Magic Theatre Announces Show Titles For 2018-2019 Season

Magic Theatre (Artistic Director, Loretta Greco; Managing Director, Jaimie Mayer) announced today that its 2018-2019 season will include the World Premiere of Ashlin Halfnight's The Resting Place; the World Premiere of Mfoniso Udofia's In Old Age; and an anniversary revival of Luis Alfaro's critically acclaimed Oedipus el Rey, which premiered at Magic Theatre ten years ago.

"I am beyond thrilled to announce Magic's 2018-19 season, where we will welcome back two of our favorite artists: Mfoniso Udofia with her gorgeous In Old Age and Luis Alfaro, who will return for our revival of Oedipus el Rey. It doesn't seem possible that ten years have passed since we premiered Luis's profound reimagining of Oedipus, but it's been produced all over the country since, and Luis and I are thrilled to bring it back to Magic where it all started!" said Magic Artistic Director Loretta Greco. "I'm also truly honored to be introducing a new Magic writer who absolutely blew us away during our Virgin Play Series this past winter, Ashlin Halfnight. His stunning look at an American family within The Resting Place will certainly move audiences deeply and will be the first of many great plays we hope to produce of his.

We could not be happier to be collaborating with American Conservatory Theatre in celebration of Mfoniso's Ufot Family Cycle. Those who remember our thrilling partnership with Tarell Alvin McCraney's Brother Sister Plays will be happy to see that we are teaming up again: this time sharing two of Mfoniso's family cycle plays:In Old Age at Magic and Her Portmanteau at A.C.T."

"If plays are indeed living breathing organisms that reflect the times we are in," said Oedipus el Rey Playwright Luis Alfaro, "then Oedipus el Rey, my adaptation of the Greek classic, continues to be an outlet for me in challenging the mystery of our obsession with youth and incarceration. In the same time that we built 22 prisons, we built only one U.C. school in our state. Our prison population has grown by 500% and we currently house over 150,000 prisoners in California. It cost almost $70,000 to house an inmate, but only $9,000 to educate a young person. You do the math. The classics remind us of the stories that we must continue to tell until we find new ways forward. Come get jolted and hear the myth of Oedipus, or... maybe the testimony of someone currently in the system..."

"I'm so excited and humbled to be joining Magic's bold tradition of excellence and innovation for the 2018/19 season," said The Resting Place Playwright Ashlin Halfnight. "After workshopping The Resting Place with Magic last year, I can think of no better home for the world premiere than a theatre where creative risk, deep inquiry, and explosive storytelling are valued and celebrated. I'm thrilled to be bringing it to life for the first time ever at Magic in October."

Magic Theatre's 2018-2019 Season will include:

World Premiere
THE RESTING PLACE

By Ashlin Halfnight

The Resting Place is a provocative and intense look at an American family in a cloudburst of crisis - it's a hell of a ride, filled with raw humor, penetrating darkness, and fierce love. Ashlin Halfnight (Magic Virgin Play Festival 2017) addresses familial obligation, guilt, our own complacency and culpability in wrongdoing and asks, how do we reconcile our love for someone with the knowledge of their horrifying transgression?

World Premiere

IN OLD AGE
By Mfoniso Udofia

When Azell Abernathy, a seasoned repairman, arrives at the home of Abasiama Ufot to redo the floors of her dilapidated New England home, he is surprised to be met with stubborn resistance. The two clash, challenge each other, and eventually form an unlikely spiritual connection. Abasiama and Azell learn the true nature of forgiveness and love, just as her life takes a new turn. This fifth installment of Mfoniso Udofia's Ufot family cycle offers both a purge and a peacemaking; both frenzy and faith.

In Spring 2018, Magic Theatre and A.C.T. will each present one, independent chapter from Mfoniso Udofia's sweeping nine-part saga about a family of Nigerian immigrants and their American-born children. Other chapters of Mfoniso's cycle (Sojourners, runboyrun) were premiered at Magic in the 2015-16 season.

Magic Legacy Revival

OEDIPUS EL REY

By Luis Alfaro

Set in South Central LA, Oedipus el Rey is a gritty and electrifying take on the Greek tragedy, written by acclaimed Magic playwright Luis Alfaro. Oedipus is reimagined as a troubled young man whose dreams of controlling his own destiny soar beyond the prison walls where he's spent his life. But in a place where everyone is trapped-by desperation or fate, history or violence-no one man can change his story alone. Love, family and belief collide in this chilling, incredibly powerful play that asks: what's fate, and what's just the system?

Magic Theatre is thrilled to welcome our Magic Family member, Luis, back for the 10th anniversary production of Oedipus El Rey.

"Where Alfaro's "Oedipus" succeeds unequivocally is in the strange, sweet but frightening innocence of its title character as a man raised within the correctional system...It's the tragedy not of an individual but of a society, and one we can't help but recognize as our own." San Francisco Chronicle

"[Oedipus El Rey] is a grim and dynamic reminder that we are living in a political moment when stories matter, old ones and new ones, true ones and fake ones."New York Times

About Magic Theatre:

Since its inception in 1967, Magic Theatre has fostered courageous playwrights and produced explosive, entertaining, and ideologically robust plays. Magic believes that if we demonstrate faith in a writer's vision by providing a safe, rigorous, and innovative artistic home, where a full body of work can be imagined, developed, and produced, then writers, in turn, will thrive. Seventeen of the last nineteen world premiere plays developed and produced at Magic have enjoyed extended life in cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington DC, Paris, Manila, and Seoul.

With its intimate thrust stage, Magic is the perfect venue for audiences to experience new work up close. That intimacy extends beyond the mainstage through a number of special events: Community Nights that offer affordable access for the next generation of theatre audiences, Friday night actor Talkbacks, New Work Salons with playwrights and directors, and the Martha Heasley Cox Virgin Play Festival. Magic patrons enjoy unparalleled access to new plays, playwrights, and the process of taking theatre from the page to the stage.

Magic is also proud to be a community partner. Through its "Sheparding America" celebration of Sam Shepard's legacy in the Bay Area, its Laney College Initiative and Magic: Oakland Annex, the Magic Apprenticeship Program, and active collaborations with the A.C.T., Curran, Pomegranate Arts, Stanford Live, Campo Santo, Word for Word, Intersection for the Arts, and The Commonwealth Club, and its most recent Magic Arts and Community Initiative, Magic is a local industry leader.

Subscription Information:

Subscriptions for the 2018-2019 Season are now available for purchase. Subscribing is the best (and most cost-effective) way to ensure your spot on the front lines of exciting new theatre. Subscriptions also come with a number of perks: free ticket exchange up until 24 hours before the performance, guaranteed best seating, exclusive pre-show dramaturgy - all in addition to receiving a 35% discount when compared to purchasing single tickets. Current subscribers can renew online or by phone and will receive priority access to their current seat locations. New subscribers can purchase subscriptions and will receive the best available seats within the requested sections.

Subscriptions are available for purchase online at MagicTheatre.org; by calling Magic Theatre at (415) 441-8822; or visiting Magic Theatre's Box Office, Tuesday -Friday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during non-performance dates. On performance dates, the Box Office is open Tuesday - Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. andon Sunday one hour prior to the show. Magic Theatre is located in the Marina District of San Francisco, at the historic Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd., Building D, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123). For more information, visit MagicTheatre.org or call the box office at (415) 441-8822.

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