Big Idea Theatre also announced their upcoming 2014
Season: UNBOUND.
"The marvelous richness of human experience would
lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome."
-Helen Keller
Mankind is endowed with one of the greatest gifts of the
human experience: the desire to overcome the limits on our potential by any
means necessary. When we succeed, it provides us with connection, purpose, joy and
love. Even within cultures and ideologies that value submission and community
over the individual, there is a overwhelming drive to overcome selfishness and
ego. It is a truly universal and innately human quality to seek to better
ourselves. Inversely, however, giving into our shackles can become a curse of
despair leading to bitterness, fear, and apathy.
For 2014, Big Idea Theatre's company has chosen to tell 7
distinct stories about breaking free from the binds that confine our potential
as human beings. These stories of the 'UNBOUND' will each explore struggles to
surmount various constraints, real or imagined, placed on us by society,
family, and even ourselves.
The season begins with an epic inter-generational story of
one man's fight to break free from the destructive and abusive patterns of his
family. The season then takes on battles against the binds of social pressure,
self-doubt, racial and gender prejudice, fear of rejection, intellectual
complacency, and ultimately ends with a classic American story of man's fight
to forgive himself amidst a jungle of alluring temptations and distractions.
Big Idea Theatre hopes you'll join them for this varied
season chock full of humor, passion and pain as they strive to discover what it
means to live truly UNBOUND.
WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING by Andrew Bovell
January 10 – February 8
Sacramento
Premiere
It's raining. Gabriel York is anxiously awaiting the
arrival of the son he abandoned decades ago. "I know what he wants. He
wants what all young men want from their fathers. He wants to know who he is.
Where he comes from. Where he belongs. And for the life of me I don't know what
to tell him."
Thus begins this compelling
family saga that brings us on an intricate, heart-breaking journey from one
generation to another, from 1959 to 2039, from London to Australia. Telling the
story of four generations of fathers and sons, their mothers, lovers and wives,
the play is epic in its scope, yet at the same time extraordinarily
intimate.
"...It is a powerful
metaphor for the impossibility of escaping the past, for the way we are all
shaped by what came before—and
are living in the shadow of what comes next." —Time
THE MERRY WIVES by William
Shakespeare
Adapted by Big Idea Theatre
February
28 - March 29
Step back in time to the wild, wild West, where anything
goes. It's the Gold Rush, and tens of thousands of immigrants from around the
world have flocked to California in search of their fortune. Among them is Sir John Falstaff, who, having
failed to strike gold in the foothills, now attempts to win his fortune by
other, less noble means. Enter Mistresses Page and Ford, whom Falstaff plots to
separate from their gold by falsely pledging his love. The women, however, are
not so easily fooled and turn the tables on the hapless Falstaff through a
series of bawdy, raucous and hilarious pranks.
Enjoy this playful twist on Shakespeare's classic comedy
that celebrates our region's vibrant history.
INVENTING VAN GOGH by Steven Dietz
April
18 – May 17
Sacramento Premiere
“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” —Oscar
Wilde.
In September 2013, the art world reeled when a painting,
which had languished for years in a Norwegian attic, was revealed to be a
previously undiscovered masterpiece by Vincent Van Gogh.
Inventing Van Gogh pulls us into the tale surrounding Van Gogh’s famed,
final, lost self-portrait that has never been seen... until now. This time-bending mystery about the making of
art introduces us to the legendary artist himself, the modern-day art expert
whose quest for the lost portrait consumes his life, and the protégé who is
lured into perpetrating a breathtaking, audacious fraud.
THE SUBMISSION by Jeff Talbot
June
6 – July 5
Sacramento
Premiere
Danny’s complex new drama about an
African-American family struggling to leave the projects has just been selected
for the nation's preeminent play festival. But Danny, a young white playwright,
submitted his work under a pseudonym in the hope of increasing its chances for
production. So he hires Emilie, a black actress, to stand in for him as author.
What starts out as a questionable idea pulls Danny, Emilie, Danny’s boyfriend,
and his best friend down a path littered with truth, lies, revelation, and
betrayal. This whip-smart, fearless and funny new play takes an unflinching
look at the quiet prejudice that exists within us all.
THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE by Julia Cho
July 25 – August 23
Sacramento
Premiere
George has spent his life documenting
languages, but words fail him when Mary, his wife, tells George that she is leaving
him. That same day, the
last two speakers of a vanishing tongue arrive to work with George and his
love-struck assistant, Emma, to record their language for posterity. This
magical tale is filled with love and loss, beginning and endings and examines
the force and failings of language.
"Quirky, but ravishingly
well-written piece that is smart, funny, deep and tender." —OC Weekly.
THE EXIT INTERVIEW by William
Missouri Downs
September 12 – October 11
Sacramento
Premiere
Dick Fig has been fired. On his last day at his university Dick’s
excruciating exit interview with Eunice, a humorless HR representative, is
interrupted by an unexpected and violent incident. Downs' witty play bounces from Brechtian
interludes to a pair of politically-radicalized cheerleaders, from a pompous
newsman to dispatches from God, and includes debates on religion, science and
politics before reaching its startling conclusion.
THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA by Tennessee
Williams
November 7 – December 6
De-frocked priest T. Lawrence Shannon attempts to hide
from his personal demons in a dilapidated hotel on the coast of Mexico and
instead finds himself enmeshed in intrigue as three women battle for his
attention: Maxine, a sensuous, earthy
proprietor of the hotel, who wants Shannon to share her bed; Charlotte, a young
girl looking to escape her conservative upbringing; and Hannah, a penniless
artist of heartbreaking dignity and courage who wants to save Shannon from
himself. Tennessee Williams last great play is a haunting story of dying
dreams, frustrated sexuality, and lost-souls transformed as people are pushed
to their breaking point.
2014 Ticket Info:
All “Thrifty Thursday” show tickets: $10
General Admission Tickets: $16 online, $20 at the door
SARTA/Senior/Student Tickets: $14 online, $18 at the door
All-Access Season Pass: $80
Thursday Season Saver Pass: $60
Flex Passes: 4-show ($52); 6-show ($78)
Gift Certificates available!
www.bigideatheatre.com
