ARCHIVE
2020 SEASON: POSTPONED
Due to COVID-19, our 2020 Season was postponed. Our 2021 Season will be presented using a drive-in theater model, with all-new productions that can be staged outdoors, observing physical distancing and other health and safety protocols. When indoor performances resume, we hope to incorporate our un-produced 2020 productions into future seasons.
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
directed by Michael Socrates Moran
FEB 7–MAR 15
”Fair is foul and foul is fair.”
One night on the heath, the brave and respected general Macbeth encounters three witches who foretell that he will become king of Scotland. At first skeptical, he’s urged on by the ruthless, single-minded ambitions of Lady Macbeth, who suffers none of her husband’s doubt. But seeing the prophecy through to the bloody end leads them both spiraling into paranoia, tyranny, madness, and murder.
In this innovative and darkly magical take on The Scottish play, an electric cast of three play the witches, who cast a spell to influence the fate of a nation—and then embody every character in this epic drama about political ambition, power, and the consequences of violence.
teatro jornalero
World Premiere
created by and a co-production with Peralta Hacienda Historical Park
APR 3–26
”There is a border there, but it never divided people.”
A group of Central American and Mexican day laborers in Fruitvale formed the Teatro Jornalero/Day Laborers Theater, breaking through the safety of silence to share their stories with the wider public. In this multi-lingual documentary theater performance, they reveal not only their own intimate histories and hopes, but also deep cultural roots, and the tragic effects of global forces on their lives.
*In addition to the performance, the group has created a museum exhibit and art works called Undocumented Heart: Oakland Day Laborers Tell Their Stories. It premiered on October 6, 2018, and is on view at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Avenue.
SKIN OF CIVILITY
World Premiere
by Philip Kan Gotanda
directed by Michael Socrates Moran
JUNE 5–28
”Walking down the street you pass people who’ve killed another human being all the time. Survival of the fittest. Animals.”
From acclaimed Bay Area playwright Philip Kan Gotanda (Rashomon, Pool of Unknown Wonders) comes a World Premiere drama that follows Jackson and Scarlett as they meet in an upscale Manhattan restaurant. He is a 70-something executive; she a 30-something fundraiser. As the whiskey flows and the high heels come off, something else begins to emerge from beneath the restrained exterior of a blind date—a more complicated negotiation of desire, power, race, and survival.
World Premiere
florissant & Canfield
by Kristiana Rae Colón
directed by Margo Hall
AUG 28–SEP 27
This World Premiere from acclaimed playwright Kristiana Rae Colón dives into the community in Ferguson, Missouri following the death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown at the hands of a police officer in 2014, taking a closer look at grief, activism, and identity as young people form the center of a national political movement.
World Premiere
MOBY DICK
by Erik Ehn
directed by Michael Socrates Moran
OCT 9–NOV 8
"It is not down on any map; true places never are."
An American icon comes explosively to life in a new telling of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, by Erik Ehn and directed by Michael Socrates Moran. This World Premiere conjures an adventure for the ages as Captain Ahab takes to the high seas to pursue his ever-elusive white whale.
World Premiere
A Christmas Carol
by Caridad Svich
inspired by Charles Dickens
NOV 20–DEC 20
”Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?”
The timeless tale of a wealthy miser facing the ghosts of the past, present, and future is re-imagined in the World Premiere of A Christmas Carol by Caridad Svich, inspired by Charles Dickens’ beloved holiday classic.