Signature Theatre's 2021–2022 season will feature five works by five Resident Playwrights: a production by Residency 1 playwright Anna Deavere Smith, world premiere plays from Residency 5 playwrights Annie Baker, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and Samuel D. Hunter, and a New York premiere by Dominique Morisseau.
Obie, Lortel, and MacArthur Award winner Smith continues her Residency 1 with Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, which was originally scheduled for spring 2020 and postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic hit. From the Residency 5 program, which guarantees three productions of new plays by each playwright, come four new works: the rescheduled New York premiere of Confederates by MacArthur Fellow Morisseau, directed by Kamilah Forbes; and the world premieres of On the Uses of Pain for Life, written and directed by Pulitzer Prize winner Baker for the final play of her residency, A Case for the Existence of God by MacArthur Fellow Hunter in the first play of his residency, directed by Tony winner David Cromer, and Grass, written and directed by MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prize finalist Jacobs-Jenkins for the final play of his residency.
Since the pandemic began, Signature has continued connecting with audiences by pivoting to virtual programming with SigSpace, which will continue with new projects from Signature Resident Writers Jacobs-Jenkins, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Hunter, The Mad Ones, Morisseau, and Nottage. Slated to arrive in spring and summer of 2021, these events will offer virtual access, and one will also be presented with physical distancing at The Pershing Square Signature Center.
Dates for the 2021–2022 season productions, on-sale dates, and SigSpace programming will be announced at a later time. All 2021–2022 season performances will take place at the Pershing Square Signature Center.
Artistic Director Paige Evans says, “It feels especially exciting to announce the artists who will usher in Signature’s 30th Anniversary Season. Anna Deavere Smith and Dominique Morisseau will return with postponed productions that are even more timely now, as they investigate racial and cultural inequities that continue to divide our nation. I’m also thrilled to welcome back the formidable Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, both as playwrights and directors of the third plays in their Signature residencies. And we’re delighted to premiere a captivating and deeply compassionate play by Samuel D. Hunter. We can’t wait to share their work with all of you!”
A season overview follows:
On the Uses of Pain for Life
World Premiere
Written and directed by Annie Baker
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
Residency 5
A play about no end in sight. Baker also directs her new work that tackles the eros of illness.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Conceived, written, and originally performed by Anna Deavere Smith
Directed by Taibi Magar
The Irene Diamond Stage
Residency 1
The news of the police officers’ acquittal in Rodney King’s police brutality case reverberated throughout the streets of Los Angeles, and the events that followed the verdict drew worldwide attention. Smith responded artistically by dissecting the anatomy of the unrest. She interviewed over 350 Los Angelinos in preparation for the performance.
A Case for the Existence of God
World Premiere
Written by Samuel D. Hunter
Directed by David Cromer
The Irene Diamond Stage
Residency 5
Inside a cubicle in a small office in southern Idaho, two men struggle to balance the confounding terms on a loan.
Confederates
New York Premiere
Written by Dominique Morisseau
Directed by Kamilah Forbes
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
Residency 5
Sarah, a savvy slave turned Union spy, and Sandra, a brilliant professor in a modern-day private university, are facing similar struggles, even though they live over a century apart.
Grass
World Premiere
Written and directed by Branden Jacobs–Jenkins
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
Residency 5
A nightmare eviction leaves an out-of-work actor with nowhere to go but his father's house on an island in southeast Texas. But in order to get there—and not get shot—he's going to have to let his mother drive.
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