SFBATCO to Present Fourth Annual New Roots Theatre Festival

The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company's Fourth Annual New Roots Theatre Festival, taking place this fall from November 14–17, 2024 at Brava Theater Center. This year's festival will feature five original projects, including two SFBATCO commissions, one SFBATCO co-production, one presentation by Z Space, and a showcase of works from SFBATCO's emerging playwrights program, Creators Lab.
 
The New Roots Theatre Festival is a four-day performing arts festival that unearths artistic voices in the Bay Area, celebrates the development of new work, and uplifts BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ voices. All five of these dynamic projects are in various stages of development, and the Festival offerings range from staged readings to fully memorized workshop productions.
 
The two SFBATCO commissions in the 2024 festival are The Day the Sky Turned Orange and Cuckoo Edible Magic. With music by Olivia Kuper Harris and David Michael Ott and book by local playwright Julius Rea, The Day the Sky Turned Orange is a soulful, House, R&B musical, choreographed by Vince Chan, that helps us confront and make sense of our collective fear of the climate crisis, inspired by the lived experience of those in the Bay Area on Sept 9, 2020, the day the sky in San Francisco turned a troubling shade of amber, as ash rained down, due to thousands of wildfires spreading across the state. SFBATCO Artistic Director Rodney Earl Jackson Jr. directs.
 
Cuckoo Edible Magic follows best friends Ren and Mai, whose quest to buy a rice cooker quickly turns into a a Sailor Moon-esque adventure through the Bay Area, pitting the nunchuk-armed heroes against one villain after the next - from a maniacal rice cooker to evil BART contortionists to supercharged Dim Sum cart ladies. These unlikely heroes must save the Bay Area, but they can't do it alone: they'll need help from Mai's tough-love parents, Ren's over-involved sister, and maybe even a cute corner store employee. Written and directed by CHamoru playwright Reed Flores, Cuckoo Edible Magic explores themes of Bay Area AAPI life, Queer love, and complex family dynamics–both “born” and “chosen.”
 
Co-produced with independent producer Ken Savage, SFBATCO also presents Gravity: A New(tonian) Musical, with music by Joel Chapman and Matt Herrero, lyrics by Weston Gaylord, and book by Jessia Hoffman. Featuring Broadway star Taylor Iman Jones, Gravity tells the story of modern-day physicist, Sophie, who travels back in time to 1666 England, where her chance encounter with guitar-strumming, 23-year old Isaac Newton prevents him from seeing the mythic apple falling and discovering his famous Theory of Universal Gravity. To return home, Sophie must restore history and navigate the world of 1666, where Natural Philosophers are the pop stars of their day, emerging enlightenment thinkers have one chance at fame, and radical women struggle to leave their mark.
 
Z Space presents Library Play, an innovative solo performance written and performed by Z Space 2024 Artist-in-Residence Austin Dean Ashford. Library Play is an Afrofuturistic Monodrama that delves into the essence of being a guardian of stories and histories, especially those of forgotten people. Follow the journey of a new librarian who must protect the library and its untold stories from the encroaching threat of A.I. cyborgs. With the unlikely alliance of a resourceful middle schooler and a minstrel superhero, they embark on a daring quest to safeguard the rich tapestry of black oral history within the library's archives.
 
In the Creators Lab Showcase, SFBATCO's 2024 cohort of creators – Maya De La Rosa-Cohen, Hasti Jafari, Christina Li, Ashley S Raggs, and Edith Castorena –  present five original works developed in in SFBATCO's incubation space for emerging creators. Excerpts from these unique pieces explore themes of family, heritage, San Francisco life, freedom, and more.
 
Tickets start at $22 for single show tickets, $42 for a two-show deal, $90 for All Access Pass, and $135 for All Access VIP Pass, which includes complimentary beverages throughout the weekend, as well as a VIP Kickoff Champagne Toast on Friday, a Boozy Brunch on Saturday and a Writing Workshop on Sunday.
 
Performances:
Thursday, November 14 at 6:30 p.m.: Creators Lab Showcase
Thursday, November 14 at 8 p.m.:  Gravity: A New(tonian) Musical
Friday, November 15 at 6:30 p.m.:  Library Play
Friday, November 15 at 8 p.m.:  The Day the Sky Turned Orange
Saturday, November 16 at 2 p.m.:  Cuckoo Edible Magic, also available on livestream
Saturday, November 16 at 3:30 p.m.: Library Play
Saturday, November 16 at 5 p.m.:  The Day the Sky Turned Orange, also available on livestream
Saturday, November 16 at 6:30 p.m.: Creators Lab Showcase
Saturday, November 16 at 8 p.m.:  Gravity: A New(tonian) Musical, also available on livestream
Sunday, November 17 at 2 p.m.:  Creators Lab Showcase, a talkback with the playwrights follows the performance
Sunday, November 17 at 4 p.m.: The Day the Sky Turned Orange, a talkback with the creative team follows the performance
Sunday, November 17 at 6 p.m.: Library Play, a talkback with the writer/performer follows the performance
Sunday, November 17 at 8 p.m.: Cuckoo Edible Magic, a talkback with the writer and director follows the performance

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