SAN FRANCISCO: Cutting Ball Theater has announced its 2016-17 season, the first under the leadership of artistic director Paige Rogers.

“Cutting Ball’s 18th season champions two of drama’s most radical female protagonists: Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and Jean Racine’s Phèdre,” said Rogers in a statement. “These two women, who rail against what society pushes them to do, exemplify a line-crossing boldness that sits at the core of Cutting Ball’s identity. As an experimental theatre, we are committed to refusing the boundaries of modern dramatic form, charting new territory in poetic, abstract, resonate performance.”

The season will start with Avant GardARAMA! (Oct. 5-23), a festival of short experimental works.

Next up will be Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler (Jan. 19-Feb. 26, 2017), about a woman who returns home from her honeymoon burdened by her husband, and seeks thrills from old acquaintances. Yury Urnov will direct.

Following will be Phèdre (April 20-May 21, 2017), by Jean Racine, a classic dramatic tragedy about a devoted wife whose attraction to her stepson becomes inescapable. Producing associate artistic director Ariel Craft will direct.

Cutting Ball Theater, founded in 1999, produces avant-garde works from the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics and developing new experimental plays.