Photo courtesy of Jungle Theater
Jungle Theater
The Jungle Theater isn’t pulling any emotional punches with next season’s lineup. The highs are unexpected and hilarious (who knew kids singing about their untimely deaths could be fun?), and the lows are profound. The 2019-2020 season is also one of several firsts: the company’s first co-production with Theater Mu, as well as its first attempt at running two plays in repertory. As always, the treasured Lyn-Lake venue is whipping up fresh takes on classics while also elevating fledgling and underexposed works.
“This is a dream season for the Jungle,” artistic director Sarah Rasmussen said in a statement. “From bringing some of the country’s most celebrated national writers to the stage to championing brand new voices, the Jungle is continuing to take bold risks, lift up local talent and have a ton of fun in the process.”
The season kicks off with Ride the Cyclone (September 11 – October 20), a tale of six teenage Chamber Choir singers who find themselves in limbo after dying in a freak roller coaster accident. The show’s host, a mechanical fairground fortune-teller, asks the teens to sing the stories of their short lives in exchange for a chance to rejoin the living.
Attention Jane Austen lovers! Next up a double-feature you won’t want to miss: The Wickhams and Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly, running in repertory from November 18 – December 29. The Wickhams is a warm and witty story from the servant quarters of the Darcy home during the busy holidays, while Miss Bennet picks up where Pride and Prejudice left off, turning the spotlight to unorthodox middle-sister Mary.
Another sequel, A Doll’s House, Part 2, is third in the lineup (January 15 – February 23). Lucas Hnath’s continuation of Ibsen’s controversial and widely celebrated drama takes place years after Nora Helmer walks out on her husband and family in search of self-fulfillment. Playgoers will learn what happened in the aftermath of her sensational exit, and why she has returned.
From March 11 – April 12, Brittany K. Allen’s Redwood takes the stage. The play follows Meg and Drew, an interracial couple, and their struggles following the revelation that Meg’s relatives were owned by Drew’s family in a pre-Civil War Kentucky.
In Mary Jane (May 2 – May 31), a mother’s fierce and unconditional love takes center stage. The play follows a tireless single mom as she shoulders the massive load of both physical and emotional labor that comes with having a chronically ill child.
History, comedy, and rock n’ roll collide in Cambodian Rock Band (June 24 – August 2), which details the journey of a man who returns to his home country of Cambodia 30 years after fleeing the violent Khmer Rouge regime. He faces the music when he reunites with the daughter he left behind, who is preparing to prosecute one of the men responsible for the genocide. This is a co-production with Theater Mu.
