NEW HAVEN, CONN.: Yale Repertory Theatre is mixing the new with the old in its female-dominated 2015–16 season, the company announced today. World premiere plays by Paula Vogel, Jiehae Park and Jen Silverman will play alongside classics like Shakespeare’s Cymbeline and Beckett’s Happy Days (the latter starring two-time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest). All three premiere works are both written and directed by a woman.
“I am thrilled by the voices of the writers—and then vision of the directors—whose work will be seen at Yale Rep in the coming year,” artistic director James Bundy said in a statement. “These artists and their ambitions represent the highest aspirations of our theatre.”
Vogel’s Indecent (Oct. 2–24), created with director Rebecca Taichman opens the season. The play with music is inspired by true events surrounding the 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance and charts the history of the work and the artists who performed it. Indecent is a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse (it will play at the California theatre Nov. 13–Dec. 10).
The next premiere of the season will be Park’s Peerless (Nov. 27–Dec. 19), a comedy about ultra-competitive twin sisters, who hatch a plan to get into college after denied access upon early admission. The production is directed by Margot Bordelon.
The final premiere will be Jen Silverman’s The Moors (Jan. 29–Feb. 20), directed by Jackson Gay. Inspired by 19th-century gothic romances, the play follows two miserable, single sisters who live with their brother on the moors of England. When a governess arrives, the sisters take their quest for love to the limits.
Yale Rep’s resident director Evan Yionoulis will direct Cymbeline (March 25–April 16, 2016) next, as part of the company’s WILL POWER! production, a program that helps make Shakespeare accessible and educational to middle and high school groups.
Finally, Dianne Wiest will star in Beckett’s Happy Days (April 29–May 21), directed by artistic director Bundy. Wiest was last seen at Yale Rep in productions of Hedda Gabler and A Doll’s House in the ’80s. Bundy says he is thrilled “by the opportunity to welcome one of the world’s greatest actors back to our stage in a majestic play of iconic wit and soulfulness.”
Yale Repertory Theatre is the professional theatre in residence at the Yale School of Drama, championing new work since 1966 and producing more than 100 premieres by emerging and established playwrights.
