Announcing the 55th Season Lineup with World Class Talent and a Focus on Fostering Conversation
Arizona Theatre Company’s 55th season is taking the stage to inspire positive change, celebrate the spectrum of human emotion, and entertain even after the curtains close. Single tickets will go on sale in August 2022. Subscriptions, including six-play packages and flex passes that allow patrons to choose the shows that fit their schedules, will be available in May.
Community conversations continue in the 2022/2023 Season as ATC presents work and programs that spark thought-provoking dialogue and explore shared social issues, reinventing how the company engages its communities. Sean Daniels, Arizona Theatre Company’s Kasser Family Artistic Director, describes the season lineup as an opportunity for the company to be the civic and community leader it strives to be.
ATC’s innovative community immersion program, The Cohort Club, will return in 2022, giving audience members a behind-the-scenes view of how productions are created, as well as workshops by leading theatre artists from around the world. Throughout the season, additional community engagement programs will be announced.
“You can’t ever have a real conversation about connections unless you can see the world through someone else’s eyes,” Daniels says. “At Arizona Theatre Company, we strive to create a forum for the ideas and feelings that lead a society to connect, heal and change. Theatre is an emotional art form, and we want each show this season to start fantastic conversations and spirited debate beyond the theatre walls.”
The 55th season is full of award-winning writing, acting and production. With Tony Award-winning artists, Drama Desk Winners, three New York Times Critics’ Picks, West End favorites and best-loved Arizona locals, audiences will see the best of the world here.
The season will open with the revival of Benjamin Scheuer’s Drama Desk Award-winning autobiographical show and 2015 Theatre World Award Winner. The Lion, which will have its first revival in London at Southwark Playhouse from May 25 through June 25and is co-produced by Arizona Theatre Company and Danielle Tarento. Daniels will co-direct the show, a heartwarming and powerful one-man folk musical telling a true story of survival and redemption that reminds us that great things can come from challenging times, alongside Alex Stenhouse. Actor, singer and musician Max Alexander-Taylor stars in the lead role of Ben. Critics across the United States and London have called the show “wondrous … revelatory … incredibly entertaining” and “My single favorite musical of all of last year, whether on Broadway or in London.”
For fans familiar with the 54th season, ATC presents a companion piece to last year’s holiday show that takes place in the Pemberley home. While the events of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley unfold upstairs at the great house, the servants downstairs find themselves amid a different holiday scandal in this season’s The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley. As the festivities spiral into chaos, Lydia Wickham finds her voice in this celebration of family and forgiveness.
The Glass Menagerie, one of the greatest plays of all times, is a poetic and raw portrayal of a family on the brink of change. Reimagined for ATC’s stages, this intimate and intense classic, which changed the way we tell stories, draws from the memories of narrator Tom and explores the complex web of love, longing, loyalty, and constraints that bind families together. Directed by Chanel Bragg, the play continues ATC’s history of investigating and reimagining the classics.
The season’s fourth show, Pru Payne, is a world premiere written by Pulitzer Prize Nominee Steven Drukman. An esteemed critic, Pru Payne is widely recognized as a wit, a scholar, and a public intellectual; her son Thomas lives in that shadow. But as her memory begins to fade, all her preconceived notions – about herself and, more importantly, others – also slip away. Pru Payne is a remarkable, funny, and life-affirming story about the relationship between a mother and son, love, and loss.
The White Chip, a New York Times Critic’s Pick, shows a path to recovery that is poignant, funny, and uplifting. A dry comedy about drying out, the show follows the main character Steven as he forms a new bond with his mother while carving an unusual path to sobriety. A wild, theatrical journey, The White Chip’s Off-Broadway production will come to Arizona alongside a Tony-nominated director and Tony-award-winning designer.
The season ends with The Legend of Georgia McBride, a New York Times Critic’s Pick and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award Best Play finalist. This big-hearted, fierce, music-filled comedy has been hailed as “stitch-in-your-side funny;” by the New York Times. Casey, an Elvis impersonator with everything going for him, including a flashy sequin jumpsuit, suddenly loses his gig, his rent is overdue, and his wife announces a baby on the way. So, when Elvis leaves the building and a drag show moves in, “The King” transforms into an all-out queen with some help. With snappy zingers and dance-worthy numbers, this wildly entertaining story challenges assumptions with extraordinary humor and depth.
ATC’S 2022/2023 55th Season Includes:
The Lion
Written by Benjamin Scheuer
Directed by Sean Daniels and Alex Stenhouse
Tucson: Sept. 24null [, 2022 __title__ null] – Oct. 15, 2022
Phoenix: Oct. 20, 2022 – Nov. 6, 2022
The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley
Written by Lauren Gunderson & Margot Melcon
Directed by Veronika Duerr
Tucson: Nov. 5, 2022 – Dec. 3, 2022
Phoenix: Dec. 8, 2022 – Dec 23, 2022
The Glass Menagerie
Written by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Chanel Bragg
Tucson: Jan. 21, 2023 – Feb. 11, 2023
Phoenix: Feb. 16, 2023 – March 5, 2023
Pru Payne
Written by Steven Drukman
Directed by Sean Daniels
Tucson: March 4, 2023 – March 25, 2023
Phoenix: March 30, 2023 – April 16, 2023
The White Chip
Written by Sean Daniels
Directed by Sheryl Kaller
Tucson: April 15, 2023 – May 6, 2023
Phoenix: May 11, 2023 – May 28, 2023
The Legend of Georgia McBride
Written by Matthew Lopez
Directed by Meredith McDonough
Tucson: June 3, 2023 – June 24, 2023
Phoenix: June 29, 2023 – July 16, 2023