Geffen Playhouse has revealed its upcoming 2024-2025 season, the company's first under the leadership of Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney. Among the productions planned for the California theatre: a 20th anniversary revival of McCraney's The Brothers Size, which will launch the season beginning August 14 at the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.
Bijan Sheibani is directing the new staging, a co-production with Off-Broadway's The Shed. The second of McCraney's Brother/Sister play trilogy, the work centers on two brothers living in the Deep South whose relationship is tested when one brother's former cellmate arrives for a visit. The play made its world premiere in 2007 at Off-Broadway's Public Theater, with a simultaneous European premiere following just days later at London's Young Vic. Sheibani is returning to the work after directing the Young Vic production and a 2018 revival at the same company.
Next up will be the Los Angeles premiere of Sara Porkalob's Dragon Lady in the company's Gil Cates Theater. The solo show, both written and performed by Porkalob, sees the Broadway alum picking up a karaoke mic as her own grandmother to tell her life story, which includes escaping a gangster-controlled nightclub in Manila to become a mother of five in the U.S. Performances will run September 4-October 6, with Andrew Russell directing.
Conor Lovett and Rainn Wilson will star in a new Waiting for Godot November 6-December 15, directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett. This new production of the Samuel Beckett play is being produced in association with Gare St Lazare Ireland.
Speaking of co-productions, the Geffen's next show will be Noises Off, a co-production with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, who recently announced its own run of the Michael Frayn farce as well. Anna D. Shapiro is directing, with the California run set for January 29-March 2, 2025.
A.k. payne's Furlough's Paradise will close out the season with its West Coast premiere, with performances running April 16-May 18, 2025. The Jake Brasch play follows Josh, who's come home to Denver from NYU to get his life in order and get sober, ultimately deciding to take his grandparents along for the ride. Shelley Butler is directing the production, which is presented in partnership with Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Alliance Theatre.
"Classic stories, emerging artists, and finding new, innovative ways to share ideas with live audiences—these are the very foundation of our new works lab to be housed in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater," says McCraney in a statement. "We have big plans for our intimate space, which will be in close partnership with our neighbors and colleagues at UCLA."
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