Pennsylvania's Theatre Horizon Announces 2020-2021 Season: Road Trips, Reckonings, And Red Velvet

Theatre Horizon, a professional, award-winning theatre company located in Norristown, Pennsylvania, is proud to announce their 2020-2021 season, aptly titled ROAD TRIPS, RECKONINGS, AND RED VELVET. The six-show season, the first for new Artistic Director Nell Bang-Jensen, features a variety of performances and programs, including three Philadelphia premieres, all directed by women.

"In a desensitized and polarized America, I am compelled to create theater that makes spaces for feelings," said Artistic director Nell Bang-Jensen. "All of the shows in Theatre Horizon's 2020-2021 season center a momentous reckoning with the past as its characters stretch towards a more collective future."

Fans of Theatre Horizon's long-standing legacy for producing memorable musicals will be thrilled to welcome the Philadelphia premiere of Quiara Alegría Hudes and Erin McKeown's MISS YOU LIKE HELL, directed by Tamanya M. M. Garza. It's not a dream when sixteen-year-old Olivia is awakened by her mother calling her name from the street outside her Philly apartment at 4am. It's been ages since she's seen the free spirited and unpredictable Beatriz, who insists on a spontaneous road trip to reconnect. And so begins a cross-country journey that changes their relationship forever. A new musical from the celebrated Quiara Alegría Hudes (bookwriter, In the Heights), Miss You Like Hell is an electrifying portrait of a mother and daughter whose lives have been deeply complicated by United States immigration policies. (October 8-November 1).

Next will be the Philadelphia premiere of James Ijames's TJ LOVES SALLY 4 EVER, directed by Lauren E. Turner. TJ loves Sally. Sally does not love TJ. TJ is a University Dean. Sally is a student. Welcome to Commonwealth of Virginia University, where a modern education is rooted in the nation's "complicated" history. As the campus wrestles with its antebellum legacy and the names of slave-owners on university buildings, Sally finds herself locked in a more personal battle with Dean TJ. In this professional premiere one of the American theatre's most ingenious truth-tellers, James Ijames (WHITE, 2016/17 Season), reimagines Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson as a student and a dean at a southern American university, and dismantles the legacies that keep us bound amidst a swirl of marching bands, step teams, and bubbly tour guides. (February 18-March 14)

Finally Horizon presents the Philadelphia premiere of THE CAKE, written by TV's This is Us creator Bekah Brunstetter and directed by Horizon Artistic Director Nell Bang-Jensen. All is right in Della's world. Her North Carolina bakery has been in business for decades and she's just been cast as a contestant on The Great American Baking Show. So when her best-friend's daughter, Jen, shows up from New York to ask Della to make a cake for her upcoming wedding, Della is counting her blessings. That is, until she finds out that Jen is marrying a woman. As Della wrestles with her decision to bake a cake for such a wedding, she is forced to confront her long-held beliefs and the state of her own marriage. Gay and straight, Brooklyn and the Bible Belt, sex and shame are just some of the ingredients vigorously stirred into this funny and incisive play. (May 13-June 6).

In addition to the mainstage shows, Theatre Horizon will be presenting three limited engagement events. First, Horizon presents Artistic Director Bang-Jensen's powerful THE CAREGIVERS. Originally created for Pig Iron Theatre Company, the work tells the tale of Evelyn Goldberg. In search of care for her husband Bill, she finds herself on an unexpected journey--to an island where no one ever gets sick, a Peruvian bakery that boasts the perfect loaf of bread, and back in time to the 1960's where she first met Bill at a Synagogue dance. THE CAREGIVERS is a tender new play created from scratch by home health aides, hospice workers, and family caregivers that explores the spaces where love meets obligation. Using A Contemporary Theatre-making technique that brings professional theatre-makers and non-professional performers together as collaborators, THE CAREGIVERS emerges from stories and conversations with real-life care providers in Philadelphia and Norristown over the course of three years. A work of documentary fantasy, THE CAREGIVERS invites you into the lives of people who have sacrificed everything for the people they love. (December 4-6).

A family-friendly celebration for the young and young at heart, Horizon will present THE JOHNNY SHORTCAKE SHOW IN CONCERT. Suppose your nose was where your elbows goes ... Would you call them smell-bows? Johnny Shortcake would! The Johnny Shortcake Show is half magical journey, half funky dance party, and features unforgettable songs for all ages. This family concert stars Johnny Shortcake, the alter-ego of the legendary Philadelphia funk-rock act Johnny Showcase. Theatre Horizon plans to make a full day of celebration, with activities planned throughout the theatre. Guests will enjoy theater games in the Horizon classroom, get their faces painted, be able to try on costumes, and more. (Jan 23).

From Nassim Soleimanpour, the same mind that created the hit theatrical sensation WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT, comes BLANK. 1 actor. 1 script. No rehearsal. An audience and an actor encounter each other. Together, they will make a play. The actor does not know the play. The audience has no idea. All they have is a script, which is sealed in an envelope onstage. Known for plays without directors, sets, and rehearsals, Soleimanpour has created an evening of theater that is completely unique each time it is performed. His script - masterfully constructed from incomplete sentences and blank spaces - will be completed by a new performer before a live audience each night. In a joint effort between audience and performer, the play magically unfolds to reveal the stories that are bubbling right under the surface, yearning to be told. (April 9-11).

Subscriptions to Theatre Horizon's 2020-21 season are on sale now. Guests can build a subscription featuring 3, 4, 5, or 6 shows. Subscribers get the deepest discounts, best seats, the most flexibility, and 25% off all additional tickets. More information at www.theatrehorizon.org.

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