Click on a play’s title to learn more, meet the cast and crew, see photos, read reviews, and more!

Sylvia

by A.R. Gurney

Sept 26, 27, 28 and Oct 2, 3, 4

When Greg adopts a stray dog, Sylvia, his wife Kate is less than thrilled.  Pet lovers and skeptics alike will recognize the pull between the love/hate dynamics in this comedy which explores not just the dynamics between a man and man’s best friend, but marriage, empty nest syndrome, communication, and more.

“Dramatic literature is stuffed with memorable love scenes, but none is as immediately delicious and dizzy as the one that begins the redeeming affair in A.R. Gurney’s new comedy, SYLVIA…” —NY Times. “I can only call it one of the most involving, beautiful, funny, touching and profound plays I have ever seen…” —NY Daily News. “Gurney’s mad comedy is the most endearing good time to trot down the pike in many a moon. Howlingly funny…” —BackStage.  Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Play

To see pictures from our production, meet the cast, link to a review and more click HERE.

Red

by John Logan

Dec 5, 6, 7 and 11, 12, 13

Master abstract expressionist Mark Rothko has just landed the biggest commission in the history of modern art, a series of murals for New York’s famed Four Seasons Restaurant. In the two fascinating years that follow, Rothko works feverishly with his young assistant, Ken, in his studio on the Bowery. But when Ken gains the confidence to challenge him, Rothko faces the agonizing possibility that his crowning achievement could also become his undoing. Raw and provocative, RED is a searing portrait of an artist’s ambition and vulnerability as he tries to create a definitive work for an extraordinary setting.  Although Red focuses on painter Mark Rothko, it paints with a wide brush and gives us a look into art of all kind.  This extraordinary play will have you talking about how artists work, how art is created, what art asks of its audience, and what an audience asks of its art.

Winner of the 2010 Tony Award. “Intense and exciting…a study in artist appreciation, a portrait of an angry and brilliant mind that asks you to feel the shape and texture of thoughts…RED captures the dynamic relationship between an artist and his creations.” —NY Times. “Smart, eloquent entertainment… He doesn’t just tell; he also shows… [and] deftly conjures what most plays about artists don’t: the exhilaration of the act.” —The New Yorker. “John Logan sends American abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko into battle with his demons in this electrifying play of ideas, and the artist’s howls are pure music…Rothko is one old lion that will keep roaring until he draws his last breath.” —Variety. “Logan’s success lies in reminding us that painting is a job of work…what emerges is something rare in modern drama: a totally convincing portrait of the artist as a working visionary.” —Guardian (UK).

Independence

by Lee Blessing

Feb  27, 28 and March 1, 5, 6, 7

In the small town of Independence, Iowa, Evelyn Briggs might be losing her mind.  As her three daughters attempt to come together to make a family decision, each must find their own independence.

A powerful, disturbing study of a family divided against itself. Produced to critical and popular acclaim as part of the Humana Festival of New American Plays of the Actors Theatre of Louisville. “Mr. Blessing writes admirably well timed and weighted dialogue, and the play takes the cleverly invented characters through to a chilling end.” —Plays and Players (England). “Blessing has a hair-trigger sensitivity to what families are saying and doing now, this minute…” —Dallas Times Herald. “…a delicate balance of comic and tragic elements.” —Louisville News American.  Nominated for both the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize.

Kimberly Akimbo

by David Lindsay-Abaire

May 1, 2, 3 and 7, 8, 9

Set in the wilds of suburban New Jersey, KIMBERLY AKIMBO is a hilarious and heartrending play about a teenager with a rare condition causing her body to age faster than it should. When she and her family flee Secaucus under dubious circumstances, Kimberly is forced to reevaluate her life while contending with a hypochondriac mother, a rarely sober father, a scam-artist aunt, her own mortality and, most terrifying of all, the possibility of first love.

“The Comedy of the Year. A haunting and hilarious new play. Mr. Lindsay-Abaire is an expert at tweaking, skewing and finally inverting established formulas. His plays tend to slide right out of predetermined pigeonholes. KIMBERLY AKIMBO is at once a shrewd satire, a black comedy and a heartbreaking study of how time wounds everyone.” —NY Times. “A zany, disturbing and strangely affecting comedy. It’s a bit of youthful happiness unlike any other.” —Associated Press. “I was bowled over by the singular theatricality of David Lindsay-Abaire’s KIMBERLY AKIMBO. The way this harrowing and hilarious work continuously shifts from satire to black comedy to realism could never work anywhere else…theatre at its most original.” —NY 1. “A wacky, touching and totally charming dark comedy that gives a whole new meaning to ‘coming of age story.'” —NY Daily News. “A breezy, foulmouthed, fleet-footed, warmhearted comedy. There have been many dark comedies about dysfunctional families, but this is one of the funniest.” —LA Times.  David Lindsay-Abaire won the Pulitzer Prize for his play Rabbit Hole.

Our inaugural season will be performed at Penelope’s Venue,
located at 12219 Dix Toledo Road in Southgate.

Sunday performances are at 2pm. All other performances are at 8pm.