Sacred Fools Announces Season 23 For 2019-2020

The Sacred Fools Theater Company is excited to announce its upcoming 23rd Season (2019-2020), featuring two World Premieres and two West Coast Premieres. These four shows serve as the company's Prime Season, in addition to the high volume of late-night and off-night programming the company produces.

The season kicks off in September with Deadly, a World Premiere musical with book and lyrics by Vanessa Claire Stewart and music by Ryan Thomas Johnson, followed in November by Waiting for Waiting for Godot by Dave Hanson. Season 23 continues in early 2020 with Gifted by Bob DeRosa and concludes in the Spring with Antigone Presented by the Girls of St. Catherine's by Madhuri Shekar.

"This season at Fools you're going to see shows with extraordinary characters," says Artistic Director Aviva Pressman. "You're going to love, hate, roll your eyes at, and want to bear hug the people created on our stages."

Deadly

book and lyrics by Vanessa Claire Stewart, Music by Ryan Thomas Johnson

Directed by Jaime Robledo

(World Premiere, Opening Fall 2019)

1893. A time of hope and optimism as the World's Fair turns the globe's eyes toward Chicago. But within this cultural explosion of art and technology, a demon lurks beneath. Taking advantage of the modern woman's adventuresome spirit, H.H. Holmes builds a hotel - a murder castle - to entrap and kill unsuspecting ladies new to the big city.

From the team behind the critical and box-office hit Stoneface, playwright Vanessa Claire Stewart (Louis & Keely, Live at the Sahara), composer Ryan Thomas Johnson (Watson), and director Jaime Robledo (Mr. Burns, a post-electric play) Deadly examines one of the most famous true crime cases in history, through the unlikely lens of the victims' experience. This show will be staged on the Main Stage at the Broadwater Theater Complex.

Waiting for Waiting for Godot

by Dave Hanson

Directed by Jacob Sidney

(West Coast Premiere, Opening November 2019)

Ester and Val are understudies for a production of Waiting for Godot. They are committed to art, and frustrated by anonymity. They understand their purpose, but not the reasons they stay. They accept their fate, but question each other's motives, all while waiting for "him" to appear...

A "gleefully absurd" (Time Out New York) backstage farce packed with profound insight, existential dread, and shameless punchlines, Waiting for Waiting for Godot is the Beckett companion you didn't know you needed. Directed by Jacob Sidney (The Rose and the Rime), this show will be performed in the Broadwater Second Stage.

Gifted

by Bob DeRosa

Directed by Rebecca Larsen

(World Premiere, Opening Early 2020)

A young woman has a special power - she can tell the romantic fate of any couple she sees, but cannot tell the same for herself. Enter a world of love and longing, humor and heartbreak, with a touch of magical realism. There is no to fear we can't face in this world, because we are all gifted.

Penned by veteran screenwriter Bob DeRosa (Killers, White Collar) and directed by Rebecca Larsen, Gifted will be the next decade's first show in the Broadwater Black Box.

Antigone, Presented by The Girls of St. Catherine's

by Madhuri Shekar

Directed by Reena Dutt

(West Coast Premiere, Opening Spring 2020)

The St. Catherine's drama club is struggling to put up its first school play - Sophocles' Antigone. As if staging this tragedy in an all girls' Catholic school isn't challenging enough, the cast's beloved director ends up betraying them in an unforgivable way- And it's almost opening night! The cast must figure out the right course of action, all while rehearsing a classic play about impossibly difficult choices. What is the right thing to do? And must the show go on?

Closing out the season on the Broadwater Mainstage, Antigone, Presented by the Girls of St. Catherine's reunites the author with director Reena Dutt, who also directed Shekar's Monkey Love earlier this year as part of Sacred Fools' New Works series.

Additional Programming

Along with these mainstage shows, Sacred Fools will also continue its tradition of late-night and off-night programming, with announcements about ongoing shows and new programming coming soon.

Fools at the Hollywood Fringe Festival

Season 23 is several months away and there's so much happening before then, including three new shows premiering within a week at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. For more information about Aristophanes' The Birds, Jordan Maverick, History Teacher and Come Back!, see our previous press release here.

The Broadwater Plunge

A great place to drop in before or after a show, The Broadwater Plunge is celebrating its first year in the heart of Theatre Row catering to the theatergoing crowds in the Broadwater Theater Complex. For more information, visit www.thebroadwaterla.com.

No Patron will pay more than $15 for a Sacred Fools show

We believe that theatre should be accessible to everyone. That's why, for our 22nd season, we're continuing our commitment to lower ticket prices so that anyone who wants to experience live theatre has the opportunity to do so.

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