New Conservatory Theatre Center Announces 2022-23 Season Featuring 2 World Premieres & More

New Conservatory Theatre Center is has announced the line-up for NCTC's daring 2022-23 Season, with two world premieres, three West Coast premieres, an inspiring musical, and a holiday extravaganza from The Kinsey Sicks.

Nationally and internationally renowned as San Francisco's premier LGBTQ+ and Allied theatre center, NCTC's 2022-23 Season offers seven transformative Queer stories that will tickle your funny bone, take hold of your heart, and awaken the senses.

"It's no secret that the driving vision at NCTC is that theatre is a community event and a way to build community. Each season is built from a treasure trove of wide-ranging contributors whose ideas, proposals, and recommendations are born of that expansive notion." says Decker, "No matter the genre of the story, the aim is always to open the doors ever wider here. The biggest challenge is that it is near impossible to tell all the stories aching to be told. Undaunted and united we persist in bringing as many as we can to life onstage for everyone to enjoy."

Family is a drag in NCTC's September season opener with Nora Brigid Monahan's side-splitting and provocative tale of modern love and identities, Aunt Jack. Love, sex, and politics - fabulous drag performer Jack and his significantly less fabulous son Norman don't agree on any of it. When Norman's outlandish family and shattered ex-soulmate meet his new partner, all are forced to grapple with their differences amid the evolving spectrum of sexuality. Bitingly funny and deeply insightful, Aunt Jack is an exploration of family and finding yourself against all odds.

Playwright Nora Brigid Monahan (pronouns: they/them) is renowned for writing and starring in the dark solo comedy DIVA which won the USolo Award for Best Musical and Audience Choice in 2013. Previous work also includes what do you call a-? (Alchemical Theatre Laboratory), Rodham/Sade (Sanctuary Series at HERE Arts Center) and High Upon the Gallows Tree (Winner of Best One-Act in 2012 at Manhattan Repertory Theatre).

October brings the poignant and powerful world premiere of Nick Malakhow's A Picture of Two Boys. Unlikely friends Markey and Pete just want to escape their tiny, mostly white, not-so-secretly racist town in rural Pennsylvania. For sensitive Markey, that means dreams of college and big cities, while rebellious Pete wants to be the next Kurt Cobain. When Markey finds an escape route without Pete, their friendship is shaken to its core. A decade later, the two find themselves sifting through the crumbled foundations of their shared history and revisiting the event which bound them together for life.

Playwright Nick Malakhow (pronouns: he/him) is a Colorado-based writer and theater educator. His full-length work includes Affinity Lunch Minutes (2021 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, Relative Theatrics, the Garden), Seeing Eye (developed with Victory Gardens, Fresh Ink, finalist for the 2019 O'Neill NPC, 2018 LTC/HowlRound Carnaval, and 2020 In-Progress Reading Series at Unicorn Theatre), and Grit (developed with Playhouse on Park, Fuse Theater, Theatre@First, and 2021 Princess Grace Award Finalist).

Closing out 2022 with a bang, NCTC welcomes The Kinsey Sicks, America's Favorite (and only) Dragapella® Beautyshop Quartet home for the holidays in Oy Vey in a Manger. In this "giddily impious" musical (Washington Post), Angel, Winnie, Trixie, and Trampolina are trying to sell off their manger - yes, that manger - before it's foreclosed upon. Crises arise, secrets are revealed, Jewish-Gentile tensions surface, and mayhem ensues - all in glorious four-part harmony.

For over 25 years, The Kinsey Sicks have served up a feast of music and comedy to audiences at performing arts centers, music venues, and comedy festivals throughout the US and internationally. Their phenomenal performance record includes an Off-Broadway show, an extended run in Vegas, two feature films and three concert DVDs, ten albums, and appearances in over 40 US states, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia. The Kinsey Sicks' award-winning a cappella singing, sharp satire, and over-the-top drag have earned them a diverse and devoted following.

The new year kicks off with Dipika Guha's world premiere coming-of-age travelogue, Getting There. Commissioned as part of the New Voices/New Work program, this production was slated for the 2021-22 Season and forced to cancel performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NCTC is ecstatic to finally be able to bring this story to life on stage. Kai and Julie came to Paris to see the sights, enjoy the food, and maybe learn something about themselves. After a falling out sends them on separate paths, Kai is pulled into an affair with a sophisticated older married couple, while Julie encounters an enigmatic woman deep in a war against herself. Twenty-four hours later, none of these five women are the same. Full of surprises and serendipity, Getting There is an intergenerational meditation on love, aging, and solitude.

Playwright Dipika Guha (pronouns: she/her) is an LA-based, Calcutta-born playwright raised in Russia, India, and the UK. Her plays include Yoga Play, The Art of Gaman (Relentless Award semifinalist), and Unreliable. Recent commissions include Azaan for Oregon Symphony, In Braunau for Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, and contributions to You Across From Me (Humana, Actors Theatre of Louisville). For TV, she's written for the series Sneaky Pete and Black Monday on Showtime.

