Geffen Playhouse Announces Six Productions for Inaugural 2024/2025 Season Lineup from Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney

GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE ANNOUNCES SIX PRODUCTIONS FOR INAUGURAL 2024/2025 SEASON LINEUP FROM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY

MCCRANEY’S “THE BROTHERS SIZE” WILL LAUNCH THE NEW SEASON, ALSO MARKING THE PLAY’S 20^TH ANNIVERSARY

NEXT UP WILL BE THE LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF “DRAGON LADY,” WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY SARA PORKALOB, FOLLOWED BY A REIMAGINING OF THE CLASSIC “WAITING FOR GODOT,” FEATURING CONOR LOVETT AND RAINN WILSON, AND THE BRITISH FARCE “NOISES OFF”

THE SEASON WILL CONTINUE WITH THE WEST COAST PREMIERE OF A.K. PAYNE’S “FURLOUGH’S PARADISE,” AND CLOSE WITH THE WORLD PREMIERE OF JAKE BRASCH’S “THE RESERVOIR”

THE AUDREY SKIRBALL KENIS THEATER WILL TAKE ON A NEW ROLE AS A LAB FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW WORKS AND ARTIST COLLABORATION

LOS ANGELES (March 19, 2024) – Geffen Playhouse today announced six productions that will make up the 2024/2025 season lineup, marking the inaugural season from Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney. The 2024/2025 season will launch August 14, 2024, in the Geffen’s Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater and continue in the Gil Cates Theater through July 20, 2025. The lineup will feature a mix of classics and new co-productions, as well as Los Angeles, West Coast and world premieres.

“My hope is by beginning the season with The Brothers Size—part of The Brother/Sister Plays trilogy—and Dragon Lady—from multi-hyphenate innovative Broadway star Sara Porkalob’s Dragon Cycle trilogy—we entice our audiences into direct conversations about family, America, and freedom that can expand over multiple theatrical events. It’s a commitment and an invitation to engage,” said Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney. “I also have the great honor of introducing two powerful emerging artists to Los Angeles with their already acclaimed works in a.k. payne’s Furlough’s Paradise and Jake Brasch’s The Reservoir.

In addressing artistic priorities for the Geffen, McCraney added, “I wanted to deepen the Geffen’s collaborations with theaters across the world. Partnering with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company on Michael Frayn’s Noises Off and working with Gare St Lazare Ireland on Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (directed by Gare St Lazare’s Judy Hegarty Lovett and featuring Conor Lovett and Rainn Wilson), felt like bold first steps towards that priority of collaboration.”

Added Geffen Playhouse Executive Director/CEO Gil Cates, Jr., “We are beyond excited to announce Tarell’s first season for Geffen Playhouse. His vision builds on our nearly 30-year legacy with bold creative choices that will shape our future as theater makers. Under Tarell’s artistic leadership, Geffen audiences are going to be introduced to new voices, new stories and new formats for the live theatrical experience.”

Under McCraney’s artistic leadership, the Geffen’s intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater will take on a new strategic direction beginning with the 2024/2025 season, establishing a dedicated space primarily for creative experimentation and development of new works, including workshops, readings and collaborations with the creative community across all disciplines. While serving as a lab for artistic development, the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater will also continue as a flexible performance space for select ticketed Geffen Playhouse productions throughout the season.

“Classic stories, emerging artists, and finding new, innovative ways to share ideas with live audiences—these are the very foundation of our new works lab to be housed in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater,” stated McCraney. “We have big plans for our intimate space, which will be in close partnership with our neighbors and colleagues at UCLA.”

The 2024/2025 Geffen Playhouse season will launch in its Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater with Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brothers Size, a raw and heartfelt exploration of the bonds of brotherhood in the Deep South, which also marks the play’s 20th anniversary. The Brothers Size will be performed in the round. The season will continue in the Gil Cates Theater beginning with the Los Angeles premiere of Dragon Lady, written and performed by Broadway star and storyteller Sara Porkalob, who embodies dozens of characters in a trigenerational tour-de-force performance that fuses killer karaoke with laugh-out-loud comedy to tell her family’s incredible origin story.

Next up will be a reimagining of the classic Waiting for Godot, featuring Conor Lovett (I’ll Find You, Versailles) and Rainn Wilson (Thom Pain, The Office) in Samuel Beckett’s tragi-comedy that has captivated audiences for decades. The season will then continue with slamming doors, flying sardines and dropped trousers in Noises Off, Michael Frayn’s side-splitting British farce about a theater company desperately trying to get their act together. This uproarious love letter to the theater is a peek behind the curtain—where everything that can go wrong, does!

