an attic with a Dusty Old suitcase... The discovery of a stash of letters stamped with Swastikas opens clues to an untold family history spanning multiple generations in The Book of Joseph-the gripping true story of resilience and truth-tracking determination spanning Baltimore and beyond. Richard Hollander's book, Every Day Lasts a Year: A Jewish Family's Correspondence from Poland, is brought to the stage in this mesmerizing new adaptation that restores a family's uncharted legacy-celebrated by revelation and remembrance.

Tickets:

Subscriptions ($90-305) are now available for the 2017/18 season. Current subscribers must renew their subscriptions by June 18, 2017 in order to retain selected seats. New subscription orders will be accepted starting July 1, 2017. Single tickets go on sale August 1, 2017.

As part of Everyman's ongoing commitment for making theatre affordable and accessible to a wide audience, new for the 2017/18 season is an expansion of the popular "Check Us Out" subscription package (available exclusively to new subscribers) which includes either Tuesday evening or first Sunday evening performances for all shows, for $100 or less.

Find more information, pricing and buy tickets online (www.everymantheatre.org), by phone (410.752.2208), or at the Everyman Theatre Box Office (315 W. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21201).

About Everyman Theatre:

Everyman Theatre is a professional Equity theatre company celebrating the actor, with a Resident Company of artists from the Baltimore/DC area. Founded in 1990 by Vincent M. Lancisi, the theatre is dedicated to engaging the audience through a shared experience between actor and audience seeking connection and emotional truth in performance. Everyman is committed to presenting high quality plays that are affordable and accessible to everyone. The theatre strives to engage, inspire and transform artists, audiences and community through theatre of the highest artistic standards and is committed to embodying the promise of its name, Everyman Theatre.

MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to non-profit organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities. Funding for the Maryland State Arts Council is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Everyman Theatre is a proud member of the Bromo Tower Arts and Entertainment District and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.

Vincent M. Lancisi is the Founding Artistic Director of Everyman Theatre; Jonathan K. Waller is the Managing Director. For information about Everyman Theatre, visit www.everymantheatre.org.

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