Next up is a "moving and amusing portrait of a struggling artist" (The Hollywood Reporter) from the mind of Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Jonathan Larson. Before Rent, the musical that defined a generation, there was Tick, Tick... Boom! Jon is a young composer on the eve of his 30th birthday. Stuck waiting tables and struggling to write the next great American musical, he can feel the time to make his mark on the world slipping away. As the people Jon loves move on to new careers and new places, Jon is faced with a choice: find security or follow his destiny. With Larson's trademark style of pop-rock score blended with traditional musical theatre, this exuberant and charming tale will speak to anyone who's ever gotten lost on their way to finding their dreams.

Jonathan Larson (Book, Music, and Lyrics, pronouns: he/him) was an American composer, lyricist, and playwright who created the mega-hit musical Rent, which went on to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, multiple Tony Awards, and Drama Desk Awards, and New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical.

David Auburn (Script Consultant, pronouns: he/him) is best known for his Tony Award-winning play, Proof, in addition to screenplays for The Lake House, The Girl in the Park, and Georgetown.

Stephen Oremus (Vocal Arrangements and Orchestrations, pronouns: he/him) has composed music for many award-winning Broadway theatre productions including Avenue Q, Wicked, The Book of Mormon, and Kinky Boots.

In April, NCTC presents the West Coast premiere of C. Julian Jiménez's profane and profound Locusts Have No King. Two closeted gay couples get together for a dinner party. They work together. They live in the same building. They can't stand each other. When one dreams of a life in the open, putting their shared secret at risk, it just might be the end of the world. They can't allow this to happen. They won't allow this to happen. All hell breaks loose... literally.

Playwright C. Julian Jiménez (pronouns: he/him) is a Queer, Puerto Rican, and Dominican playwright. Productions include Man Boobs (Pride Films & Plays), Nico was a Fashion Model (Counter Productions), Animals Commit Suicide (First Floor Theatre), Bundle of Sticks (INTAR), Alligator Mouth, Tadpole Ass (Theatre Rhinoceros), and Bruise & Thorn (Pipeline Theatre Company). Other plays include: anOTHER (Distinguished New Work Award and Citizens Artists Award, The Kennedy Center), and The Guilt Mongers or Los Traficantes de Culpa... (Winner- Nuestras Voces at Repertoria Español).

Finally, NCTC concludes this bright and bold new season with a rags to riches to rags romp set in the Barbary Coast with The Confession of Lily Dare, written by comedy legend Charles Busch and starring Bay Area favorite, J. Conrad Frank. Convent girl? Cabaret star? Infamous madame? Call her what you want, but Lily Dare is determinedly devoted to the child she was forced to abandon. Hailed as "camp heaven" by The New York Times, this play follows one woman's road to hell - paved with good intentions.

Playwright Charles Busch (pronouns: he/him) is the author and star of such plays and films as The Divine Sister, The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, Psycho Beach Party, Die, Mommie, Die!, and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, one of the longest-running plays in the history of off-Broadway. His play The Tale of the Allergist's Wife ran for 777 performances on Broadway, won the Outer Critics Circle's John L. Gassner Award for playwriting, and received a Tony nomination for Best Play. In 2003, Busch received a special Drama Desk Award for career achievement as both performer and playwright and was given a star on the Playwrights' Sidewalk outside the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

As always, subscribers get the best seats at the best prices. There are four ways to join as a subscriber for the 22-23 Season including the full-season subscription package, four show sampler, the weekday six ticket flex pass- offering all the benefits of a season subscription with the flexibility to use six tickets on any weekday performance and the anytime six ticket flex pass - the most flexible package, offering the benefits of a season subscription, with the flexibility to use six tickets for any performance. Subscriber benefits include huge savings on ticket prices, access to the best seats, free and easy ticket exchanges, 40% off guest tickets, savings on non-subscription shows, and much more. Subscriptions are now available at nctcsf.org/subscribe or by calling the Box Office at 415.861.8972.

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.

Aunt Jack

By Nora Brigid Monahan

September 16 - October 16, 2022

Opening Night: September 24, 2022

A Picture of Two Boys

By Nick Malakhow

October 21 - November 27, 2022

Opening Night: October 29, 2022

Oy Vey In A Manger

By the Kinsey Sicks

December 7 - 31, 2022

Opening Night: December 10, 2022

Getting There

By Dipika Guha

January 20 - February 26, 2023

Opening Night: January 28, 2023

Tick, Tick...Boom!

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson

David Auburn, Script Consultant

Vocal Arrangements and Orchestrations by Stephen Oremus

March 3 - April 2, 2023

Opening Night: March 11, 2023

Locusts Have No King

By C. Julian Jiménez

April 7 - May 14, 2023

Opening Night: April 15, 2023

The Confession of Lily Dare

By Charles Busch

Starring J. Conrad Frank

May 12 - June 11, 2023

Opening Night: May 20, 2023

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