BWW Previews: 2022 Season Announced at The Midnight Company

The Midnight Company announced its 25th Anniversary Season with their lineup of productions for their 2022 landmark silver anniversary year.

The season will open with ANOMALOUS EXPERIENCE by the Company's Artistic Director, Joe Hanrahan, running May 5-21 at the Kranzberg Black Box Theatre. Inspired by true events, the story is told as a public lecture from a respected psychiatrist. He's been dealing with professional ridicule for his research into the phenomenon of Alien Abduction. In the play, he presents two patients who have been victims of their perceived abductions in different ways. While he's not exactly sure what's going on, the psychiatrist is convinced that something real and profound is happening to these people and to our world. Hanrahan said "The recent recorded sightings by military pilots and renewed government interest in UAPs provide the current backdrop for this modern ghost story." ANOMALOUS EXPERIENCE will be directed by Morgan Maul-Smith.

Midnight's second show of the season will be RODNEY'S WIFE by Richard Nelson and is directed by Joe Hanrahan. The show runs July 7-23 at The Chapel. The play is set in Rome in the year 1962. Rodney is a fading American movie star. He is brought to Italy to star in one of the first Spaghetti Westerns. Accompanying him to Rome is his second wife, his daughter from his first marriage, and his sister. His sister's husband just died and she grasp onto her brother, getting in the middle of all the family dynamics. This powerful yet delicate 2004 play won critics' raves, with New York's Time Out saying "Nelson plunks his characters down at the crossroads of erotic tension and family guilt," citing its echoes of "the closely observed simplicity of Chekhov" as well as "the eloquent bitterness of Albee." Hanrahan said, "Rome in1962 was the most exciting city in the world. The playwright has taken the passion and lust for living characteristic of the time and place, and he infused it into a tumultuous day and a half in the lives of these characters." The cast includes Kelly Howe as Faye (RODNEY'S WIFE), Rachel Tibbetts as Eva (Rodney's sister) and John Wolbers as Rodney. The set will be designed and lit by Bess Moynihan and costume design by Elizabeth Henning.

The final show of the season will be ST. LOUIS WOMAN, written and directed by Joe Hanrahan, running October 6-22 at the .ZACK. The show tells the stories of women who inspired and helped forge the legendary history of St. Louis music, and then spread that sound around the world. The One-Woman Show will be performed by St. Louis singer/actress LAKA. The show begins with "Frankie And Johnny" and "St. Louis Blues," two songs that put St. Louis on the musical map. It continues with characterizations and songs of Willie Mae Ford Smith (the Godmother of Gospel), Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday, Tina Turner and more. It illustrates their abilities to rise above their troubled beginnings in a racially divided city and time by pouring their souls into memorable song. The book and music provides the narrative for an exhilarating and inspiring show. Hanrahan said "The first time I heard LAKA sing, I knew I wanted to work with her. We talked of collaboration, and it has led to ST. LOUIS WOMAN. It's our take on the great music that came out of St. Louis, and the legendary women who made it."

Visit MidnightCompany.com for more information on the 2022 season. The website features the history of Midnight Company and offers a look at all previous Midnight shows, including photos, graphics, video, and reviews. There is a Blog with commentary on the influences of the group's work and the plays they present.