Welcome to our 40th anniversary season. For four (4) decades, our Ensemble has embraced and championed World & Regional premieres. New work can be described as timely, provocative, and more experimental than classic fare. But think for a minute – even what we now consider a “classic play” had once been thought revolutionary in its life cycle.
American Blues Theater is committed to living playwrights by cultivating opportunities through our development programs, commissions, Ripped Festival (in its 18th year), Blue Ink Award (in its 16th year), presenting regional premieres, and put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is: fully-staged productions.
We’re thrilled to present the World premiere of Tony Award nominee, Pulitzer finalist, and Artistic Affiliate Kristoffer Diaz’s Things With Friends. Kris takes the dinner party trope and makes it fresh with his originality, a touch of absurdism, and sets it against a catastrophic climate disaster.
While this is not a climate change play, it asks you to consider your existence on this planet. Our interactions with friends, family, strangers, and the environment are all intertwined. Science shows us the consequences of industrialization, energy consumption, and neglecting nature’s prior warnings. And while we all realize our participation in Earth’s bigger picture, many of us haven’t changed our behavior. (For example, I cannot break my addiction to Amazon or fast food.)
We all have the ultimate dinner guest coming.
How will you greet Mother Nature when she knocks at your door?
– Gwendolyn Whiteside