SEARED, THE CHRISTIANS and More Set for San Francisco Playhouse's 2016-17 Season

San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English and Producing Director Susi Damilano have announced five of six selections for the 2016-2017 Mainstage season.

"There is a compelling and palpable power you sense standing in the back of our theatre during a performance," mused Bill English, Artistic Director. "It is the collective spirit emanating from the actors to the audience and back again to the stage. You can actually feel how that energy changes us as it races through the minds and hearts of everyone experiencing it together. We create theater to tell stories that enhance our understanding of being alive in our time. The plays we have selected for our new season all tell stories of people who experience a transformation. They have their beliefs challenged and are inspired to question their own identity and their place in the community."

Mainstage

The San Francisco Playhouse 2016-2017 Season is a one of transformation that is sure to captivate with all of its intimate and thought-provoking premieres. The season includes a World Premiere, a West Coast premiere, a regional premiere and two revivals of major Broadway hits. The Mainstage season starts with a sizzle with the World Premiere and San Francisco Playhouse commission of Theresa Rebeck's (Seminar, The Scene) Seared, featuring Brian Dykstra who ruled our world in Jerusalem two seasons ago. We'll laugh our way through the holiday season with the world's greatest farce, Noises Off. The New Year begins with a wake-up call in the regional premiere of The Christians, Lucas Hnath's off-Broadway hit that takes an unflinching look at faith in America - and its power to unite or divide. Spring launches with the West Coast premiere of Jen Silverman's The Roommate, a hit at the 2015 Humana Festival that tackles transformation in mid-life for two "badass women in their 50's," and the summer will explode with joy and gaiety in Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman's La Cage aux Folles. One show remains to be announced.

Sandbox Series

The Sandbox Series, the new play development aspect of San Francisco Playhouse, begins its seventh season of award winning World Premieres having won two Glickman awards in three years, and a successful off-Broadway transfer of the entire Glickman Award-winning production of Ideation. The line-up for the Sandbox Season will be announced separately later this spring.

Season Subscriptions are available immediately online at www.sfplayhouse.org, or by calling the box office at 415-677-9596. Packages range from $150 to $400 with savings averaging over 40% off single ticket rates which range from $30 to $125 each. Single Tickets will go on sale to the public on June 1, 2016. Complete information available at sfplayhouse.org.

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THE 2016-2017 MAINSTAGE SEASON:

SEARED - World Premiere - Comedy
San Francisco Playhouse Commission
by Theresa Rebeck
directed by Margarett Perry
Featuring Brian Dykstra (Jerusalem)
September 27 to November 12, 2016 (Opens October 1st)
In between the caramelized onions and sizzling garlic frying up in the onstage kitchen, tempers are boiling over. The Chef's eight-table jewel box has become a New York favorite. Now the Investor wants to cash in, but the Chef isn't ready to sell out-and the battle between art and commerce ensues. What is the recipe for success, and how many can it serve?

NOISES OFF - Revival - Comedy
by Michael Frayn
directed by Susi Damilano
November 22, 2016 to January 14, 2017 (Opens November 26th)

Called the funniest farce ever written, Noises Off is the most dexterously realized comedy about putting on a comedy. A rollicking backstage farce about a second-rate theatrical troupe, the hilarity combines slapstick a British sex comedy, and non-stop humor from a manic menagerie of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called Nothing On. Doors slamming, on- and off-stage intrigue, and an errant herring all figure in the plot of this uproarious and classically comic play.

THE CHRISTIANS - Regional Premiere - Drama
by Lucas Hnath
directed by Bill English
January 24 to March 11, 2017 (Opens January 28th)

Pastor Paul comes back from Africa with a blasphemous interpretation of Christianity. Can his congregation handle his game-changing revelation? Thousands flock to his church each week; some for Holy Communion, some for hot coffee, where the big-screen TVs and the Olympic sized baptismal fount is a surefire crowd pleaser. Backed by a live choir, The Christians is both epic and intimate, an unflinching look at faith in America - and its power to unite or divide.

TBA - A selection to be announced later
March 21 to May 6, 2017 (Opens March 25th)

Some of San Francisco Playhouse's most popular plays have begun as a TBA and become its best sellers and most critically-acclaimed productions. The Nether, Promises, Promises, Coraline, First Person Shooter, The Scene, and Animals Out of Paper were a few of the "mystery" selections in past seasons.

THE ROOMMATE - West Coast Premiere
by Jen Silverman
May 16 to July 1, 2017 (Opens May 20th)

Sharon is practical, from Iowa. Robyn is a Bronx-born vegan. Both are "bad-ass" women in their 50s dealing with isolation, aging and identity. They remind us that second chances are possible and transformation can grow beneath peals of uproarious laughter.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES - Musical Revival
book by Harvey Fierstein
music & lyrics by Jerry Herman
July 11 to September 16, 2017 (Opens July 15th)

Based on the great French-Italian play and film, but most well known as a blockbuster Broadway musical that won 6 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book, this is a rousing anthem that celebrates love, romance and being true to yourself. La Cage aux Folles, presented in the gritty style of an underground French Cabaret, glimmers with French flair, a wink and a grin at lifestyles and mores that seem at odds until they crumble under the power of love to transform.

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Founded in 2003 and boasting 2500 subscribers, San Francisco Playhouse is the only mid-sized professional venue in downtown San Francisco, an intimate alternative to the larger more traditional Union Square theater fare. Presenting a diverse range of plays and musicals, San Francisco Playhouse produces new works as well as re-imagined classics, "making the edgy accessible and the traditional edgy." And with its bold Sandbox Series, dedicated to nurturing World Premieres, the Playhouse has become a significant player in developing new works as well. San Francisco Playhouse is committed to providing a creative home and inspiring environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and theater lovers converge to create and experience dramatic works that celebrate the human spirit.

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