Capital Stage Company Announces 10th Season: MOVING BETWEEN WORLDS

Capital Stage will present a season of plays that capture the company's bold, thought-provoking aesthetic. The season features a mix of styles and genres, all meant to encourage dialogue between performers and audience and keep patrons thinking and discussing long after they leave the theater. Additionally, the season will feature an array of professional artists, including both new and familiar faces, as well as a variety of special events to celebrate this ten-year milestone.

In his new role as Producing Artistic Director, Founder Jonathan Williams has constructed a season that continues the company's tradition of bringing bold and thought-provoking theatre to the region while also breaking new ground for Capital Stage. "I'm honored that our board of directors have entrusted me with this responsibility and proud to carry the torch that my predecessor, Stephanie Gularte, managed to keep so brightly burning," says Producing Artistic Director, Jonathan Williams. "The six plays this season take us on a journey through a myriad of human experiences and ask us to question what it means to be a part of a community, especially as that community evolves right before us." This season will include outreach to the deaf community in conjunction with Nina Raine's Tribes, the Sacramento premiere of recent Glickman Award-winner Ideation, by Aaron Loeb,and Capital Stage's first "Rolling World Premiere" production of Thomas Gibbon's Uncanny Valley, as part of theNational New Play Network.

Capital Stage has seen strong continuous growth since moving to midtown in 2011 and this year has been the strongest year yet with a 22% increase in subscription sales from last year (1428 in 2014 and 1172 in 2013) and a 37% increase in single ticket sales this year to date. The operating budget for the tenth anniversary will be nearly $800,000, showing an almost 200% growth since 2010, the last year aboard the Delta King. Capital Stage will be adding additional Saturday matinee performances to accommodate this growth. In addition to new performance dates, several special events to celebrate this milestone 10th season, including a Season Kick-off party on September 13 and the return of David Sedaris' holiday favorite, The Santaland Diaries, back by popular demand.

The 2014-15 Season is set to include:

TRIBES by Nina Raine
Directed by Producing Artistic Director Jonathan Williams
September 3 - October 5, 2014
A Sacramento Premiere

The Wall Street Journal calls Tribes "the best-written, best-plotted, deepest, most daring-and funniest-new play in recent years. Winner of the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, Tribes has received critical acclaim in both the US and UK. In Tribes, Billy, who is deaf, is the only one who actually listens in his idiosyncratic, fiercely argumentative bohemian family. But when he meets Sylvia, who is going deaf, he decides he finally wants to be heard. With sharp dialogue and compassionate insights, Nina Raine crafts a penetrating play about belonging, family and the limitations of communication.

ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy
Directed by Founding Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte
Adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson
October 22- November 23, 2014
A Sacramento Premiere

Torn between duty and passion, Anna Karenina struggles to make the choice between a cold husband, a beloved child, and the dashing Vronksy. Society turns against her, Anna becomes doubtful of Vronsky's love and her world begins to fall apart. This award-winning adaptation of Tolstoy's epic interweaves Anna's story with those of Levin and the beautiful young Kitty, the selfless Dolly and her adored Stiva - their hope in stark contrast with Anna's despair. Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of nineteenth-century Russia,Anna Karenina was deemed "flawless" by Fyodor Dostoevsky and the best novel ever written by William Faulkner. Directed by Founding Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte, who helmed the highlytheatrical productions of Enron and Macbeth, this production promises to thrill audiences with its unique new approach to the classic novel.

THE SANTALAND DIARIES by David Sedaris, Adapted by Joe Mantello
Directed by Co-Founder Peter Mohrmann
December 3 - 28, 2014

Back by popular demand! Aaron Wilton returns to star as Crumpet the Elf for another round of best-selling author David Sedaris' sardonic comedy. This wry tale is based on the outlandish, and true, chronicles of Sedaris' brief stint as an elf in the Times Square Macy's SantaLand display. His hysterical, behind-the-scenes anecdotes are a holiday treat for adults, mercilessly cutting through the sticky-sweetness of Christmas to illuminate the insanity of the holidays, and the resilience of the human spirit.

IDEATION by Aaron Loeb
Directed by Michael Stevenson
January 21-February 22, 2015
A Sacramento Premiere

Winner of the 2014 Glickman Award for Best New Play, Ideation is a psychological suspense thriller, in which a group of corporate consultants work together on a mysterious and ethically ambiguous project. Written with Aaron Loeb's darkly comic edge, the lines between right and wrong are blurred and these characters must navigate the cognitive dissonances and moral dilemmas to decide for themselves if everything is as it really seems. CapStage previously collaborated with Loeb to present the Sacramento premiere of his play First Person Shooter in 2008.

RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN by Gina Gionfriddo
Directed by Erin Lucas
March 11- April 12, 2015
A Sacramento Premiere

The Boston Globe called Rapture, Blister, Burn a "shrewd, incisive, thoroughly winning comedy." After grad school, Catherine and Gwen chose polar opposite paths. Catherine built a career as a rockstar academic, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other's life, commencing a dangerous game of musical chairs-the prize being Gwen's husband. With searing insight and trademark wit, this Pulitzer Prize Finalist comedy is an unflinching examination of gender politics in the wake of 20th-century feminist ideals.

THE HOMECOMING by Harold Pinter
Directed by Associate Artist Janis Stevens
April 29 - May 31, 2015
Winner of the 1967 Tony Award for Best Play

The Homecoming by Nobel laureate Harold Pinter, exposes issues of sex and power and challenges the place of morals in family life. In an old and slightly seedy house in North London there lives a family of men. Into this sinister abode comes the eldest son, Teddy, who, having spent the past six years teaching philosophy in America, is now bringing his wife, Ruth, home to visit the family she has never met. As the play progresses, Teddy's younger brothers make increasingly outrageous passes at their sister-in-law in a dangerous game of one-upmanship, ultimately relinquishing control to Ruth in a theatrical turnabout that has left audiences stunned for more than 40 years.

UNCANNY VALLEY by Thomas Gibbons
Directed by Jonathan Williams
June 17 - July 19, 2015
World Premiere - part of the National New Play Network's Rolling World Premiere

Drawing on current research in artificial intelligence, robotics, and the possibility of "downloading" human consciousness as a means of extending the human lifespan, Uncanny Valley charts the relationship between Claire, a neuroscientist, and Julian, a non-biological human. Uncanny Valley explores the painful divide between creator and creation, the inherent unpredictability of consciousness, and how we are redefining what it means to be human in the 21st century. Playwright Thomas Gibbons is the recipient of seven playwriting fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a Roger L. Stevens Award from the Fund for New American Plays, an NAACP Theatre Award, two Barrymore Awards for outstanding new play, and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts.

Single tickets and season subscriptions on sale now. Order by calling the Box Office at 916-995-5464, visiting their website at www.capstage.org or in person at 2215 J Street. Subscriptions are from $102 to $180. Single tickets are available for purchase for $24 to $38. $18 preview tickets available for select performances. Group, student and senior discounts available for select performances. All subscriptions and tickets have additional per ticket handling fees.

Regular performance times:

Wednesdays 7pm
Thursdays & Fridays 8pm
Saturdays 2pm & 8pm
Sundays 2pm

10th Anniversary Special Events Include:

Season Kick-off Party - Saturday, September 13
Capital Stage subscribers will be invited to a celebration at the theater with entertainment, refreshments and the opportunity to mingle with CapStage staff, Board and artists. This free event will be the official unveiling of the new flexible-use courtyard adjacent to the patron lounge, a space featuring custom artwork, a performance stage and plush furniture for added patron enjoyment.

Red Hot Design - Date TBA
Local designer Shasta Smith is featured on a new program for the FYI (For Your Inspiration) Network, an affiliate of A&E. Smith redesigns a variety of home and business spaces in the Sacramento area, including the rear courtyard at Capital Stage. The episode will feature founders Jonathan Williams and Stephanie Gularte and shows the process of transforming a rustic patio space into an elegant, functional-use courtyard.

An Evening Affair at Mulvaney's - Saturday, April 18
Capital Stage's annual fundraising event will return to Mulvaney's B&L for an evening of entertainment, dinner and drinks and a live auction hosted by David Sobon.

Capital Stage Company's mission is to be a dynamic leader in the evolution of the contemporary live theatre landscape in the Capital region and to passionately engage audiences in the art of live storytelling with bold, innovative plays performed by professional artists, in an intimate, up close setting. With a strong commitment to expanding the base of working artists in the greater Sacramento region, we shall develop a company of actors, directors, writers, designers, and technical staff who are dedicated to bringing bold, lively productions of contemporary and classic plays to our community.

While part of the mission of any theater company is to entertain its audience, we at Capital Stage feel strongly that the productions we mount address issues that are vital to understanding the society we live in and ourselves as human beings in that society. We address themes of power and manipulation in relationships between men and women, children and parents, and organizations and individuals. We invite audiences to question the ethics and meaning of art, the definitions of sanity and intelligence, and the line between exploitation and legitimate relationship. We believe that in a large and growing urban environment, where individuals and groups are constantly bombarded with information and demands for decisions, the need for thoughtful examination of our interactions in society has never been greater.

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