Long Wharf Theatre Announces its 2021/22 Season

An Inspiring Program Of Forward Thinking & Looking Back.

Long Wharf Theatre proudly announces its 2021/22 season, an insightful offering of productions, collaborations, and discussions signaling an invigorating path forward for the fifty-six-year-old company. The inspiring slate boldly confronts Chinese exoticism, gentrification, racial upheaval, and GMOs, forming a season that embodies the nonprofit regional theatre’s rededication to producing innovative work that spurs thoughtful discussions of theatre’s power.

LWT’s season begins where 2019/20 abruptly ended, resuscitating The Chinese Lady, Lloyd Suh’s whimsical exposé inspired by Afong Moy’s journey to and through America; followed by Anna Deavere Smith’s fiery Fires in the Mirror which probes the cataclysmic aftershock when a rabbi’s motorcade spiraled out of control and killed a seven-year-old Black boy in Crown Heights, Brooklyn in 1991; next is Dream Hou$e, Eliana Pipes’ family drama that calculates the real cost of gentrification; and concluding with Queen, Madhuri Shekar’s thrilling moral drama that connects research ethics, honeybee colony collapse disorder, and Monsanto. The announcement signals a long-awaited opportunity to enjoy Jacob G. Padrón’s first-ever fully curated season as LWT’s artistic director, and an exciting welcome back to in-person performances. Additionally, LWT will offer behind-the-scenes access to its development of captivating new work and premiere engrossing films that capture the breadth of its storied history and vision for a disruptive future. These include a fashion show chronicling the theatre’s fifty-six-year history through its costume design and a New Haven-centered runway directed by New Haven-based Lotta Studio; the final installment of its multidisciplinary New Haven Play Project, centering Muslim, immigrant, and refugee storytellers; The LAB, a monthly showcase of the theatre’s inspiring roster of artists in residence; and Catharsissy—a solo act cabaret that dramatizes the metaphorical masks we wear and the outdated tactics we use to shield ourselves from suffering—starring LWT Artistic Ensemble Member Mason Alexander Park and directed by Paul McGill.

Equally inspiring is LWT’s relentless championing that “theatre is for everyone.” Behind shuttered doors, the groundbreaking theatre sought ways to live its ethos out loud: reengineering its pricing structure and ticketing model to create inclusive and accessible entry points for all. The result is a theatre that has been extremely busy behind the curtain, preparing to welcome audiences back to its Claire Tow Stage when guidelines deemed it safe to so. LWT is disrupting the norms of its industry by ending its subscription service and fully embracing its member-supported model, which subsidizes newly lowered ticket costs. Managing Director Kit Ingui reveals that “our work has always been made possible by longtime supporters who bought subscriptions to shows and donated in ways that felt comfortable. Shifting to a model that invites them and others to become a part of our process at ten dollars per month, feels like the sort of invitation we’ve always wanted to make.” The new model empowers former subscribers to become members and purchase single tickets for an entire season at a substantially reduced price. From the theatre-loving to the theatre-curious, all audiences will find radical inclusion and thoughtful hospitality as they find their seat at Long Wharf Theatre.

The Full 2021/22 Season Lineup

The Chinese Lady

Written by Lloyd Suh
Directed by Ralph Peña

Fires in the Mirror

Written by Anna Deavere Smith
Directed by Nicole Brewer

Dream Hou$e

World Premiere Production

Written by Eliana Pipes
Directed by Laurie Woolery
In partnership with Alliance Theatre

Queen

Written by Madhuri Shekar
Directed by Aneesha Kudtarkar
In partnership with NAATCO (National Asian American Theatre Company)

Contact

King Kenney
Director of Marketing and Communications