Marin Theatre Company announces 2023/24 season

Lisa Peterson, Sara Porkalob (Marin Theatre Company)

Today, Marin Theatre Company (MTC) Managing Director/CEO Meredith Suttles announced the four productions that will make up the company’s 2023/24 season—ODYSSEY, Lisa Peterson’s world premiere adaptation of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey; DRAGON LADY, Sara Porkalob’s solo cabaret musical; BEES AND HONEY, Guadalís Del Carmen’s intimate portrait of a Dominican couple’s love and dreams in New York City; and TORCH SONG, Harvey Fierstein’s seminal work celebrating gay culture in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Subscriptions for MTC’s 2023/24 season range in price from $138–$250 and are available now. Subscribers will receive priority seating ahead of single ticket sales, and subscriptions can be purchased by visiting www.marintheatre.org, emailing boxoffice@marintheatre.org, or calling 415-388-5208. Single tickets will be available at a later date.

“Hot off the heels of our successful 2022/23 season, we have curated an exciting new season featuring four captivating productions that are sure to delight, inspire, challenge, and entertain,” said Suttles. “As we continue to navigate the challenges brought about by the pandemic, we are grateful to our season subscribers and single ticket patrons for their continued support of live theatre in Marin County.”

Kicking off the 2023/24 season, internationally-renowned writer and director Lisa Peterson returns to the Bay Area for her MTC debut to adapt and direct ODYSSEY (August 31 – September 24, 2023), based on Emily Wilson’s 2018 translation of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey—the first English translation published by a woman. Set in a present-day relocation center for refugees on the Isle of Lesbos, four young women fleeing conflict in Middle Eastern and North African countries await the next step of their quest for home and family. Through the extraordinary characters of this epic tale, the women explore what it is to host a stranger, follow (or not) the rules of generosity, and struggle with the basic human experience of “place” when it gets broken. This production by New York’s The Acting Company is receiving its world premiere at MTC—the first stop on a nationwide tour. Odyssey promises to bring bold theatricality, humor, and grace to a story we all think we know. Press night for Odyssey will be held on Tuesday, September 5, 2023.

Next, MTC will present the Bay Area premiere of Sara Porkalob’s DRAGON LADY (November 24–December 17, 2023). This solo cabaret musical by Seattle-based storyteller and activist Sara Porkalob is the first in her trilogy of matrilineal musicals about her Filipino American gangster family; one play for each generation built around a central female protagonist—grandmother, mother, granddaughter—and her specific hero’s journey. Dragon Lady starts in the year of the Water Dragon on the eve of Grandma Maria’s 60th birthday, when Maria Porkalob Sr. must share the dark secrets of her fantastical life with her first-born grandbaby Sara “so they remember after you are dead.” Through laughter, shock, singing, and tears, the two women discover that it is never too late to atone for pain we inflict on our loved ones and forgive ourselves for past regrets. Guided by the beats of her grandmother’s new karaoke machine, Sara portrays dozens of characters through 50 years of Maria’s bittersweet memories and sensational adventures—from a Manilla nightclub to a Washington state trailer park. This funny and fearless tour-de-force piece in two acts, directed by Andrew Russell, features a live three-piece jazz ensemble on stage and a family tale replete with gangsters, murders and more that explores what it means to be a financially-strapped, immigrant single mom in America. Press night for Dragon Lady will be held on Tuesday, November 28, 2023.

In early 2024, MTC will present the West Coast premiere of Guadalís Del Carmen’s BEES AND HONEY (February 14–March 10, 2024). What does it take to survive as a couple? Inspired by the Juan Luis Guerra song “Como Abeja Al Panal," Bees and Honey is an intimate, two-actor portrait of a Dominican couple's love and dreams in New York City, featuring pivotal moments in a year of their lives. It was love at first sight when Manuel and Johaira met at a Washington Heights club. Now married, the ambitious young couple sets out to achieve their dreams together. Manuel's entrepreneurial spirit drives him to expand his mechanic shop, while Johaira lands a career-defining sexual assault case that could help her make partner at her law firm. As they negotiate their differences and struggle to stay connected to one another alongside their expanding careers, they must suddenly take in Manuel’s ailing mother, and the mounting pressure takes its toll on their marriage. When unforeseen tragedy strikes, the pair must reckon with how their love is put to the test. Fresh from its world premiere at Manhattan Class Company (MCC Theater), in partnership with The Sol Project, MTC creates the second production of this vibrant new play about culture, family, joy, and healing in Washington Heights. Press night for Bees and Honey will be held on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

MTC closes out its 2023/24 season with TORCH SONG (May 9–June 2, 2024), based on Harvey Fierstein’s original 1982 seminal work Torch Song Trilogy, that celebrates gay culture and its evolution over the span of the late 1970s and 1980s. In Fierstein’s newly revised two-act version, Torch Song follows the life of Arnold Beckoff, a torch-song singing, Jewish drag queen living in New York City. The play begins with Arnold’s soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love. Told with a likable, human voice, Torch Song follows Arnold’s odyssey to find happiness in New York. All he wants is a husband, a child, and a pair of bunny slippers that fit, but a visit from his overbearing mother reminds him that he needs one thing more than perhaps anything else: respect. Press night for Torch Song will be held on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.