PRIME Goes Bigger And Bolder With Season Two

PRIME, a local theatre company dedicated to producing original plays for diverse audiences, made itself known with its debut season of trippy 24-hour new play festivals. In its first season last year, PRIME explored reincarnation, conspiracy theories, personal identity, and genre-bending mashups.

Now, this upstart theatre company has announced the highly anticipated lineup for its second season. While season one asked you to "Question Everything," season two has a new commandment: "Know Thyself."

"Our first season was our way of testing the waters, but Season Two is all about going bigger," said Kyle Kratky, PRIME's Co-Founder and Managing Director. "We're reinventing storefronts, taking on musicals, and creating theatrical worlds."

Over the next year, PRIME will produce four new shows exploring dreams, romance, fears, and, finally, the apocalypse. Each show will feature original content produced by artists from St. Louis metro area and beyond. Artists will be recruited to build immersive sets, produce paintings, create music, and more.
"We want to show St. Louis something new," said Artistic Director Matt Heckman. "As we bridge the gap between our 24-hour new play festivals and full-length shows, we aim to make some brave choices venturing into the unknown."

In addition to these four shows, PRIME will be helming two workshops: one for local youth in partnership with YourWords STL and Marygrove, and another for writers wanting to hone their craft.
"Our new season is built to push us creatively," said Heckman. "We're blending what we love about 24-hour new play festivals into new formats to produce something totally new and original. I'm excited to take audiences with us as we go exploring."

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Season Two: Know Thyself
"No one is free who has not contained the empire of himself." - Pythagoras
Reverie (May 19 - 2712 Cherokee)
What do you dream? Grab your pillow, bring your compass, and don't forget to set your alarm, because PRIME is taking you so deep into the dream world that you may not want to come back. Prepare your mind for six new plays created in 24-hours, exploring our dreams: prophecies, waking dreams, and more will be on display in this pop-up theatrical event in a vacant storefront in the Cherokee neighborhood. Local artists will fill the space with a mind-bending dreamworld to house their REVERIE. The show begins at 8 p.m. Admission is $15.

Bae (August - location TBD)
Who do you love? "Dear diary: what do I do about the girl next door? She says she loves me, but she also says I must love dogs. She owns an independent bookstore, and I work for a megastore chain. How will we ever find love when she's just a single mom trying to make it all work?" In BAE, PRIME will produce five new mini-musicals for an evening of satire soaked in rom-com tropes and cliches. Local musicians and writers will team up to create the new musicals over a week, hopefully getting to the bottom of why people are always kissing in the rain. Performances will run across two weeks. Dates and locations will be announced soon.

Neurosis (October - location TBD)
What do you fear? Don't look behind you, but PRIME is here with a freaky new 24-hour play festival delving into clowns, commitment, clowns with commitment issues, and every other fear that goes bump in the night. Join PRIME for NEUROSIS, as they fight back against their phobias with an evening of short plays and visual art, descending into the dark places of our psyche. PRIME will reinvent an unconventional space and create a pop-up gallery of visual art to match the writers' material. This Halloween, PRIME comes at night. This single night event will begin at 8 p.m. Admission is $15. Date and location will be announced later in 2018.

Epochs of Dystopia (December - location TBD)
How will you end? Season Two meets its end as PRIME mounts its most ambitious show to date. Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death will all make appearances in this two-week run of new one act plays. Inspired by the four horsemen of the apocalypse, writers will summon the old gods, engineer steampunk saviors, and welcome our robot overlords in these original stories. When there's nothing left to lose, who will we choose to be? Join PRIME as they rebuild amongst the ruin of the old world. EPOCHS OF DYSTOPIA will run for two weeks in December. Admission is $20. Dates and location will be announced later in 2018.

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