The contemporary American experience, in all its vigor and complexity, takes center stage at Palm Beach Dramaworks in the 2022-2023 season. Producing Artistic Director William Hayes announced today that PBD’s twenty-third season will feature two Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, Topdog/Underdogby Suzan-Lori Parks and August: Osage County by Tracy Letts; a Pulitzer Prize-finalist, 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog; the world premiere of The Science of Leaving Omaha by Carter W. Lewis; and the classic Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose. Opening night is Friday, October 14.
The plays are set in New York, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, and range from heart-warming to heated, from funny to fraught, from intimate to epic. With the exception of Twelve Angry Men, all the plays were written in the twenty-first century and tell stories that reflect America’s diverse tapestry as they shine a light – with humor, insight, and empathy – on family dynamics and the tribulations of modern life. Though Twelve Angry Men was introduced in 1954, it, too, speaks with unnerving immediacy to today’s audiences.
The season opens with 4000 Miles (2011), in which a lonely 91-year-old former political activist and her 21-year-old, grief-stricken grandson reach across the generation gap and find comfort in each other. Direction is by J. Barry Lewis, who also directs Twelve Angry Men, which opens on December 9. The play examines how the baggage and prejudices people bring into a jury room can impede the Constitutional guarantee of a fair trial. Next up, on February 3, is the world premiere of The Science of Leaving Omaha, a standout from the 2022 New Year/New Plays Festival. Bruce Linser directs this play about young, marginalized, working-class Midwesterners with limited options. The fourth production is the Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County (2007), a harrowing and hilarious comic drama about a middle-class Oklahoma family. The play is directed by Hayes, and opens March 31. The season concludes with another Pulitzer Prize-winner, Topdog/Underdog(2001), which opens on May 26 and is directed by Be Boyd. It’s the story of a pair of African-American brothers, both in their 30s, who were abandoned as teenagers by their parents and are caught in an endless struggle to survive.
4000 MILES
By Amy Herzog
Directed by J. Barry Lewis
October 14-30, 2022
At the end of an agonizing cross-country bike trip, 21-year-old Leo shows up unexpectedly at the West Village apartment of his 91-year-old grandmother Vera. Across the generational divide, the physically fragile Vera and the emotionally fragile Leo tentatively and gradually learn to connect in this warm and touching comic drama.
TWELVE ANGRY MEN
By Reginald Rose
Directed by J. Barry Lewis
December 9-24, 2022
In this timely, timeless, and taut classic, 12 jurors deliberate the fate of a teenager accused of killing his father. Only Juror #8 is uncertain of the young man’s guilt. As he compels the others to carefully examine the evidence, the prejudices and social attitudes of each man are revealed – as are the strengths and flaws of the American justice system.
THE SCIENCE OF LEAVING OMAHA (World Premiere)
By Carter W. Lewis
Directed by Bruce Linser
February 3-19, 2023
Iris feels trapped in her job at a crematory and wants to get out of Omaha. When Baker breaks into the funeral home to say goodbye to his recently deceased wife, he and Iris spend a humorously unpredictable evening together trying to understand the dismantling of their working-class lives before their pasts, and the police, catch up with them.
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
By Tracy Letts
Directed by William Hayes
March 31-April 16, 2023
Meet the Weston family, a clan so embittered and embattled that dysfunctional would be a step up. Violet Weston is the pill-popping matriarch whose weary, alcoholic husband walks out the door one morning, never to return. His disappearance leads to a very dark, very funny family reunion full of revelations, resentments, and recriminations. A semi-autobiographical, Pulitzer Prize-winning comic drama in which the taunts and stings are both over-the-top and all too real.
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG
By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Be Boyd
May 26-June 11, 2023
This Pulitzer Prize-winning play tells the story of African-American brothers Lincoln and Booth, so named because their father thought it was funny. Spiritually wounded and barely scraping by, the brothers live in Booth’s seedy boarding house room where they alternately support and disparage each other as they look back at their troubled past and look ahead to an uncertain future. A darkly comic trash-talking tale of simmering sibling rivalry.
Palm Beach Dramaworks is a professional, nonprofit theatre company founded in 2000 and located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach. Each season, the award-winning company produces five mainstage shows and offers a wide variety of programs for students at the theatre, in schools, and online. Committed to fostering the future of theatre, PBD has become a hub for playwrights in Florida and around the country to nurture their work through initiatives including Drama(in the)works and the annual New Year/New Plays Festival. PBD is a member of Theatre Communications Group, Florida Professional Theatres Association, and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. www.palmbeachdramaworks.org
Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, and select Sundays at 7pm. Matinee performances are on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm. Post-performance discussions follow Wednesday matinee and Sunday evening performances.
The Don & Ann Brown Theatre is located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach, at 201 Clematis Street. For ticket information contact the box office at (561) 514-4042, or visit www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.
2 comments
I would like to purchase a gift card for a friend, do you offer them?
Please visit the Palm beach Drama Works Website for info on their gift cards! https://www.palmbeachdramaworks.org/