World Premiere & More Set for Actors Theatre of Louisville 2024-25 Season

Actors Theatre’s 2024–2025 Season uplifts stories and amplifies voices from myriad perspectives to connect with and learn from a diversity of people, ideas, and cultures. In its 50th anniversary year as the State Theatre, Actors Theatre will engage in meaningful community partnerships with fellow arts and service organizations around the region and will continue to share new work, revive relevant classics, and offer exciting experiences as part of the company’s Storytelling (r)Evolution!

Starting on May 31, 2024 and continuing into Pride month, Actors Theatre of Louisville will partner with Drag Daddy Productions on the world premiere of Won’t you be my May-bor? by Andrew Newton Schaftlein and Eric Sharp, starring drag performer May O’Nays (Schaftlein), and directed by Emily Tarquin, Actors Theatre’s Executive Producer and Co-Director of Artistic Programming. In this production, May O'Nays portrays an escape room artist who has conquered every room but one—the elusive Mr. Rogers room. Unlike conventional escape rooms, this experience demands a shift in perspective as solving this puzzle will take patience, mindfulness, and deep listening. This interactive journey, inspired by the teachings of Mr. Rogers, will be a collective exploration of what it truly means to be a good neighbor. Won’t you be my May-bor? will premiere in the Victor Jory Theater with a special sneak peek supported by the Fund for the Arts, before heading out to Owensboro, Hazard, and other communities throughout Kentucky. 

Also in June, Actors Theatre continues the tradition of empowering and supporting young talent through the New Voices program, supported by the LG&E and KU Foundation and the Norton Foundation. Students ages 14-19 will collaborate with the nationally recognized ensemble UNIVERSES in a bilingual summer intensive exploring creative expression through writing, musically infused poetic storytelling, rhythm and dance, while drawing from UNIVERSES’ tour-de-force production Slanguage. New Voices will culminate with a public showcase on June 29 in the Bingham Theater. 

On Juneteenth, UNIVERSES will perform a concert selection of works that have been produced at Actors Theatre (Party People, Ameriville, Slanguage) to celebrate and recognize the significant contribution of the global majority and specifically Black communities in our continued societal prosperity while raising awareness of the systems and practices that continue to do harm and sustain oppression. This dynamic event brings back the award-winning ensemble whose work fuses theater, poetry, dance, jazz, hip hop, blues and boleros for a kinetic one-night-only performance.

On July 13, please join us at Alberta O. Jones Park for the world premiere of Who Killed Alberta Jones? by Larry Muhammad. In partnership with the Parks Alliance of Louisville, Actors Theatre of Louisville will present Redline Performing Arts’ world-premiere production of this incredible play that tells the story of Alberta Odell Jones, the first Black woman to pass the bar in Kentucky. Jones was a prominent attorney and activist for voting rights, representing both vulnerable and prominent figures like Muhammad Ali. Jones' life was tragically cut short and her murder remains an unsolved case. Following the premiere in the park, the city's newest public green space, there will be several performances in the Victor Jory Theater in August. 

In October, the king of the vampires will once again meet his demise in Kate Hamill's thrillingly inventive Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, based on the novel by Bram Stoker and directed by Jennifer Pennington. Hamill gleefully drives a stake through the sexism in Stoker’s time—and our own—by centering the women characters. While pregnant, Mina Harker plays a leading role in confronting the monster, challenging the notion that motherhood diminishes a woman’s strength or heroism. You won’t find damsels in distress here, but you will find a compelling dose of humor and horror.

Actors Theatre is thrilled to engage in a second partnership with Redline Performing Arts in November by presenting their production of The Color Purple, based upon the novel by Alice Walker and the Warner Bros./Amblin Entertainment Motion Picture, with a book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray. The Color Purple tells the story of a young African American girl named Celie who lives in rural Georgia in the early 1900s. Deemed inferior in the United States' caste system, Celie encounters racism, sexism, abuse, and challenges to her own sexuality. She perseveres thanks to her relationships with other women, such as her sister Nettie and her lover Shug Avery. Despite the numerous attempts to ban the novel The Color Purple, it continues to be a celebrated and powerfully resonant story that Actors Theatre will be proud to share on the stage of the Pamela Brown Auditorium. 

This December, Actors Theatre of Louisville will illuminate the darkest time of year with a family-friendly celebration of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. Impact Producer and Co-Director of Artistic Programming Amelia Acosta Powell will direct this playful, music-filled retelling of a familiar folktale with a title soon to be announced. The production’s run will include a series of student matinees as well as daytime and early evening performances. Student matinees receive support from Yum! Brands and permit Actors Theatre of Louisville to subsidize these offerings and aid schools throughout the region in attending.

Having been friends and supporters of each other’s work for so long, Actors Theatre of Louisville is excited to host Kentucky Shakespeare’s winter production of The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Amy Attaway, current Associate Artistic Director of Kentucky Shakespeare and a former Actors Theatre staff member whom the company is delighted to welcome back to the Pamela Brown Auditorium. Kick off 2025 with Oscar Wilde’s “trivial comedy for serious people,” which explores the hypocrisy of Victorian society and is widely considered his greatest and wittiest achievement. 

