Stages theater has announced its 2023-24 season, one that Artistic Director Kenn McLauglin says offers “shows that use surprise as a key theatrical element.”
Always … Patsy Cline returns as well as a new play in the Stages Panto tradition: Panto Alicia in Wonderland, which is also making its world premiere. Also making its world premiere another installment in the Sister’s saga: Sister’s Irish Catechism: Saints, Snakes, and Green Milkshakes!
And Stages continues its investment in Sin Muros: A Latinx Theater Festival which returns for another year.
Here’s more details with descriptions by Stages theater:
Always… Patsy Cline
By Ted Swindley
Preview: July 21-26
Continues through October 29
Featuring 27 of Patsy Cline’s biggest hits, such as “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Fall To Pieces,” and “Crazy”, Always… Patsy Cline is a timeless tale of friendship and great music. In 1961, country music legend Patsy Cline met Louise Seger, a fan from Houston, at a honky-tonk. The two struck up a friendship that continued via letter-writing until the singer’s tragic death years later. First premiering at Stages 35 years ago, Always… Patsy Cline comes home to the fans who made it a hit and for new generations to discover.
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
By Selina Fillinger
Preview: September 1-7
Continues through: October 8
One four-letter word is about to rock 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When the President
unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis, the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life, liberty, and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble. This uproarious all-female farce took Broadway by storm in 2022; this fall, it’s colliding into the Space City. After all, behind every great man is a great woman— or seven of them.
Switzerland
By Joanna Murray-Smith
Previews: October 6-11
Continues through: November 12
Brimming with razor-sharp dialogue and dark wit, Switzerland is a gripping psychological
thriller that’s sure to leave you breathless. In her remote home hidden in the Swiss Alps, Patricia Highsmith, the reclusive, Texas-born matron of murder stories—played by Stages favorite Sally Edmundson—lives out her days in solitude. That is until a mysterious young emissary arrives at her doorstep, urging her to pen the final installment in her famous “Tom Ripley” series. Wrestling with a case of writer’s block, it seems this unexpected visit could be the push the ailing novelist needs, but as the day unravels, it becomes clear the stranger has a far more sinister mission.
WORLD PREMIERE
Panto Alicia in Wonderland
by TEATRX
Previews: December 1-6
Media Opening: December 7
Through: December 31
Logo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/09vz6ga5cjulz4i/04_Stages_23-24%20Season_Panto.png?dl=0
Stages’ Panto tradition gives the Lewis Carroll classic a fresh Houston spin! As her
quinceanera approaches, Alice (NOT Alicia) questions the tradition and pushes away her culture. But once she falls down the rabbit hole, the magical world around her celebrates all that makes her Alicia. Created by Houston’s own Theatx and studded with parodies of Ricky Martin, Selena, Bad Bunny, and more, Panto Alicia propels headfirst into wonder and fun.
WORLD PREMIERE
Sister’s Irish Catechism: Saints, Snakes, and Green Milkshakes!
By Maripat Donovan
Previews: January 26-31
Continues through: March 17
Denise Fennell is back in the habit! Everyone’s favorite saucy nun leads a brand new catechism class—this time with a bit more green. Audience members become students in a hilarious classroom where Sister’s rules are all that matter. This highly improvised show takes its cue from each audience, meaning if you’re in for a good time, so is Sister.
Laughs in Spanish*
By Alexis Scheer
Previews: February 16-21
Continues through: March 17
A fast-paced, cafecíto-induced comedy about art and success—and mothers and daughters. This joyful and hilarious snapshot of Cuban and Colombian-American culture is set in the heart of Miami’s Wynwood arts district. It’s Art Basel and the stakes are high for gallery manager Mariana. On the big day, she arrives at her gallery to find it devoid of art and the pressure ratchets up. When Mariana’s movie-star mother tries to help out, things get even more complicado.
*Still in negotiations
Othello: The Remix
Book & Music by the Q Brothers
Previews: May 3-8
Continues through June 9
Shakespeare’s enduring masterpiece on passion, jealousy, and revenge gets a fresh spin over original beats in this high-energy adaptation, proving that the Bard himself was the original master of rhythm and rhyme. A New York Times Critics’ Pick, Othello: The Remix has a tsunami of accolades and press, making it the most talked about reinvention of Shakespeare in years.
Sin Muros: A Latinx Theater Festival
May 23-26
The seventh season of Sin Muros returns to Stages with a weekend of play readings, workshops, and celebrations led by Latinx artists and creators.
A Case for the Existence of God
By Samuel D. Hunter
Preview: May 24-29
Continues through : June 30
Two men form an unlikely friendship while navigating banking, parenthood, and human connection. Told in a single office cubicle and spanning a few short weeks of time, this stunning play is as intimate as it is expansive. A masterwork of theatricality and katharsis by MacArthur Fellow Samuel D. Hunter, the writer for the current Oscar-nominated film The Whale.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
