HOUSTON: 4th Wall Theatre Company has announced its 2017-18 season, which will include comedies, two regional premieres, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
The mainstage season will start with the Houston premiere of Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced (Sept. 7-30). In this Pulitzer Prize winner, what starts out as friendly dinner party conversation among couples escalates to conflict.
Up next will be Craig Lucas’s comedy Reckless (Nov. 30-Dec.16). At home on Christmas Eve, Rachel learns her husband has hired a hitman to kill her, sending her on an adventure for her life. Philip Lehl will direct.
After that will be Fake News, an adaptation of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal (Feb. 15-March 10, 2018). Performed by a small ensemble of actors playing multiple roles, Fake News tells the story of Sir Peter Teazle, whose young wife from the country falls in with a group of vicious gossips. Philip Lehl will direct.
The season will close with the regional premiere of Suzanne Bradbeer’s comedy Shakespeare in Vegas (May 17-June 9, 2018), which was included in the 2017 reading series 4th Wall Reads: Women’s Voices. When talented but underappreciated actress Margot receives an offer to perform in an entire season of Shakespeare, she accepts, and then finds herself performing in Vegas. Jennifer Dean will direct.
In addition to these four productions, 4th Wall is also planning its second 4th Wall Reads series, held over a two-week period during February or March 2018. The featured plays have not been announced, but will be three to five new, innovative, or under-served works.
The former Stark Naked Theatre Company, 4th Wall Theatre Company encourages artists to pursue their careers in Houston and serves as an incubator for the arts and new works.