Primary Stages Unveils 2024-25 40th Anniversary Season Featuring THE LIGHT AND THE DARK & More

PRIMARY STAGES has revealed programming for 2024-25 Season, celebrating its 40th anniversary.
 
“Since its inception, Primary Stages has been driven by a singular mission: to advance the art of playwriting,” said Artistic Director Erin Daley. “Throughout our history, visionary leaders have identified challenges in the field and met them head-on with innovative programs. From our founder Casey Childs, who recognized the need for a theater that could take risks and give new plays their first production; to Sue Breger, who understood the transformative power of theater for NYC Public Schools Students; to the legacy of Annie and Marvin Einhorn, whose mentorship led to The Einhorn School of Performing Arts; and Andrew Leynse, who created The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group to provide playwrights with a supportive community – each program has opened doors for new artists and audiences, enriching Off-Broadway. Through it all, our community of artists and patrons have steadfastly supported us across the evolving theater landscape, and as we reflect on four decades Off-Broadway, we are grateful for those who brought us here and those who will guide us into the future.”
 
The season will kick off in November 2024 with The Light and the Dark (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi), by Kate Hamill (Primary Stages’ critically acclaimed adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Little Women) and directed by Jade King Carroll (New Golden Age at Primary Stages). Primary Stages’s season will continue in March 2025 with Amerikin by Chisa Hutchinson (Redeemed), directed by Carroll. Casting and full creative teams will be announced at a later date. Primary Stages is the Resident Off Broadway Theater company at 59E59 Theaters.
 

THE LIGHT AND THE DARK (THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI)

In association with Chautauqua Theater Company
and in association with Jamie deRoy
By Kate Hamill
Directed by Jade King Carroll
November 2 – December 15, 2024
 
At the height of the Italian Renaissance, artists are reshaping the very image of humanity. Artemisia Gentileschi wants to become one of the great painters...but women are not thought capable of true artistry. With persistence and bravado she quickly establishes a groundbreaking perspective, but just as her career begins to gain momentum, a series of devastating betrayals crack the foundation of her life and art. Told through her piercing point of view, The Light and The Dark (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi) weaves a magnetic and empowering tapestry of art, ambition, rage, and resilience.
 
From Kate Hamill, the playwright behind Primary Stages’ critically acclaimed adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Little Women, comes a new play about how Gentileschi transcended trauma to become one of the most successful artists of her time and an inspiration for women throughout the ages.
 
Tickets to The Light and The Dark begin at $27 and are available now at 59e59.org/shows/show-detail/the-light-and-the-dark-the-life-and-times-of-artemisia-gentileschi/#schedule-and-tickets.
 

AMERIKIN

By Chisa Hutchinson
Directed by Jade King Carroll
Part of 59E59’s AMPLIFY Festival: Celebrating the work of Chisa Hutchinson
March 1 – April 15, 2025
 
In small-town Maryland, Jeff Browning resolves to give his newborn son every possible advantage – by joining a local white supremacist group. When his attempt to join is thwarted by some surprising ancestry test results, the line between “us” and “them” gets incredibly blurry. Jeff scrambles to maintain appearances, but his sanitized story starts to unravel when a prominent Black journalist and his daughter start asking questions.
 
Both bitterly funny and deeply compassionate, Amerikin explores the lengths we go to protect our own, the lies we tell ourselves, and the cost of division on us all.
 
Chisa Hutchinson developed Amerikin as part of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, and the play was featured in their 2018 Fresh Ink Reading Series.
 
Tickets to Amerikin begin at $27 and are available now at 59e59.org/shows/show-detail/amerikin/#schedule-and-tickets.
 
Additionally, Primary Stages will present a year-long discount ticketing initiative in collaboration with TodayTix. For Primary Stages’ 40th anniversary season of plays, TodayTix will offer $19.84 lottery tickets for every performance in honor of its founding in 1984, celebrating the many patrons and artists that make up their history and their future.
 
Primary Stages 40th Anniversary Season will also include a plethora of other events and engagement opportunities to connect their community of artists to audiences, including engagement events at their upcoming shows for Primary Stages members, artists, and alumni, in addition to their existing programming such as the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, Echoes Writers Group, Free Student Matinee Program, and the Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA). Primary Stages will also be introducing a new cohort of writers for their Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, which has been fostering the creation of new works by emerging playwrights for 29 years, and for their Echoes Writers Group, a year-long educational program focused on finding, nurturing, and amplifying the voices of women, non-binary, and gender non-conforming artists.
 
The Primary Stages 40th Anniversary Gala will take place on Monday October 7, 2024, at 6pm at Sony Hall (235 W 46th St). The event will honor Primary Stages Board President Marla Persky with the Einhorn Mentorship Award and The Laurents/Hatcher Foundation with the Andrew Leynse Commitment to New Plays Award. The Primary Stages Gala is the largest fundraiser of the theater’s season, and its income provides critical support for Primary Stages’ free educational programs benefiting over 1,000 teens and teachers annually. Performers for the 40th Anniversary Gala include Jay Armstrong Johnson (Parade, On the Town), Jen Cody (Ibsen’s Ghost, Shrek the Musical), Judy Gold (Yes, I Can Say That!, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother), Deidre Goodwin (Chicago, A Chorus Line), Brad Oscar (The Producers, Something Rotten), Julia Murney (Wicked, The Wild Party), Jonathan Raviv (On That Day in Amsterdam, The Band’s Visit), Ryan Vasquez (The Notebook, Hamilton), and Joy Woods (The Notebook, Six), with more to be announced. Following the Gala, Primary Stages will launch a 2-year, $5M fundraising campaign in celebration of its 40th anniversary.
 
Primary Stages also announced today the launch of The Liff Lab, an innovative new play development program named by The Sulzberger Rolfe Foundation in memory of Samuel “Biff” Liff, a legendary theater agent who helped hundreds of artists in their careers and, with Marvin and Anne Einhorn, played a vital part in the history and mission of Primary Stages. This annual program will provide an exceptional early to mid-career playwright with a 29-hour developmental workshop of an unproduced new work. 
 
The Liff Lab combines Primary Stages’ Artistic and Educational Initiatives by inviting two of our Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) students to participate in the workshop by observing rehearsals and assisting creative personnel. The students will gain meaningful professional experience and build industry relationships that can’t be found in a typical classroom setting. The workshop will conclude with a private reading of the play for invited guests and the larger ESPA community.
 
Primary Stages is thrilled to welcome playwright Alex Lin as the inaugural Liff Lab recipient. Alex is a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at Juilliard and has had work developed at Roundabout, Second Stage, NYTW, Ma-Yi, Two River, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Manhattan Theatre Club, among others. Primary Stages’ team and director Joshua Kahan Brody will help develop Alex’s play Laowang, a caustic and imaginative spin on King Lear in which an aging matriarch defends her Chinatown restaurant against developers as she battles her own fading and erratic memory. For more information about The Liff Lab, visit primarystages.org/liff-lab. 
 
This Spring, Primary Stages will produce the Primary Stages Variety Show. Directed by BD Wong, this cabaret-style evening of songs and scenes celebrates Primary Stages’ long history and the artists it’s supported along the way. More information about the Primary Stages Variety Show will be announced at a later date.