The Sacred Fools Theater Company Announces Season 22 Lineup

The Sacred Fools Theater Company is excited to announce its upcoming 22nd Season (2018-2019) along with the opener for its 23rd Season in the fall of 2019. The announced shows include three World Premieres and a West Coast Premiere, plus a co-production of a local favorite that took home the Top of Fringe award from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Starting in September with Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk by Burglars of Hamm and followed in November by The Value of Moscow by Amy Dellagiarino, Season 22 continues in the early Spring of 2019 with Too Heavy for Your Pocket by Jirén Breon Holder and concludes with Tangerine Sunset by Peter Fluet. Season 23 will kick off in the Fall of 2019 with Deadly, a new musical with book and lyrics by Vanessa Claire Stewart, music by Ryan Thomas Johnson.

"This season has so much of what Sacred Fools does best," says Artistic Director Aviva Pressman. "Shows that are different, push the envelope, take a stand, and are full of the best kind of foolishness."

Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk

(Opening October 2018)

Collaborating again with Sacred Fools after the acclaimed co-productions Land of the Tigers and The Behavior of Broadus, Burglars of Hamm will present their acclaimed production of this previously unknown masterpiece by Swedish playwright/provocateur Lars Mattsun (1849-1912). Through Mattsun's surreal theatricality and stunning wordplay, the audience is engulfed in the tale of a troubled young man named Philip, who follows a Mysterious Child into a world of art, sexuality and madness. Much of the original cast and production team return, including controversial director Todd Merrill. Resa has played to great acclaim in Los Angeles, Seattle, Edinburgh and New York, and won the Top of Fringe award at this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival.

"We are always thrilled to partner with Burglars of Hamm," notes Artistic Director Scott Leggett. "They are masters at holding the funhouse mirror up to nature, and Resa is a show that takes our artistic self-importance to task, in a clever and reflective way. We are delighted to bring this show to a wider audience."

The Value of Moscow by Amy Dellagiarino

(World Premiere, Opening November 2018)

There's no place like home... to make you wanna kill somebody. Three grown "adult" sisters are thrust back into living together as a last resort after their various lives have fallen apart. This trio can't even agree on how to unpack their stuff much less their relationships and pasts. And before they can finish the bottle of vodka they found in the kitchen, everything goes from bad to worse, to a lot, LOT worse. Can they set aside their grievances long enough to work together and save themselves? Probably not. But with acerbic wit and an encounter with the pizza man, these three sisters aim to find out. The Value of Moscow will be first mainstage show performed in the Broadwater Second Stage under the direction of Carrie Keranen.

"I love three things about The Value of Moscow: The eldest sister, the middle sister and the youngest sister," explains Keranen. "In them I see woman I know, women I have been, women I try so hard not to be, women I have yet to admit live inside me. If this play weren't so funny it would be downright tragic."

Too Heavy for Your Pocket by Jirén Breon Holder

(West Coast Premiere, January 2019)

In rural Tennessee at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, two young African-American couples struggle to understand justice, love, and their own responsibilities. Too Heavy for Your Pocket beautifully explores the sacrifices and tolls in the fight for freedom and equality that are placed, not only on the fighters, but the people they love. The play had its World Premiere at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta before moving to the Roundabout Theater in New York and won the 2017 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. This West Coast Premiere will be directed by Celebration Theatre Co-Artistic Director Michael A. Shepperd and will be performed in the Broadwater Black Box.

"We have been tracking Too Heavy For Your Pocket since its world premiere, and were deeply affected by the poetry and humanity on display in Jirén's work," Artistic Director Bryan Bellomo says. "We are honored to bring a west coast premiere to Los Angeles, and thrilled to finally have the opportunity to partner with Michael A. Shepperd, the perfect director to tell this delicate story of aspiration and familial love."

Tangerine Sunset by Peter Fluet

(World Premiere, Opening March 2019)

This homegrown play will close the 22nd Season in the Broadwater Main Stage. In the vein of Absolutely Filthy, Watson, A Kind of Love Story and Beaverquest!, Sacred Fools brings you another show created in its late-night comedy cauldron, Serial Killers. Tangerine Sunset tells the story of how, on a private island, on a palatial estate, a party attended by billionaire capitalists, movie stars, insane geniuses, and regular people cursed by fate, found themselves trapped on a dark intersection that led to murder, mayhem, and laughter. This show was part of the Fools' New Works Development Program and went through over a year-long process of workshops and re-writes. Tangerine Sunset will be directed by JJ Mayes (Live! From the Last Night of My Life, The Magic Bullet Theory).

"Tangerine Sunset is a larger than life, hilarious, Sacredly-Foolish play in every sense," producer Brian Wallis points out. "Peter Fluet and JJ Mayes have crafted a side-splitting, edge-of-your-seat, gothic horror-comedy that is truly worthy of a night at the theater. It's a fitting end to a Foolish season."

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

(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.

"Much has been written and lionized about 'America's First Serial Killer,' H.H. Holmes. But in the age of Me Too, I wanted to give these brave women their voices by reframing the narrative," Stewart says. "I think it is time to reconsider the man whose legend has grown while these 'disposable women' have been forgotten. The victims had all dreamed big enough to adventure alone to a new city- what could they have become? And how would they have enacted revenge if they could?"

The Broadwater Plunge

Sacred Fools is also excited about The Broadwater Plunge, the new bar in the heart of Theatre Row catering to theatergoing crowds open now in the Broadwater Theater Complex. For more information, visit www.thebroadwaterla.com. For media inquiries about the establishment, contact Colin Baugh at Emblem PR, colin@emblempr.com.

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.

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.

Sacred Fools Theater Company, the resident theater company of The Broadwater, 1078 Lillian Way (Santa Monica Blvd. and Lillian Way) on Theater Row, is a non-profit, ensemble-run theater company founded in 1997, committed to the development of new plays and projects that challenge traditional expectations of the theatrical experience.

For more information about any of our programming or the company itself, contact us at publicity@sacredfools.org and visit www.sacredfools.org.

For information regarding The Broadwater, please visit www.thebroadwaterla.com

To post a comment, you must register and login.