NCTC's 2024-25 Season Opener RIDE THE CYCLONE Arrives In September

New Conservatory Theatre Center will launch their 2024-25 Season opener with Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell's award-winning musical turned TikTok sensation, Ride the Cyclone. Offering a plethora of metaphysical twists and turns along with a wildly catchy soundtrack, Ride the Cyclone theatergoers are in for a ride into the weird and wondrous.

Reaching for the skies takes on a whole new meaning when six members of a Canadian chamber choir take a fateful rollercoaster ride to the great beyond. When they awake in limbo, a mechanical fortune teller invites each to tell a story to win a prize like no other — the chance to return to life. Both madly hilarious and surprisingly introspective, this award-winning musical poses the question of what makes a life well-lived, or in some cases, worth saving.

Playing September 20 – October 20, 2024, Ride the Cyclone. NCTC is currently offering a variety of 24-25 Season subscriptions. Single tickets will go on sale August 8th. Tickets are $35.50-$72.50 (costs include fees) and are available at nctcsf.org, by emailing boxoffice@nctcsf.org, or by calling (415) 861-8972.

Audiences can enjoy these special events during the run of the show:

• Pay-what-you-wish Previews: Friday, September 20 - Friday, September 27
  Pay-what-you-wish preview tickets will go live two weeks before the first performance.

• Opening Night will take place on Saturday, September 28, 2024 at 8pm

• Whimsical Wednesdays: Special pre-show events with a fortune teller, carnival games, and happy hour specials. Wednesdays, September 25, October 2, 9, 16.

• Pre-show conversation with NCTC Founding Artistic Director Ed Decker and Ride the Cyclone Director Stephanie Temple will take place on September 27, 2024 at 7:30pm

• Enhanced Safety Performance with COVID safety precautions will take place on Thursday, October 3, 2024. Masks required. 

• Post-Show Discussion featuring the cast and moderated by the director, will take place after the performance on Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 2pm

Jacob Richmond (Book, Music, and Lyrics, pronouns: he/him) is the co-founder of Atomic Vaudeville, a popular cabaret theater series in Victoria, BC. He's won a CBC Radio One Award for Best Comedy (From Canada to Canada) and a Vancouver Fringe Favorite Award (Legoland) among others. Richmond has written several plays, including: The Qualities of Zero (Dora Award nomination, Montreal MECCA Award winner for Best Text); Small Returns (Theatre Passe Muraille); Legoland (SummerWorks Award for Best Text, Frigid Festival New York Favorite Production, Vancouver Fringe Favorite Award); From Canada to Canada (CBC Radio One Award, Best Comedy); and The Punch and Judy Show (Caravan Farm Theatre). Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, he majored in history and performance at Concordia University (Montreal).

Brooke Maxwell (Book, Music, and Lyrics, pronouns: he/him) is a freelance musician, composer, and educator based in Victoria, BC, Canada. He has scored as well as created the sound design for multiple works, his most recent being Gruff for Puente Theatre. A prominent artist in Canada, Maxwell has underscored and sound designed several local Canadian and national works: Gruff (Puente Theatre), And Slowly Beauty (Belfry Theatre, National Arts Centre, Tarragon Theatre), A Tender Thing (Belfry Theatre) The Glass Menagerie, Long Day's Journey into Night (Bluebridge Theatre), Joan (Theatre SKAM), Busted Up.

Stephanie Temple (Director & Choreographer, pronouns: she/her) has proudly worked with NCTC for over 20 years as an actor, director, and choreographer. You may have seen her onstage at NCTC in Head Over Heels, Boys Will Be Boys, Dirty Blonde, Rhinestone Cowgirl, and a 3-season run as Kate/Lucy in Avenue Q. Recent directing/choreo credits include The Giver, The Canterville Ghost, Musketeers, Avenue Q, Xanadu, and The Marvelous Wonderettes. Ms. Temple is NCTC's Education Director and runs the drama program at Live Oak School. Additionally, she's worked for SF Opera, PCPA Theatrefest, Sierra Repertory Theatre, CSU Stanislaus, and 42nd Street Moon. Ms. Temple is a graduate of USC's School of Dramatic Arts and earned her Master's in Drama at SFSU.  

Ben Prince (Musical Director, pronouns: he/him) is excited to return to NCTC, having previously music-directed tick, tick...BOOM! and Avenue Q. He is probably most known for his work with Ray of Light Theatre (Jesus Christ Superstar, American Psycho, Kinky Boots) but he has also music directed for many other Bay Area companies including SF Playhouse (Dogfight), 42nd Street Moon (DuBarry Was a Lady), and CenterREP (Altar Boyz). A longtime house pianist at the venerable Martuni's piano bar, he has also traveled the world playing piano on Holland America and other cruise lines. By day he is a research attorney at the Alameda County Superior Court.

The cast of Ride the Cyclone includes Sage Alberto (Constance Blackwood), Milo Boland  (Ricky Potts), Grace Margaret Craig  (Jane Doe), Kaylyn Dowd (The Amazing Karnak), Jon Gary Harris (Noel Gruber), Anne Norland (Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg), and Matt Skinner (Mischa Bachinski). The creative team includes props design by Jenna Forder, costume design by Jorge R. Hernández, stage management by Anthony Lopez, lighting design by Christian V. Mejia, set design by Matt Owens, projection design by Lana Palmer, stage crew by Chris Russell, and sound design by Kalon Thibodeaux.

New Conservatory Theatre Center has been San Francisco's premier LGBTQ+ and Allied performing arts institution and progressive arts education conservatory since 1981. NCTC is renowned for its diverse range of innovative, high-quality productions, touring productions and shows for young audiences; its foundational anti-bullying work with youth and educators through YouthAware; and its commitment to developing new plays to continue expanding the canon of queer and allied dramatic work.

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