San Jose Stage Company To Present the West Coast Premiere of THE SMUGGLER And More In 2024-2025 Season
Titles for the season also include Sweet Charity, An Enemy of the People and more.
By: A.A. Cristi Sep. 05, 2024
San Jose Stage Company will launch its highly anticipated 42nd Season, "Exploration, Revelation, and Transformation.”
The Stage’s 42nd Season kicks off with the West Coast premiere of the raw and insightful new play THE SMUGGLER by Ronán Noone, followed by the perfect holiday offering A SHERLOCK CAROL by Mark Shanahan. The season continues with another West Coast premiere, the scorching new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE by Thomas Ostermeier and Florian Borchmeyer, followed by the hilarious farce THE UNDERPANTS by Steve Martin adapted from Carl Sternheim. The season concludes with the Tony Award-winning iconic musical SWEET CHARITY, featuring a book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman, and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Visit www.thestage.org for more information.
Artistic Director Randall King reflects, “As we embark on our 42nd season, we build upon a legacy of bold, innovative, and uncompromising work that has defined The Stage for over four decades. This season, each production stands as a catalyst for our unwavering commitment to fueling exploration, sparking revelation, and driving transformation. We are once again dedicated to pushing the boundaries of storytelling, challenging both artists and audiences, and ensuring our theater remains a transformative space for all.”
SAN JOSE STAGE COMPANY • 2024-2025 • SEASON 42
West Coast Premiere
THE SMUGGLER
By Ronán Noone
Directed by Johnny Moreno
September 25 - October 13, 2024 | Press Opening: September 28, 2024
The Smuggler is a Thriller in Rhyme. It's 2023. Tim Finnegan is an Irish immigrant trying to make it as a writer on Amity, an affluent summer colony in Massachusetts, where tensions flare between the migrant and local communities after a fatal car crash. When he loses his job as a bartender, Tim gets drawn into the dark underbelly of the island. The Smuggler examines how far one man will go to restore his self-respect and asks the question, "What does it mean to be an American citizen today?"
Holiday Comedy
A SHERLOCK CAROL
By Mark Shanahan
Directed by Kenneth Kelleher
November 20 - December 15, 2024 | Press Opening: November 23, 2024
Moriarty is dead, to begin with. And Sherlock Holmes is a haunted man. But, when a grown-up Tiny Tim asks Holmes to investigate the death of Ebenezer Scrooge, the Great Detective must use his gifts to solve a Dickens of a Christmas mystery! Six actors take on the beloved characters of Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens in this heartwarming and highly theatrical holiday treat for all ages!
West Coast Premiere
HENRIK IBSEN’S
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
Adaptation by Thomas Ostermeier & Florian Borchmeyer
Directed by Kenneth Kelleher
February 5 - March 2, 2025 | Press Opening: February 8, 2025
“A searing and bold reimagining—Ostermeier’s ‘An Enemy of the People’ is a modern masterpiece.” —The Guardian
Dr. Thomas Stockmann discovers that the water in his town’s therapeutic spa is contaminated. The polluted spa has created prosperity for the town but is also making people sick. The play examines how a scientific expert becomes “an enemy of the people” when he threatens to expose an ecological human disaster. Will he be silenced by those who seek to protect their personal financial gains? Thomas Ostermeier’s scorching adaptation successfully pulls Ibsen’s play out of a small Norwegian town in 1882 and into a modern day global theatrical debate about corruption, climate emergency, and inequality.
Hilarious Farce
THE UNDERPANTS
By Steve Martin
Adapted from Carl Sternheim
Directed by Kimberly Mohne Hill
April 2 - 27, 2025 | Press Opening: April 5, 2025
“A hilarious, over-the-top-farce.” — New York Daily News
The renowned comic actor and author of Picasso at the Lapine Agile provides a wild satire adapted from the classic German play about Louise and Theo Markes, a couple whose conservative existence is shattered when Louise's bloomers fall down in public. Though she pulls them up quickly, he thinks the incident will cost him his job as a government clerk. Louise's momentary display does not result in the feared scandal but it does attract two infatuated men, each of whom wants to rent the spare room in the Markes' home. Oblivious of their amorous objectives, Theo splits the room between them, happy to collect rent from both the foppish poet and the whiny hypochondriac.
Tony Award-Winning Musical
SWEET CHARITY
Directed by Allison F. Rich
Choreography by Leslie Waggoner
Book by Neil Simon
Music by Cy Coleman; Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
June 4 - 29, 2025 | Press Opening: June 7, 2025
“A hit-packed score…and a joke-packed book...” –The New York Times
Inspired by Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria, Sweet Charity explores the turbulent love life of Charity Hope Valentine, a hopelessly romantic but comically unfortunate dance hall hostess in New York City. With a tuneful, groovy, mid-1960s score by Cy Coleman, sparkling lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and a hilarious book by Neil Simon, Sweet Charity captures all the energy, humor, and heartbreak of Life in the Big City for an unfortunate but irrepressible optimist.
ABOUT SAN JOSE STAGE COMPANY
Through powerful, provocative and profound theatre, San Jose Stage Company (The Stage) seeks to expand community, forge creative partnerships, and challenge individuals in order to illuminate the human condition.
San Jose Stage Company is recognized as the South Bay’s leading professional theatre company, having earned a reputation for artistic excellence through imaginative and edgy theatrical experiences that spark ideas and dialogue with the audience. The Stage is dedicated to the presentation and development of new works, with a concentration on American literature scripted by modern playwrights that speak to the conditions, hopes and fears of humanity. With the farthest seat in the house no more than fifteen feet from the three-quarter thrust stage, the connection between actor and audience at The Stage is profoundly visceral.
A multi-award-winning theatre company, San Jose Stage Company has presented over 200 productions, including 20 world premieres and over 50 new works. The Stage was honored with the Paine Knickerbocker Award for continued contributions to Bay Area theatre from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle in 2018.
San Jose Stage Company is ranked as the second largest professional theatre and eighth largest performing arts organization in Silicon Valley (Silicon Valley Business Journal), attracting over 20,000 patrons to downtown and employing more than 150 local artists annually making The Stage a vital force in the region’s economic and creative landscape.
TICKET INFORMATION
Memberships and single tickets to the 2024-2025 season of San Jose Stage Company may be purchased online at www.thestage.org with season packages ranging from $125 - $270 and offering savings of up to 30% on single-ticket prices.
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