The playbill is live! World-renowned Theater Company Actors Theatre of Louisville is announcing its 2023-2024 fall and spring season this morning. The programming has a heavy focus on honoring and portraying diversity and humanity. Or as a recent release from Actors Theatre relayed, it is a “Storytelling (r)Evolution.”
"The artistic collaborators and projects are each wildly exciting and breathtakingly exhilarating as a collective,” said Executive Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming in the release. “They paint an inspired picture of a number of dynamic communities that truly reflect who we are and what we’re about in Kentucky.”
The lineup includes:
“Dracula,” September 6-17, Bingham Theater This adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel, subtitled “A Feminist Revenge Fantasy,” is described as a “full-throated battle cry against toxic masculinity” and a “gleeful stake through the heart of the patriarchy,” according to the release.
“King John,” November 8-19, Bingham Theater Part of the Bingham Signature Shakespeare Series, “King John” will take the stage this fall. The play is about a “corrupt monarch besieged by threat.” The play is produced in conjunction with upstart crow collective, whose mission is to “produce classical plays with racially diverse casts of women and non-binary people, reimagining these works for a contemporary audience,” according to the release.
“Mrs Krishnan’s Party,” December 6-27, Victor Jory Theater Partnering with New Zealand's Indian Ink Theatre Company, Actors will produce the new holiday offering “Mrs Krishnan’s Party.” The production is about the celebration of Onam — an ancient Indian harvest festival. In a unique multi-sensory twist, the audience is invited to “join the party, making their own food, dancing and feasting together under colorful garlands,” according to the release.
“Loving and Loving,”February 7-18, Victor Jory Theater This play combines history and modern reality. Interviews with “Kentuckiana locals illuminating mixed identity experiences” will be combined with the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, whose groundbreaking Supreme Court victory struck down race-based restrictions on marriage in the United States, according to the release.
“I AM DELIVERED’T,” March 14-24, Pamela Brown Auditorium
A resurrection story in a church parking lot. The story takes place on Good Friday at The New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church’s Seven Last Words service. “Outside — in the church parking lot — another resurrection story is taking shape,” according to the release, as “Vice President of Usher Board Number One, and her protégé, ‘Pickles,’ find themselves in a battle royale of romantic quagmires.” The play is produced in collaboration with Dallas Theater Center.
“The expansive artistry expressed in these chosen works exhibits an exquisite range of what it means to be a part of the divine human comedy, in all the curious collisions we crash into and compromises we tumble into in our short time on this planet,” said Fleming in the release.
“We look forward to celebrating them all. Additionally, welcoming first timers and welcoming back those who have supported us for years, this storytelling exploration is marked by the many unfathomable realities and unanticipated and bewildering complexities we navigate every day in contemporary life. Never has the power of the theater — the ritual sharing of stories in a collective space in real time — had greater potential to create more hope than despair, more resilience than demoralization, nor more joy in the face of overwhelming sadness. Getting a chance to dream, share, and envision the world through these creatives’ artistic lenses will inevitably be a singular experience for our audiences: a place of witnessing our most humane selves, to focus on our potential for care, for love, for the very act of standing in power as accomplices for each other's well being. Daring to live in hope and be together in a brave and beloved community where we have a profound sense of connectedness and belonging.”
Tickets to the five productions will go on sale to Actors Theatre of Louisville members Monday, June 12. Member tickets start at $25. Tickets for non-members will go on sale at a later date. Learn more about memberships at actorstheatre.org/memberships.
For full details, and to order tickets, visit Actorstheatre.org.
