Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré will open its spring season with The House That Will Not Stand, a 2019 Obie Award-winning play by Marcus Gardley that unearths a story about free women of color in 1836 New Orleans, where Black Creole women entered into common-law marriages with wealthy white men. But the house that the lead character Beatrice builds—on a foundation of wealth, freedom and secrets—threatens to collapse after her man mysteriously dies and her three unwed daughters realize that his money could cost them the people they love. The House That Will Not Stand, staged from March 4–20, is a humorous and gripping family drama told in a rich and lyrical river of words.
Gardley is a poet-playwright. He was the 2012 James Baldwin Fellow and the 2011 PEN Laura Pels award winner for Mid-Career Playwright. The New Yorker describes Gardley as “the heir to Garcia Lorca, Pirandello and Tennessee Williams.” The House that Will Not Stand was commissioned and produced by Berkeley Rep and had subsequent productions at Yale Rep and the Tricycle Theater in London.
The show is directed by abigail jean-baptiste, a theater maker, director and writer born in New York City with familial roots in Haiti and the American South. Her work intersects with critical race theory and reimagines understandings of the past. Currently a Soho Rep Project Number One Artist and New Georges Affiliated Artist, she has also worked with McCarter Theater, The Public Theater, The Rep. at St. Louis, The Bushwick Starr, Atlantic Theater, and on Broadway. Proud Lilly Award Winner. B.A. Princeton.
The cast includes Tameka Bob, Tommye Myrick, Troi Bechet, Grace Gibson, Jarrell Hamilton, Elexis Selmon, Laurita Marie, and Eden James.
Nina Raine’s Tribes will be presented from April 8–24. The play took New York theatre by storm, where it won the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. In this searing comedy, audiences meet Billy who was born deaf into a hearing family. He was raised inside its fiercely idiosyncratic and politically incorrect cocoon. He has adapted brilliantly to his family’s unconventional ways, but they’ve never bothered to return the favor. It’s not until he meets Sylvia, a young woman on the brink of deafness, that he finally understands what it means to be understood.
The New York Post wrote, “There’s so much going on in…Tribes that it’s almost overwhelming: intellect and sentiment, love and cruelty, witty zingers and biting put-downs. But in Nina Raine’s dazzling play, too much is a good thing.”
Rescheduled from 2020 is the musical A Night with Janis Joplin. Like a comet that burns far too brightly to last, Janis Joplin exploded onto the music scene in 1967 and, almost overnight, became the queen of rock ‘n’ roll. The unmistakable voice, filled with raw emotion and tinged with Southern Comfort, made her a must-see headliner from Monterey to Woodstock. Fueled by such unforgettable songs as “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Piece of My Heart,” “Mercedes Benz,” “Cry Baby” and “Summertime,” a remarkable cast and breakout performances, A Night with Janis Joplin, written and directed by Randy Johnson, is a musical journey celebrating Janis and her biggest musical influences—icons like Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Odetta, Nina Simone and Bessie Smith, who inspired one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest legends. The musical will be presented from May 3–29.
The theatre season concludes with 2019 Tony Award nominee for Best Play, Choir Boy, written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who won the 2017 Academy Award for his adapted screenplay of the film Moonlight. In the soaring, music-filled Choir Boy, the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys is dedicated to the creation of strong, ethical black men. Pharus wants nothing more than to take his rightful place as leader of the school’s legendary gospel choir. Can he find his way inside the hallowed halls of this institution if he sings in his own key? Choir Boy will be presented from June 16–26.
For more information about Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré and to purchase season subscriptions or individual tickets, visit here.
