Theatre for a New Audience has revealed its 2018–2019 season programming. The four-show lineup features co-productions with London’s Young Vic and National Theatre, Paris' Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, as well as a roster of artists that includes Jessica Hecht, Kathryn Hunter, Peter Brook, and Marie-Hélène Estienne.
Kicking off the season in September will be the American premiere of Colin Teevan’s adaptation of Ryszard Kapuściński’s celebrated and controversial book The Emperor. Directed by Walter Meierjohann, the 2016 co-production from the Young Vic, HOME & Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg will make its U.S. debut with Hunter reprising her starring role. Performances will run September 9–30.
Also slated for the fall will be the New York premiere of Brook and longtime collaborator Estienne's The Prisoner, a new work that was commissioned by TFNA, Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Yale Rep, and London's National Theatre, among other international institutions. The play, in which a man sits outside a prison, explores the complexities of crime, justice, and compassion. Fresh off its run at at Yale Rep, performances will run Off-Broadway November 24–December 16; the cast will be made up of Hiran Abeysekera, Omar Silva, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, and Donald Sumpter.
In the new year, TFNA will present the world premiere of Calvin Trillin's About Alice, inspired by Trillin's best-selling memoir of the same name. Hecht will star in the title role in a production directed by Leonard Foglia. Performances are scheduled to run January 8–February 3, 2019.
Rounding out the season will be a new production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, directed by Shana Cooper. Performances will run March 17–April 28, with casting to be announced at a later date.
“The Emperor, The Prisoner, and About Alice are plays about confrontation with the self. In each work, the self is interrogated through role-playing and imaginative, compassionate channeling of alternative selves, the better to understand the world. And in Julius Caesar, Brutus, the play’s central character, is a troubled, conflicted self writ large on the body politic,” says Artistic Director Jeffrey Horowitz about the season. For more information visit TFNA.org.
