Off-Broadway NewsRattlestick Playwrights Theater Sets Dates for Off-Broadway Winter PremieresNew solo works by Dael Orlandersmith and Mashuq Mushtaq Deen will debut in repertory Off-Broadway in January.
By
Olivia Clement
December 12, 2017
The previously announced solo works by Dael Orlandersmith and Mashuq Mushtaq Deen have set their premiere dates at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Off-Broadway. The theatre will present Pulitzer Prize finalist Orlandersmith’s Until The Flood beginning January 6, 2018, with an opening night set for January 18; Deen’s Draw the Circle starts previews January 24 with a February 2 official opening.
Both shows will play in repertory through February 18.
In Until The Flood, Orlandersmith (Horsedreams, Yellowman) draws on numerous interviews with St. Louis residents following the tragic death of Michael Brown. Neel Keller directs.
“As a writer, performer and friend, Dael always surprises and confounds me. In Until The Flood she does it again, wading into the divisive, polarized enmity swirling around Darren Wilson's shooting of Michael Brown and returning with stories and characters who reveal how bound together we actually are, all of us caught up in the same roiling, painful currents of emotion, history, race and politics,” commented Keller in a press statement.
In Draw the Circle, directed by Chay Yew, Deen (The Betterment Society) shines a light on the experiences of family and friends when a person transitions from one gender to another.
“Draw the Circle is one of the most courageous testimonial theatre works I've collaborated on in my career. Written and performed by a trans playwright and actor, Deen brings to vivid life the intersectionality of being South Asian, Muslim and transgender, immigration, and the import of family, love and self-acceptance,” said director Yew. “This is the new American narrative.”
Until The Flood will feature set design by Takeshi Kata (Office Hour, Man from Nebraska), costumes by Kaye Voyce (The Antipodes, The Real Thing), lighting design by Mary Louise Geiger (The Constant Wife, The Liar), sound design by Justin Ellington (Primer for a New Superpower, Syncing Ink), and projection design by Nick Hussong (Skeleton Crew, These Paper Bullets!).
Draw the Circle will feature sets by Yew, lighting design by Mary Louise Geiger (Office Hour, The Constant Wife), and sound design by Matthew M. Nielson (Shakespeare’s Villians, Lakawanna Blues).
The Max Martin musical features a number of his most beloved songs, including “…Baby One More Time,” “Roar,” “Since U Been Gone,” “It’s My Life,” “I Want It That Way,” “Can’t Stop the Feeling!,” and more.