Susi Damilano will direct "The Play That Goes Wrong" September 21 – November 9, 2024 in San Francisco Playhouse's 2024-25 Season. Seen here, another comedy directed by Damilano, "The 39 Steps" featuring Greg Ayers, Maggie Mason, Phil Wong, and Renee Rogoff.
San Francisco Playhouse has revealed the line-up for its 22nd season. Running September 2024 through September 2025, the season features six plays in total, all presented at the San Francisco Playhouse main stage at 450 Post Street.
Per the announcement highlights include a 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning Shakespeare adaptation, a Broadway musical favorite, a “wonderfully whacky” new show about MSG and racist misinformation, a whodunit, an Oliver and Tony Award-winning adaptation of a young adult novel, and a Tony Award-winning musical.
See below for all the details.
“We’re putting joy at the center of this season,” said San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English. “With incredible humor and heart, each of these pieces offer up joy to heal communities and bring people together. Creating theatre is an inherently joyous act, a celebration for our audiences and of the artists who come together to tell captivating stories. We look forward to joining together in our Empathy Gym this upcoming season to revel in the transformative power of shared experiences.”
San Francisco Playhouse
2024/2025 Season
The Play That Goes Wrong
By Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer
Directed by Susi Damilano
September 21 – November 9, 2024 (opening night: September 27)
“This Olivier Award-winning comedy is a hilarious hybrid of Monty Python and Sherlock Holmes. Welcome to opening night of The Murder at Haversham Manor where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous. This 1920s whodunit has everything you never wanted in a show—an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines). Nevertheless, the accident-prone thespians battle against all odds to make it through to their final curtain call, with hilarious consequences!”
Waitress
Music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles
Book by Jessie Nelson
Based upon the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly
Directed by Susi Damilano, Music Direction by Dave Dobrusky
November 21, 2024 – January 18, 2025 (opening night: November 27)
“Jenna, a waitress and expert pie maker, is stuck in a small town and a loveless marriage. Faced with an unexpected pregnancy, Jenna fears she may have to abandon the dream of opening her own pie shop until a baking contest in a nearby county and the town’s handsome new doctor offer her a tempting recipe for happiness. Supported by her quirky crew of fellow waitresses and loyal customers, Jenna summons the secret ingredient she’s been missing all along — courage.”
Keiko Green’s (pictured) “Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play” will be presented January 30 – March 8, 2025 as part of its San Francisco Playhouse’s 2024-25 Season.
Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play
By Keiko Green
Directed by Jesca Prudencio
January 30 – March 8, 2025 (opening night: February 5)
Northern California Premiere
“It’s 1999, and Ami is an awkward Asian American high schooler whose world comes crashing down with a terrible discovery: her family is responsible for manufacturing MSG, the mysterious ingredient getting all the kids hooked! Meanwhile, a cool new girl arrives from Japan, and she’s not playing by the rules. In Keiko Green’s play, Ami vows to redeem her family name and save the world from MSG. This whimsical, time-traveling adventure is a riotous and hilarious romp through wild teenaged crushes, family legacies, and the magical properties of instant ramen!”
Fat Ham
Pulitzer Prize-winning “Fat Ham” will make its Northern California Premiere in San Francisco Playhouse’s 2024-25 Season presented March 20 – April 19, 2025.
By James Ijames
Directed by Margo Hall
March 20 – April 19, 2025 (opening night: March 26)
Northern California Premiere
“In this modern-day adaptation of Hamlet, Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid grappling with his identity. When the ghost of his father shows up at a family barbecue to demand that Juicy avenge his murder, Juicy must confront the cycle of violence and find his own liberation. An uproarious and brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning play full of humor and heart, Fat Ham is a poignant exploration of loss, joy, and resilience that both upends and honors Shakespeare’s classic.”
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
A play by Simon Stephens
Based on the novel by Mark Haddon
Directed by Erika Chong Shuch
May 1 – June 21, 2025 (opening night: May 7)
“Fifteen-year-old Christopher has an extraordinary brain: he is exceptional at mathematics but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched, and he distrusts strangers. Christopher finds himself standing beside his neighbor’s dead dog, Wellington, who has been speared with a garden fork. Finding himself under suspicion, Christopher is determined to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington, interviewing suspects, and carefully recording each fact he uncovers. Soon his detective work takes him on a thrilling journey that upturns his world.”
Show #6
Directed by Bill English
July 3 – September 13, 2025 (opening night: July 9)
This musical will be announced in May 2024.
San Francisco Playhouse, a non-profit, was founded in 2003 by Bill English and Susi Damilano.
San Francisco Playhouse
