2018-2019 Season

[porto]

ABOUT THIS PLAY

"You sitting alone at the bar:
A feminist act. Do it.”

Food. Drinks. Books. A bartender who won't let you order anything lame.

A handsome stranger walks in and asks for something special, setting off an upside-down romantic comedy inside and out of our heroine's head. Desires of all kinds are awakened with a ferocious thump.

A nice smile is a nice smile, but can we enjoy the sausage once we know how it’s made?
Directed by Eleni Papaleonardos
Featuring:
Brian Gray, Adam Humphrey, Kara Jobe, Jason Kientz, Elena M. Perantoni, Epiphany Pope, Dakota Thorn, and Michelle Weiser.
“A stealthily ferocious, comfortingly hopeful, very funny new play. An exhortation to get out of your head and live, in thoughtful pursuit of joy.”
The New York Times
“Laugh-out-loud hilarious.”
– New York Magazine
RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE: Sheila Heti, Clairo, Rookie Mag, Sleater-Kinney, Glow

dear piqua
White Rabbit Red Rabbit

ABOUT THIS PLAY

Part album, part memoir, Drew Eberly surrounds his indie folk songs with stories of Ohio’s great towns and the people who leave them.

You ever notice how everyone around here is from somewhere else?

You’ve met his parents but have you been to his hometown? Have you seen his embarrassing senior picture hanging up in the old living room? Was a 17 year-old with a mustache ever acceptable?

Dear Piqua is a highly curated mixtape about the meaning of home.
October 11 - 20, 2018
Columbus Dance Theatre
592 E. Main St.
RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE: VH1 Storytellers, Guided by Voices, Frances Ha, Elliott Smith, Rabbit, Run
white rabbit red rabbit
White Rabbit Red Rabbit
"A playful, enigmatic, and haunting show that takes on a gravity that prickles your skin, and keeps taking unexpected turns that often lead us back to the relief of laughter. Any worthy theatrical experience is a dive down into a rabbit hole, where the destination is unknown. The distinction of White Rabbit Red Rabbit is that the performer moves right alongside us on the journey."
- Charles Isherwood, The New York Times
RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE: leaping without looking, Thom Pain (based on nothing)
November 9 - 11, 2018
Wild Goose Creative
2491 Summit St.
Friday 11/9 8pm – Adam Humphrey
Saturday 11/10 8pm – Acacia Duncan
Sunday 11/11 2pm – Brian Evans
December 6 - 9, 2018
The Vanderelli Room
218 McDowell St.
Thursday 12/6 8pm – David J. Glover
Friday 12/7 – Sue Wismar
Saturday 12/8 – Artie Isaac
Sunday 12/9 2pm – Josie Merkle

ABOUT THIS PLAY

We dare you NOT to Google this play.

THIS PLAY IS SEALED INSIDE AN ENVELOPE.

Each night, the actor about to perform has never seen it. In fact, there is a new actor every performance, and they’ve only been told what is absolutely necessary.

WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT is a lively, global sensation that no-one is allowed to talk about. Its award-winning playwright, Nassim Soleimanpour, is Iranian. His words have escaped censorship and are awaiting your audience. Slyly humorous and audaciously pointed, this "theater entertainment meets social experiment" is unlike anything, and will make you question everything. Have fun!

appropriate
White Rabbit Red Rabbit
“An exceptionally brilliant piece of writing…gut-punchingly honest.”
Time Out Chicago
“Jacobs-Jenkins enjoys his quarrelsome characters, and he has achieved the difficult feat of making them all both unlovable and impossible not to identify with…remarkable and devious."
– The New York Times
RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE: An Octoroon, Hillbilly Elegy, Dear White People, Yelawolf, BlacKkKlansman, Young Jean Lee
Directed by David J. Glover
January 17 - February 2, 2019
‍Riffe Center Studio
77 South High St.

ABOUT THIS PLAY

appropriate: adj. - suitable or fitting for a particular purpose, person, occasion, etc.:

appropriate: verb - to take without permission or consent; seize; expropriate:

The acrimonious homecoming, the family reunion gone very wrong, old resentments bubble over and family secrets are revealed. It's a staple of American storytelling. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the theatre's fastest rising star, uses it to concoct a conflict that could not feel more up-to-the-minute.

In Appropriate, the Lafayette family gathers at the neglected Arkansas home of their deceased father. As his three adult children collide over clutter, debt, and a contentious family history, they unearth the relics of their father’s vile, hidden past.

this
White Rabbit Red Rabbit

ABOUT THIS PLAY

This is Jane.
Jane is a widow. Jane is a mother.
Jane was a poet. Jane is not okay.
You know exactly what I'm not quite talking about.

In this cryptic comedy, Jane is accompanied by her closest friends. Together they game their way into a midlife moment of doubt, filling the air with words. But nothing can drown out the disquieting sense that somebody has changed the rules.

Quirky, cult-favorite playwright Melissa James Gibson refuses to provide tidy answers or endings for Jane or her questions of what’s missing and what matters in contemporary life.
"Gibson’s play, and Duncan’s note-perfect production, hits all the pleasure buttons of a sharp comedy of manners while it punctures and subverts the form... There isn’t a weak or false performance to be found anywhere... The just-over-90-minute run time seems to vanish in the blink of an eye."
– Richard Sanford, Columbus Underground
"The fact is that this delicately dazzling play and production will speak to anyone astute enough to recognize just how fragile any relationship or stage of life is. Its unusual rhythms and complicated combinations of emotions demand and reward close attention, while its many comic passages provide both relief and a whole different set of questions to consider."
– Margaret Quamme, Columbus Dispatch
Directed by Acacia Leigh Duncan
March 28 - April 13, 2019
‍Riffe Center Studio
77 South High St.
FEATURING
Blythe Coons, Jason Kientz, Shanelle Marie, Ben Sostrom, and Andy Woodmansee.
Listen: Blythe Coons talks about This on CD 102.5, with Brian Phillips... https://avlt.co/blythe-cd102
RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE: You Got Older, [sic], Rachel Cusk, Zola Jesus, United States of Tara

remain in light
Remain in Light

"An intelligent and playful look at the tenets and tools of the positive psychology movement... this gentle, quietly uplifting and admirably complex piece offers not just an evening’s entertainment but insight and concrete suggestions on how to make peace with life as a human being."
- Margaret Quamme, Columbus Dispatch
READ MORE.
"This kaleidoscopic, physical collage tackles some of the biggest questions facing us today... the joyous play slides in and out of the darkness in rhythms as recognizable as a heartbeat... It presents the finest dramatization of something difficult, slippery, and internal... It’s a reminder to be here in the moment and here for one another. Who among us couldn’t use that?"
- Richard Sanford, Columbus Underground
READ MORE.

ABOUT THIS PLAY

Remain in Light is:
- a collage of movement, moments, songs, and visions.
- a practical handbook for being a better whatever you already are.
- a show for anyone seeking more joy and well being.

After a series of encounters with the science and philosophy of the mind, an ordinary woman begins the difficult journey of learning to make a life worth living. The route is marked by grit and gratitude, loving kindness and living with purpose, and the realization that other people really do matter. Confronting her own heartache against a backdrop of contemporary confusion, she struggles to stay on the path.
May 9 - May 25, 2019
‍Riffe Center Studio 
77 South High St.
FEATURING
Whitney Thomas Eads, Elena M. Perantoni, and Dakota Thorn.
Bleakness and Light
RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE: big questions, , reflecting on what it means to be human, curiosity, ambiguity, Pema Chodron, David Byrne
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
AVAILABLE LIGHT THEATRE
77 south high st. 2nd floor
columbus, oh 43215