Off-Broadway's Primary Stages has announced the lineup of productions for its 2024-2025 season, which marks its 40th anniversary. The company will also take part in a discount ticketing initiative throughout the season.
The season will kick off with Kate Hamill's The Light and the Dark (The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi), running November 2-December 15. Jade King Carroll will direct the work, which is presented in association with Chautauqua Theater Company and Jamie deRoy. The work, which had its world premiere at CTC earlier this year, tracks how painter Artemisia Gentileschi transcended trauma to become one of the most successful artists of her time.
Chisa Hutchinson's Amerikin will follow, running March 1-April 15, 2025. Carroll will also direct the work, which follows a small-town man whose plans to join a white supremacist group are thwarted by some surprising ancestry test results. Amerikin was developed as part of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, and was featured in their 2018 Fresh Ink Reading Series. The play is presented as part of 59E59's AMPLIFY Festival celebrating Hutchinson's work.
Further programming for the season will include The Liff Lab, a new play development program, under which playwright Alex Lin will develop her play Laowang as the lab's inaugural recipient. In the spring, Primary Stages will also present its cabaret-style Variety Show, which will be directed by BD Wong.
Primary Stages has also announced a year-long discount ticketing initiative in collaboration with TodayTix. To commemorate the company's 40th anniversary season, TodayTix will offer $19.84 lottery tickets for every performance in honor of Primary Stages' founding in 1984.
“Since its inception, Primary Stages has been driven by a singular mission: to advance the art of playwriting,” Artistic Director Erin Daley said in a statement. “Throughout our history, visionary leaders have identified challenges in the field and met them head-on with innovative programs. From our founder Casey Childs, who recognized the need for a theatre that could take risks and give new plays their first production; to Sue Breger, who understood the transformative power of theatre for NYC Public Schools Students; to the legacy of Annie and Marvin Einhorn, whose mentorship led to The Einhorn School of Performing Arts; and Andrew Leynse, who created The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group to provide playwrights with a supportive community – each program has opened doors for new artists and audiences, enriching Off-Broadway. Through it all, our community of artists and patrons have steadfastly supported us across the evolving theatre landscape, and as we reflect on four decades Off-Broadway, we are grateful for those who brought us here and those who will guide us into the future.”
Visit PrimaryStages.org for more information.