The season will carry on with the West Coast premiere of a.k. payne’s Furlough’s Paradise, a poignant tale of grief, home, love and kinship, as two cousins grapple with their conflicting memories of the past and their shared hopes for the future. Poetic and theatrical, Furlough’s Paradise explores family dreams of a utopia yet to be realized. Completing the 2024/2025 season will be the world premiere of Jake Brasch’s The Reservoir, the story of a young man who is trying to get his life together, but can’t manage to stay sober and decides to bring his four loveable grandparents on his road to recovery. Served up with outrageous humor and truth, The Reservoir reminds us that sometimes the path forward isn’t the one we expect.

Geffen Playhouse will continue its longstanding relationship with UCLA Health for its 2024/2025 season.

GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE 2024/2025 SEASON

The Brothers Size (Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater)
August 14 – September 8, 2024
Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by Bijan Sheibani
A Co-Production with The Shed

Drawing from the rich tradition of the Yoruba people of West Africa, The Brothers Size is a modern-day fable about two brothers in the Deep South. Ogun, the elder brother, embodies hard work and reliability, while Oshoosi, formerly incarcerated, is seemingly carefree and unpredictable. Their relationship is tested when the charismatic Elegba arrives, tempting Oshoosi back to his old habits. As the brothers wrestle with loyalty, freedom, and duty, their humanity is revealed though a raw and heartfelt exploration of the bonds of brotherhood.

Kicking off his inaugural season as Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s acclaimed play The Brothers Size celebrates its 20th anniversary in the intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.

Dragon Lady (Gil Cates Theater)
Part I of The Dragon Cycle
LOS ANGELES PREMIERE
September 4 – October 6, 2024
Written & Performed by Sara Porkalob
Directed by Andrew Russell

On the eve of her 60th birthday, Maria Porkalob Sr. fires up her new karaoke machine to regale her granddaughter Sara with her astonishing life story. As a lounge singer who escaped a gangster-controlled nightclub in Manila to become a free-range mother of five in the United States, Maria is a matriarch not to be trifled with. Broadway star and storyteller Sara Porkalob embodies dozens of characters in a trigenerational tour-de-force performance that fuses killer karaoke with laugh-out-loud comedy to tell her family’s incredible origin story.

Waiting for Godot (Gil Cates Theater)
November 6 – December 15, 2024
Written by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett
Produced in Association with Gare St Lazare Ireland
Featuring Conor Lovett & Rainn Wilson
Additional casting to be announced.

As Vladimir and Estragon wait and wait for the arrival of the elusive Godot, a cast of mysterious misfits interrupt their endless vigil in Samuel Beckett’s tragi-comic masterpiece that has captivated audiences for decades. Timeless and multi-layered, Waiting for Godot changed the course of contemporary drama and remains as resonant and riveting as ever. Gare St Lazare Ireland, “the unparalleled Beckett champions” according to the New York Times, bring their wit and skill to what promises to be a Godot for the ages featuring Conor Lovett (I’ll Find You, Versailles) and Rainn Wilson (Thom Pain, The Office).

Noises Off (Gil Cates Theater)
January 29 – March 2, 2025
Written by Michael Frayn
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
A Co-Production with Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Doors slam, sardines fly, and trousers drop in Michael Frayn’s side-splitting British farce about a theater company desperately trying to get their act together. Both onstage and backstage, chaos reigns for a troupe of floundering actors whose forgotten lines, misplaced props, and steamy romantic entanglements make it nearly impossible for the show to go on. An uproarious love letter to the theater, Noises Off is a peek behind the curtain—where everything that can go wrong, does!

Furlough’s Paradise (Gil Cates Theater)
WEST COAST PREMIERE
April 16 – May 18, 2025
Written by a.k. payne
Directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden

Cousins Sade and Mina used to be inseparable. Now leading very different lives, they return to their childhood town for the funeral of their mother and aunt. While Sade is on a three-day furlough from prison and Mina experiences a brief reprieve from her career and life on the West Coast, the two try to make sense of grief, home, love, and kinship. As the clock ticks down, the cousins grapple with their conflicting memories of the past and their shared hopes for the future. Poetic and theatrical, Furlough’s Paradise explores family dreams of a utopia yet to be realized.

The Reservoir (Gil Cates Theater)
WORLD PREMIERE
June 18 – July 20, 2025
Written by Jake Brasch
Directed by Shelley Butler
In Partnership with Denver Center for the Performing Arts & Alliance Theatre

Josh’s life is a mess. He’s come home to Denver from NYU to get his life together, but can’t manage to stay sober. Desperate for camaraderie, he decides to bring his four loveable grandparents on his road to recovery. He drags them to Jazzercise class. He pressures them into playing memory games. He forces them to eat spinach by the handful. And eventually, when he can no longer help his grandparents, they begin to help him. Served up with outrageous humor and truth, The Reservoir reminds us that sometimes the path forward isn’t the one we expect.