In February, get ready to celebrate as Actors Theatre throws another Mrs Krishnan’s Party, presented by New Zealand’s Indian Ink Theatre Company, by Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis, directed by Justin Lewis. This one-of-a-kind production brought so much joy, energy, and community to the Victor Jory Theater last year that it had to return so that more audiences could experience what unfolds in this surprising and heartfelt celebration of life.

Four years in the making, Actors Theatre finally gets the chance to have Flex in their court in Spring 2025. This extraordinary play about a high school women’s basketball team in rural Arkansas is written by Candrice Jones and will be directed by Actors Theatre’s 2022–23 SDCF Lloyd Richards New Futures Resident Artist, Kendra Ware. Flex was mere days away from a 2020 world premiere in the Bingham Theater when the pandemic shut it down. The play has since been celebrated as a breakout work and its resonance has only continued to deepen. Actors Theatre believes this story is vital to share with Louisville as it uplifts a story of Black women in the South. There is also a key storyline about a teammate’s pregnancy, and the play powerfully explores what having choices really means and how pathways to the future are shaped within the circumstances these young women face. Their ability to find ways to rally in solidarity and friendship feels perfectly in sync with Actors Theatre’s investment in storytelling that promotes well-being, healing, and joy. 

Actors Theatre of Louisville’s dedication to supporting the creation of new work continues throughout the season as well as in our Storytelling (r)Evolution Lab. The Lab is a research and development (R&D) space of year-round innovation and experimentation that creates opportunities to nurture artists and creative collaborations at the intersection of artistic practice and holistic health. Actors Theatre will highlight a new project in development within the Lab environment this season, with details to be announced at a later date.

Last, and aptly so, Actors Theatre will continue The After Show Show, a late-night cabaret series hosted by Drag Queens Dusty Ray Bottoms and May O’Nays. Inspired by New York cabarets where Broadway performers sing something from their books after performing in another show, The After Show Show seeks to keep the party going by inviting local, touring, and youth performers to share their talents and offer a selection of their choosing. Look for dates to be announced following performances at Actors Theatre or Kentucky Performing Arts to extend your night out!

2024–2025 Season Listing

Actors Theatre of Louisville's 2024–2025 Season will go on sale on a rolling basis, starting April 23 with first access to Members for our summer offerings. Memberships are free to join and all include priority access for tickets and a digital library of work. Paid Memberships come with additional features that include no ticket fees and discounted rates. Memberships also support Actors Theatre’s mission, community partnerships, and learning and creative engagement endeavors. Join today to become a part of the Storytelling (r)Evolution!*

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World Premiere
Presented by Drag Daddy Productions

Won’t you be my May-bor? 

by Andrew Newton Schaftlein and Eric Sharp
starring May O’Nays
directed by Emily Tarquin
May 31–June 8, 2024 in the Victor Jory Theater
June-August 2024, various locations throughout the Commonwealth
 

A Juneteenth Celebration

UNIVERSES in Concert 
June 19, 2024
in the Bingham Theater

New Voices 

featuring work by students ages 14-19
from the Bilingual Summer Intensive with UNIVERSES
June 29, 2024
in the Bingham Theater

World Premiere
Presented by Redline Performing Arts in partnership with the Parks Alliance of Louisville

Who Killed Alberta Jones? 

by Larry Muhammad
July 13, 2024 at Alberta O. Jones Park
August 8–10, 2024 in the Victor Jory Theater

Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy

based on the novel by Bram Stoker
by Kate Hamill
directed by Jennifer Pennington
October 2–20, 2024
in the Bingham Theater

Presented by Redline Performing Arts

The Color Purple 

based upon the novel written by Alice Walker
and the Warner Bros./Amblin Entertainment Motion Picture
book by Marsha Norman
music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray
produced in partnership with Actors Theatre of Louisville
November 15–24, 2024
in the Pamela Brown Auditorium

A Hanukkah Tale, To Be Announced

directed by Amelia Acosta Powell
December 11–22, 2024
in the Victor Jory Theater 

Presented by Kentucky Shakespeare

The Importance of Being Earnest 

by Oscar Wilde
directed by Amy Attaway
January 11–19, 2025
in the Pamela Brown Auditorium

Presented by Indian Ink Theatre Company

Mrs Krishnan’s Party 

by Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis
directed by Justin Lewis
February 7–23, 2025
in the Victor Jory Theater
 

Flex

by Candrice Jones
directed by Kendra Ware
March 26–April 6, 2025
in the Bingham Theater

The After Show Show
hosted by Dusty Ray Bottoms and May O’Nays
Dates To Be Announced throughout the 2024–2025 season
in the Victor Jory Theater

*Additional programming will be added throughout the year

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