Waiting for Godot
by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Heidi S. Howard
September 27th – October 14th, 2018
Two sad sack drifters wait by a tree for a mysterious stranger named Godot, in this classic tragicomic absurdist play by Samuel Beckett. As our society continues to wait for solutions that may never arrive, we present this introspective piece with original cast members from our lauded previous productions, including 7 Stages founder Del Hamilton and the legendary Don Finney.
Mondo Bizarro presents The Way at Midnight
by Mondo Bizarro
Directed by Joanna Russo
November 1st – 4th, 2018
7 Stages is thrilled to present the latest original work from New Orleans-based theater ensemble, Mondo Bizarro. The company that has been creating interdisciplinary art and fostering creative partnerships in local, national and international communities for fourteen years.
The Way at Midnight is humorous and incorporates theatrical performance, visual installation, projection mapping, and live and recorded music. Ancestral DNA leaps across generations, via projection screens, onto the bodies of performers Hannah Pepper-Cunningham and Nick Slie. It is an incisive performance questioning the role cartography has played in colonization, and the way that legacies live in our bodies and affect our lives. Midnight explores confrontations with losing and being lost from the colonial period through the digital age. The two main actors become seven characters on an interconnected journey to reckon with — and maybe even reimagine — their inheritance and ancestry.
Curious Holiday Encounters
December 6th-9th, 2018
The popular festival of interactive performances will once again take place throughout the entire building with a twist of holiday cheer… and delightful madness! Come celebrate this magical time of year as only 7 Stages can featuring, Little Five Points Rockstar Orchestra, Aris Theatre, The Weird Sisters Theatre Project, Rebekah Suellau and more!
Paper Doll Militia Presents
Warped (World Premiere)
by Paper Doll Milia
February 21st-24th, 2019
Warped asks you to stare directly into infinity and embrace the mysteries of Time. This circus theatre production challenges our societal perceptions of predictability and illuminates our complex relationship to our own mortality. Enter a fascinating world of suspended gears, cranks, levers, and ropes that move and morph like the inner mechanisms of a giant clock. Join these four quirky characters in their odyssey of relativity through this strikingly visual production in true Paper Doll Militia fashion.
This production is a true blending of circus arts and physical theater, balancing high skilled acrobatics with physical acting and attention to narrative. The show also utilizes projection and shadow work, and features original music composition. It has been lovingly crafted in Los Angeles and is in its final stages of creation
Angry Fags (World Premiere)
by Topher Payne
Directed by Kate Macqueen with Ibi Owolabi
March 28th-April 14th, 2019
Topher Payne’s dark comedy Angry Fags is back with a vengeance for the Trump era. The all new production conveys what could happen if – even with good intention – fear is what is used to instigate change. Friends, Cooper and Bennett are two loving, genuine and charismatic characters who are met with desperation, anger, and ultimately motivation to “make it better” when they find out one of their tribe – a friend, an x lover, a boy they once knew – has been brutally assaulted. This is a cautionary tale, we must not become what we are fighting against. As our society is spiraling into chaos and division, people are suffering from outrage fatigue. Monsters don’t believe they are monsters, they are passionate about a thing. If we become the monsters – they win.
An uncompromising Oscar Wilde-meets-Fight Club fantasia about how good ideas go bad, the destructiveness of toxic masculinity, and how no one is really afraid of gay guys, the worse case scenario needed an update.
Human: A Citizen’s Encounter (World Premiere)
Directed by Heidi S. Howard
with Theresa Davis, Destiny Thompson, Dalyla McGee, and Ismâïl Ibn Conner
May 18th, 2019
Celebrate our 40th anniversary season finale with an open festival of immersive performances sharing stories of family, ritual, and courage from all corners of our vibrant city. Thanks to the NEA, 7 Stages ignites artistic responses to Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen: An American Lyric” with this original performance festival. ‘The book is a provocative meditation on race, recounting aggressions and encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and media in the form of essay, image, and poetry. Artistic responses highlight personal stories while evaluating our responsibility in navigating fear and political divide. The encounter includes an artist market, visual displays, video installations, open mic, poetry, dance, and food!