ABOUT THE SHED
Under the leadership of CEO Meredith “Max” Hodges and founding Artistic Director Alex Poots, The Shed is a cultural institution of and for the 21st century. We produce and welcome innovative art and ideas, across all forms of creativity, to build a shared understanding of our rapidly changing world and a more equitable society. In our highly adaptable building on Manhattan’s west side, The Shed brings together established and emerging artists to create new work in fields ranging from pop to classical music, painting to digital media, theater to literature, and sculpture to dance. We seek opportunities to collaborate with cultural peers and community organizations, work with like-minded partners, and provide unique spaces for private events. As an independent nonprofit that values invention, equity, and generosity, we are committed to advancing art forms, addressing the urgent issues of our time, and making our work impactful, sustainable, and relevant to the local community, the cultural sector, New York City, and beyond. @TheShedNY theshed.org

ABOUT GARE ST LAZARE IRELAND
Gare St Lazare Ireland is dedicated to the staging of Samuel Beckett’s work with an emphasis on his prose works. It has staged over twenty-four Beckett titles spanning his prose, drama, and radio plays and tours around the world and the U.S. performing at Lincoln Center Theater, Signature Theatre, ArtsEmerson, Rubicon Theatre Company, Laguna Playhouse, and at UCLA’s Royce Hall during the 2006 Beckett Centenary. The Realistic Joneses by Will Eno toured to the West Coast in 2023 and Eno also wrote the solo play Title and Deed for Conor Lovett to perform and Judy Hegarty Lovett to direct in 2011. In Ireland, the company has toured to over sixty venues and recently performed at Abbey Theatre, Dublin and The Everyman, Cork. In 2023, Gare St Lazare set up Atelier Samuel Beckett in France to offer three-week stays for artists of all disciplines to take time and space to develop their own work while considering the work of Samuel Beckett.

ABOUT STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY
Steppenwolf Theatre is the nation’s premier ensemble theater with 49 members who are among the top actors, playwrights, and directors in the field. Thrilling, powerful, groundbreaking productions—from Balm in Gilead and The Grapes of Wrath to August: Osage County, Downstate, and The Brother/Sister Plays—have made this theatre legendary. Steppenwolf’s artistic force remains rooted in the original vision of its founders: an artist-driven theatre, whose vitality is defined by its sharp appetite for bold and innovative work. While grounded in the Chicago community, more than forty original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success nationally and internationally, including Broadway, off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway, and Dublin. Steppenwolf also holds accolades that include the National Medal of Arts, twelve Tony Awards, and more. Led by Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis, Executive Director E. Brooke Flanagan, and Board of Trustees Chair Keating Crown—Steppenwolf has, and continues to redefine the landscape of acting and performance.

ABOUT DENVER CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is one of the largest non-profit theatre organizations in the nation, presenting Broadway tours and producing theatre, cabaret, musicals, and innovative, immersive plays. In its 2022/23 season, the DCPA offered 864,552 engagements, generating a $205.6 million economic impact. Follow the DCPA on social media @DenverCenter and through the Denver Center for the Performing Arts NewsCenter. Media sponsorship is provided by CBS Colorado and The Denver Post. The DCPA is supported in part by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD).

ABOUT ALLIANCE THEATRE
Founded in 1968, the Alliance Theatre is the leading producing theater in the Southeast, reaching more than 165,000 patrons annually. The Alliance is led by Jennings Hertz Artistic Directors Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and Christopher Moses and is a recipient of the Regional Theatre Tony Award® for sustained excellence in programming, education, and community engagement. In January 2019, the Alliance opened its new, state-of-the-art performance space, The Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre. Known for its high artistic standards and national role in creating significant theatrical works, the Alliance has premiered more than 135 productions including ten that have transferred to Broadway. The Alliance education department reaches 90,000 students annually through performances, classes, camps, and in-school initiatives designed to support teachers and enhance student learning. The Alliance Theatre values community, curiosity, collaboration, and excellence, and is dedicated to representing Atlanta's diverse community with the stories we tell, the artists, staff, and leadership we employ, and audiences we serve. www.alliancetheatre.org

ABOUT UCLA HEALTH
UCLA Health offers a comprehensive network of primary and specialty care services at four world-class medical centers – Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA and UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center – and more than 280 clinics across Southern California and the Central Coast. For 34 consecutive years, UCLA Health hospitals have earned a place on the U.S. News & World Report national honor roll, a distinction reserved for the relative few providing the highest-quality care across multiple medical specialties. UCLA Health is where discovery leads to world-class care. Visit uclahealth.org.

ABOUT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE
Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and second productions, the not-for-profit organization continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. Named in honor of entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen, who made the initial donation to the theater, the company was founded by Gilbert Cates and is currently helmed by Executive Director/CEO Gil Cates, Jr., Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney and Board Chair Adi Greenberg. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen welcomes an audience of more than 130,000 each year, and maintains extensive education and community engagement programs, designed to involve underserved young people and the community at large in the arts. www.geffenplayhouse.org

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