The “thirst for love, the need for acceptance, our passions, hopes, faiths and fears, a theatrical season framed in tales of romance, art, politics, seduction, and bookended in la familia”. Expect all that in the upcoming 2014-15 season (see below for complete schedule) at–of our fav theater spots in the Bay area–San Jose Stage Company.
Artistic director Randall King says his theater company’s upcoming season reflects the climate of today’s “socio-political, emotional and atmospheric upheavals of our time.”
Ambitious and as interesting as ever, SJ Stage, located downtown San Jose, will kick off the new season with the romantic comedy The Rainmaker – how interesting that the store takes place in a Western state on a summer day… during a drought?
MORE STARK INSIDER: ‘Wicked’ defies gravity in San Jose (Review)
Next up is A Weekend with Pablo Picasso which originated at San Diego Repertory in 2011.
David Ives’ Tony nominated Venus in Fur follows in what is described as “sexy, provocative and funny.”
WATCH STARKIN ON LOCATION: ‘Reefer Madness’ at San Jose Stage Company
The iconic tragedy Death of a Salesman, one of the greatest American plays ever written, hits SJ Stage next, before a TBA ‘family’ musical concludes the season.
Bold? Diverse? Innovative?
You wouldn’t have to twist our arm to say, yes, yes, and yes.
Look to Stark Insider for coverage of the upcoming season including reviews, photos, and videos.
Let the show begin…
San Jose Stage Company: 2014-15 Season
The Rainmaker
By N. Richard Nash
October 1 – October 26, 2014.
The Stage’s season launches with a true piece of Americana in N. Richard Nash’s Romantic Comedy ‘The Rainmaker’. A beautiful timeless tale of what it means to take a leap of faith in desperately hopeless times. As described by Nash,“The play takes place in a Western state on a summer day…in a time of drought. I tried to tell a simple story about droughts that happen to people and about faith.” In ‘The Rainmaker’ Lizzie’s hopes and dreams have run dry when the charismatic Starbuck arrives out of nowhere, selling promises of rain, Lizzie must decide: is he a con man, or does he hold the key to everything she desires? “The notion of dreams coming true might seem a preposterous conceit in a more cynical era, yet ‘The Rainmaker,’ N. Richard Nash’s unabashedly optimistic 1953 teleplay-turned-Broadway-hit, still has the power to keep disbelief at bay…After nearly half a century, ‘The Rainmaker’ still makes a handsomely staged case for miracles.” – LA Times
A Weekend with Pablo Picasso
by Herbert Siguenza
In association with San Diego Repertory
November 12 – December 7, 2014
‘A Weekend with Pablo Picasso’ by actor/writer Herbert Siguenza of the powerful and politically renown theatrical troupe Culture Clash created the original play at San Diego Repertory (2011) and stars as Pablo Picasso, the most influential artist in modern history. Set in the 1957 artist’s studio in southern France, the artist paints and speaks and directly to the audience. “Six paintings in three days? Who do you think I am—Dali?” Picasso was the first rock-star artist—a ferocious pacifist, obsessive art maker, flamboyantly opinionated philosopher, and self-proclaimed clown—who relished his passionate views about love, death, war, beauty, eternity, and creativity. The Culture Clash artist, Siguenza’s one-man show, will amaze and promise a weekend you will never forget.
Venus in Fur
By David Ives
February 4 – March 1, 2014
David Ives’ Tony nominated ‘Venus In Fur’ is sexy, provocative and funny.
When young actress Vanda arrives several hours late to her audition for a play based on a nineteenth-century erotic novel, the director, Thomas, is less than impressed. But Vanda’s masterful performance flips the script on Thomas’ expectations and turns the session into a tango for dominance between actress and director, woman and man. Hailed as “seriously smart and very funny” by The New York Times, Venus in Fur is a laugh-out-loud study of the politics of sex and power that’s guaranteed to charm and mesmerize.Tony nominated for Best Play ‘Venus in Fur’ was also a recent Roman Polanski film shot in 2012. Based upon a novel from 1870 by author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the inspiration for the term Masochism, the modern adaptation of ‘Venus in Fur’ is perfectly suited to The Stage with this two-person drama within a drama.
Death Of A Salesman
By Arthur Miller
April 1 – April 26, 2014
Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning ‘Death Of A Salesman’ is a tragedy about the differences between a New York family’s dreams and the reality of their lives. The play is a scathing critique of the American Dream and of the competitive, materialistic American society of the late 1940s. The storyline features Willy Loman, an average guy who attempts to hide his averageness and failures behind delusions of grandeur as he strives to be a “success.”
‘Death Of A Salesman’ has been reprised on Broadway four times winning three more Tonys for Best Revival and is widely considered even to this day to be one of the greatest American plays ever written.
Like all classics, ‘Death Of A Salesman’ themes still ring true today. Business and finance Author and Journalist Joe Nocera was interviewed in March 2012 by The New York Times. Discussing Death of a Salesman, Nocera explains that the play “has so much to say about who we are as Americans. We strive endlessly; we’re fueled by ambition; we often measure ourselves by how much money we have, and so on. Here in the age of income inequality – a time when we haven’t yet recovered from the financial crisis, and millions of Americans are searching for work – it surely hits home when Willy Loman is fired, after 36 loyal years to his company, How could Arthur Miller have known that the plight of Willy Loman would eventually be the plight of tens of millions of white collar workers who had outlived their usefulness to the companies they had devoted their lives to, and had derived their sense of self from? He (Miller) was prophetic…”
A New ‘Family’ Musical TBA
June 3 – July 26, 2015
In the Summer of 2015, The Stage will perform a new musical for which The Stage has become well-known. From June 3 through July 26.
