Theater News

Brown, Hwang, Loomer, Redgrave, et al. Will Be Part of 2006-2007 Taper Season

Lynn Redgrave
(Photo © Michael Portantiere)
Lynn Redgrave
(Photo © Michael Portantiere)

New works by Jason Robert Brown, David Henry Hwang, Lisa Loomer, David Mamet, and Rachel Sheinkin, as well as the American premiere of Lynn Redgrave’s solo show Nightingale, will be seen next season at L.A.’s Mark Taper Forum and Kirk Douglas Theater.

Redgrave will also star in Nightingale (October 4-November 19), which is based on the life of Beatrice Kempson, her maternal grandmother. Brown’s new musical 13 (December 22-Feburary 18) will feature 13 cast members — all of whom are 13 years old — in this story of a teenager in Indiana trying to get his fellow students to attend his bar mitzvah. The show features a book by Dan Elish and will be directed by Todd Graff (Camp)

Loomer, the author of Living Out, delivers the world premiere of Distracted (May 15-April 29), about a mother trying to find the remedy for her eight-year-old’s son “anxious and distracted” behavior. It will be followed by the world premiere of Hwang’s satire Yellow Face (May 10-July 1), a co-production with New York’s Public Theater, where it will play in fall 2007.

Over at the Taper’s more intimate sibling, the Kirk Douglas’ season begins with the world premiere of Nighthawks (August 27-September 24), Douglas Steinberg’s play that imagines the lives of the two people depicted in Edward Hopper’s famed painting “Nighthawks.” It will be followed by productions of In the Continuum (November 12-December 10) and Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters (January 14-February 11) .

Up next will be the world premiere of the musical Sleeping Beauty Wakes (March 31-May 13), written by Tony Award winner Rachel Sheinkin (Spelling Bee), Brendan Milburn, and Valerie Vagoda. This loose adaptation of the classic family tale will star the pop/rock group GrooveLily and will be directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun. The Douglas season will conclude withA Waitress in Yellowstone (June 17-July 15), the first musical written by Pultizer Prize winner David Mamet. It concerns a waitress whose plan to take her 10-year-old son on vacation is thrown into turmoil when she catches a Congressman stealing her tips.

For subscription tickets to the Taper and Douglas seasons, call 213-628-2772.