Hangar Theatre Announces 2022 Summer Season

The Hangar Theatre has announced its full 2022 Summer Season lineup. Artistic Director Shirley Serotsky (she/her) and Managing Director R.J. Lavine (they/she) are working with the Hangar staff to produce a roster of Mainstage theatrical experiences that include an unprecedented four musical theatre offerings, three regional premieres, and a diverse and exciting range of stories, that will take audiences around the world. Hangar patrons will travel from 1980s Ghana, Africa; to pre-WWII Berlin; to Imperial Russia; then to post-Mao Beijing, China; before touching back down in New York, NY for two brand new musicals.

Ithaca draws people from all over the globe, for many different reasons. Over the course of this season the Hangar aims to celebrate the crossroads of our community. While our opportunities for travel have been limited over the last two years of pandemic life, theatre is powerful: it brings stories from around the world that enrich, entertain, and enlighten, right here to Tompkins County.

"It was incredible witnessing the joy and delight that audiences experienced last summer, when we were finally back in person," shares Artistic Director Shirley Serotsky. "We aim to continue inspiring those ebullient feelings, while also touching on some big questions about humanity. There's an interesting throughline to this set of titles, nearly all of them take place in the moment before the moment when everything changes. And of course-we only know that with the retrospect of history. I've been thinking about those "moment before" times; could we be in one now? And are we doing all we can to create change for a positive way forward? Or are we looking away? The characters in these remarkable plays and musicals do both."

The Hangar is excited to tell these stories on the Niederkorn Stage inside the theater and on a newly designed outdoor stage with a canopied seating area. Producing a summer of regional premieres in two dynamic settings during a time of great change for gathering together to experience art is a joyful experience for the Hangar and our audiences.

"When we built the outdoor performance space last year, we knew that was the only way to bring live theatre safely back in 2021." Managing Director R.J. Lavine reflects, "What we didn't realize at the time was that simply taking theatre outside could make people feel welcome and at ease in a way that's harder to achieve in the indoor space. Parents of young children and brand new patrons told us that the open air venue helped them to fully enjoy the theatrical experience. We also heard an outpouring of gratitude from people who thought they'd never be able to step inside a theater again for the health risks that would pose. We are carrying forward those lessons in 2022 as we attempt to bring the best of what the indoor and outdoor performance spaces offer audiences." Planned upgrades to the 2022 outdoor venue include heightened and re-graded ground to improve drainage and accessibility, a 30-foot high pole tent that covers the stage and audience area and protects both from the elements, and brand new comfortable seating.

The summer season takes flight in June with Jocelyn Bioh's School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, a hilarious comedy that references the Tina Fey film in its subtitle,depicting the adolescent social structures and cafeteria gossip of a clique of boarding school girls in Ghana, Africa. The play reflects universal high school questions about friendship and identity while investigating specific themes of colorism and the impact of Western beauty standards.

Later in June, the stylish musical Cabaret, with music by John Kander (Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman), lyrics by Fred Ebb (Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman), and book by Joe Masteroff (She Loves Me) will transform the indoor Niederkorn stage to a swinging nightclub in Berlin, Germany during the Wiemer Republic. The memorable Emcee declares that, "Here, life is beautiful!" until, of course, it isn't. Notable for such memorable songs as "Willkommen", "Don't Tell Mama", and the eponymous "Cabaret", this dance-filled musical will dazzle and stun audiences while asking the resonant questions: how does an individual recognize the course of history veering towards persecution and oppression? What can we do to change it?

Come July, audiences can share in a unique musical theatre experience with Dave Malloy's Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. A breakout hit from 2012, the musical takes a fresh look at a 70-page section of Tolstoy's War and Peace, depicting forbidden love affairs, dramatic duels, and the search for the meaning of life. A score that combines Russian folk music, traditional musical theatre, techno dance music, and electropop will have audiences on their feet under the new outdoor stage canopy.

August brings The Great Leap, by Lauren Yee (Cambodian Rock Band), a story that combines the personal with the political, and a passion for the sport of basketball. In a riveting story that bounces between the US, where the sport originated, and China, where the game exceeds all others in popularity, a Chinese coach and his American counterpart explore what it means to represent your team, your country, and your own legacy.

The season will wrap up with a brand new performance series, Hangar Flight Test. This mini-festival of new work gives Hangar audiences the opportunity to experience concert stagings of two brand new musicals in development.

"Musicals are such an essential and beloved part of Hangar Theatre programming, and always have been-since Man of La Mancha opened the Hangar space in 1975," shares Serotsky, "but it's also a field in which Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC) writers and female, trans, and non-binary writers have historically been under-represented. Developing a musical requires a significant investment of time and resources, so we decided the best way to give back to the field would be to invest those resources into musical theatre works that include the voices of BIPoC writers and writers of underrepresented genders on their creative teams."

The series will also give local audiences the chance to be a part of the development process through talkbacks with the artists and feedback Q/As. The two additional Hangar Flight Test titles will be announced in February.

We are thrilled to welcome patrons to both of the Hangar Theatre's indoor and outdoor performance spaces. Our community's health and well being is our top priority. To ensure the safest and most enjoyable experience during your visit, we have established a comprehensive set of policies, regularly reviewed and updated by The Hangar a COVID-19 Safety Task Force of local health and medical professionals. To access the Hangar's most up-to-date COVID-19 Safety Plan please visit our website: https://hangartheatre.org/safety/.

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