MINNEAPOLIS: Mixed Blood Theatre has announced its 2016-17 season, which will include two world premieres.
“While Mixed Blood isn’t categorically a Latino theatre, an Asian-American theatre, an African-American theatre, a Muslim theatre, an LGBTQIA theatre, a physical theatre, or an ensemble theatre, our body of work—within a season or over decades—would suggest otherwise,” said artistic director Jack Reuler in a statement. “It is the confluence of influences that allows us to eschew categorization.”
The season will begin with Barbecue (Sep 30-Oct 16) by Robert O’Hara. The play uses the form of the American domestic comedy to address issues of poverty, race, and social class. It takes place in a public park, and features a family holding a barbecue-turned-intervention. Thomas W. Jones II will direct.
Next up will be the world premiere of Orange (Nov 11-Dec 4) by Aditi Brennan Kapil, who is the theatre’s playwright-in-residence. Set in Orange County, Orange follows a young woman on the autism spectrum as she goes on a joyride with her cousin the night before a family wedding. The production will feature projected illustrations, and comes in advance of the play’s West Coast premiere at South Coast Repertory, which commissioned the play. Reuler will direct.
Following will be Obie-winning playwright Caridad Svich’s adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera (Feb 3, 2017-March 4, 2017). A play with music, the story follows two lovers over the course of an entire lifetime. The play will be performed in Spanish, with projected supertitles in English. José Zayas will direct.
The next production will be Safe at Home (March 7-12, 2017) by Gabriel Greene and Alex Levy. With performances taking place inside of CHS Field, home of the St. Paul Saints, Safe at Home will split audiences into small groups and guide them through nine different scenes that take place in different parts of the stadium. The show will use baseball to examine topics such as immigration, racial politics, celebrity, and more. The site-specific show will be fully accessible. Reuler will direct.
The final show of the season (April 7-30, 2017) will be announced at a later date. Mixed Blood has said that the show will be an irreverent comedy, and a formal announcement will be made soon.
Founded in 1976, Mixed Blood Theatre presents multicultural, multiracial work that strives to promote cultural pluralism and individuality.
