NOV 9 – NOV 22, 2021

GIL CATES THEATER

Written by Dominique Morisseau
Directed by Stori Ayers
Featuring Tyla Abercrumbie, Wendell B. Franklin, Alani iLongwe, John Earl Jelks & Shayna Small

Welcome to the sultry, jazz-filled Paradise Club. It’s 1949 in Detroit, and trumpet-playing club owner Blue has a tough decision to make. Should he sell his jazz joint as gentrification is banging on the door? The house band is desperate to stay, Blue’s demons are tempting him to leave, and the arrival of a seductive stranger turns everything upside down. In Tony Award-nominated playwright Dominique Morisseau’s (Ain’t Too Proud, Skeleton Crew) powerful noir-inspired drama, a makeshift family and their troubled bandleader find themselves fighting for the future of Paradise.

UPDATED NOVEMBER 24, 2021—After a series of events, the Geffen Playhouse production of Paradise Blue has been cancelled. An incident between members of the production was brought to our attention and we did not respond decisively in addressing it. As a result of these missteps, some members of the production felt unsafe and not fully supported.

We continually examine our best practices so artists and staff feel safe and can achieve their best work. In this case, we acknowledge having fallen short of this commitment. We have apologized to everyone involved, and in learning from this experience, we commit to continuing our ongoing work to improve and evolve as artists and collaborators.

We respect Dominique Morisseau and her work enormously, and we are proud of this powerful and beautiful production.

FEB 8 – MAR 27, 2022

GIL CATES THEATER

Written by Paul Grellong
Directed by Weyni Mengesha
Produced with Daryl Roth
Featuring Hugo Armstrong, Amy Brenneman, Bryan Cranston, Safiya Fredericks, Donna Simone Johnson, Tedra Millan, Seth Numrich & Brandon Scott

Distinguished Harvard professor Charles Nichols (Emmy & Tony Award winner Bryan Cranston) finds himself in hot water after inviting an incendiary white nationalist to speak at his annual symposium. His colleagues are concerned, his students are in revolt, but Charles is undeterred in his plot to expose and academically thrash his invited guest. This profoundly relevant new play by Paul Grellong (The Boys, Manuscript) examines the insidiousness of hate disguised as free speech and the question of who ultimately pays the price.

Cast Notice The role of “Quinn Harris” will be performed by Donna Simone Johnson thru 3/20, and by Safiya Fredericks after 3/20.

PRESENTING SPONSOR

MAR 1 – APR 10, 2022

AUDREY SKIRBALL KENIS THEATER

Written by Lindsay Joelle
Directed by Maggie Burrows
Featuring Ilan Eskenazi, Ben Hirschhorn, Louisa Jacobson & Garrett Young

Zalmy lives a double life. By day, he drives a Chabad “Mitzvah Tank” through 1990s New York City, performing good deeds with his best friend Shmuel. By night, he sneaks out of his orthodox community to roller-skate and listen to rock and roll. But when a curious outsider offers him unfettered access to the secular world, is it worth jeopardizing everything he's ever known? This road-trip bromance is a funny and heartwarming ode to the turbulence of youth, the universal suspicion that we don't quite fit in, and the faith and friends that see us through.

APR 19 – MAY 29, 2022

GIL CATES THEATER

Directed by Gordon Greenberg
Featuring Aimee Carrero, Calista Flockhart, Graham Phillips & Zachary Quinto

George and Martha, the American theater’s most notoriously dysfunctional couple, have invited the young and naive Nick and Honey over for drinks. What begins as harmless patter escalates to outright marital warfare, with the provincial newcomers caught in the crossfire. We are thrilled to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the hilarious and harrowing Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, arguably Edward Albee’s most famous and most vicious masterpiece.

May 10 – June 19, 2022

AUDREY SKIRBALL KENIS THEATER

Written by Anna Ouyang Moench
Directed by Maggie Burrows
Featuring Shirley Chen, Emma Galbraith, Erin Rae Li, Albert Park & Ji-young Yoo

During a mission trip to Bangkok, the four members of a Korean Christian girls’ youth group discover that their revered pastor has hidden a camera in their hotel bathroom. Samantha is personally wounded that Pastor would do this to her. Jen is worried about how this might affect her college applications. Mimi’s out for blood, as usual. And Kyung-Hwa thinks everyone needs to have lower expectations for men. Their communal rage and disillusionment fuel increasingly violent revenge fantasies amidst the no-holds-barred neon bubblegum sex-tourism mecca of Bangkok. Man of God is a funny feminist thriller about that moment when girls realize the male gaze has been watching all along—and decide they’re definitely gonna do something about it.

Jun 23 – Jul 24, 2022

GIL CATES THEATER

Words & Music by Matt Schatz
Directed by Mike Donahue
Featuring Jahbril Cook, Zehra Fazal, Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper, Rivkah Reyes, Danny Rothman & Jill Sobule

On a November night in 1994, a murder was committed in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In this poignant true-crime story told completely through song, a tight-knit Jewish community gathers to recount, remember, and reckon with the details of what happened in—and to—their town. This wholly original production, written by South Jersey native Matt Schatz, asks what it does to our souls when our leaders fall from grace.

This play was created during the Geffen Playhouse inaugural The Writers’ Room program, in which six Los Angeles playwrights develop new works with the support and guidance of the Geffen Playhouse artistic team. Recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. Major support for this world premiere production provided by the Edgerton Foundation New Play Production Fund.