Theater Review: Outgoing artistic director announces season of variety at Pasadena Playhouse
In January, it was announced that Sheldon Epps will be stepping down as artistic director of the esteemed Pasadena Playhouse. It was sad news for many Southern California theatergoers, who have come to know the Playhouse under his leadership as a venue for vibrant and often provocative productions.
Their next thought might have been, just how will Epps sign off for his final season in 2016-17? The answer was announced this week with a schedule that ranges from the Shakespearean to the Tony Award-winning play “M. Butterfly” and the world premiere of a musical called “Shout, Sister, Shout!”
On Thursday, Epps said in a statement: “These titles represent so many of the aspects of the art of the theater that I truly love. From the whimsy of a classic musical to the soulful shouts of gospel and the blues. From the lyrical and romantic poetry of the Bard, to the strong and powerful emotionally infused dialogue of one of our greatest playwrights, our next theatrical year will employ all of these elements and much more. It is a season that is boldly theatrical, diverse, and hopefully a celebration of the magic of the theater and the joy that I have had in sharing that treasure with our audiences for two decades.”
Epps is the second major figure at the Playhouse to leave in recent years. In 2012, Stephen Eich, executive director, left after a successful three-year effort to pull the theater from $2.3 million in debt that threatened its existence. Since 1997, Epps has been responsible for bringing work to the stage of high energy and quality, including Pearl Cleage’s “Blues for an Alabama Sky” and “One Night With Janis Joplin.”
The 2013 production of the jury-room drama “Twelve Angry Men” was notably different than most, beginning with the choice to cast half of the traditionally white jury as black. The nontraditional casting choice was done not to change the dramatic elements, but to amplify them for a modern audience who could easily have mistaken the 1950s play as something current to the racial divide of the moment.
“I don’t want to lay all of the fascination about the play, or my excitement about doing it, on this particular concept,” Epps said of his intentions to Marquee writer Lynne Heffley ahead of the opening. “I’m starting with a really wonderful play that deserves attention again.”
The new season begins with a vintage romantic musical in “The Fantastiks,” written by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones. The Tony award-winning debut production opened in 1960 off-Broadway and has been a perennial favorite in all the decades since. Seema Sueko, associate artistic director of the Playhouse, is directing the new production in Pasadena, opening Sept. 6.
Following that is “M. Butterfly,” a Pulitzer-nominated, multiple Tony-winning modern twist to the “Madame Butterfly” story. David Henry Hwang’s play is a fictionalized account of a real French diplomat in Pekina who begins a 20-year affair with a Chinese opera singer, only to discover his lover is a man. The play runs Oct. 25 through Nov. 20.
Among the season’s other productions will be the world premiere of “Shout, Sister, Shout!,” a musical conceived and directed by Randy Johnson, with book by Cheryl West. Johnson also created “One Night With Janis Joplin.”
Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” follows March 28 through April 23 and is particularly fitting, as Epps calls it his favorite play by the Bard.
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Steve Appleford, steve.appleford@latimes.com
Twitter: @SteveAppleford
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