The Blackfriars Theatre house was packed on Monday evening
for the 2020-2021 season announcement, hot on the heels of a successful 70th
anniversary season that yielded a higher-than-ever subscriber base, the largest
opening show in BT history (“Guys and Dolls” in September 2019), and a
quadrupled donor total (nearing $170,000) since 2015.
Development
Manager Mary Tiballi Hoffman and Communications Coordinator Danielle Raymo
emceed the evening, with Artistic Director Danny Hoskins making brief opening
remarks and then “getting out of the way” and crediting much of the year’s
success to the duo. Board members took turns at the mic as well, which kept the
hour-long program moving swiftly through a lot of brand new information from
the Blackfriars team.
In addition
to the season, several repeating and new events were announced, including a May
2020 fundraiser weekend of shows from comedy troupe EstroFest, the Blackfriars
Theatre Summer Intensive for high school and college-age students with
“Godspell” in July 2020, a family friendly, inclusive storytime hour
“Imagination Station with Mrs. Kasha Davis,” and the Hourglass Play Reading
Series. The Conservatory, an educational series in partnership with Rochester
Brainery, will continue to offer classes for all ages, and Blackfriars will
also be a KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival venue again in September.
From a bare
stage outfitted with two widescreen TVs on tables flanking a lone podium, Tiballi
Hoffman announced that this year, Blackfriars would do what the Oscars
couldn’t (or, wouldn’t): each of the six mainstage season productions will be
directed by a woman. Each director — with the exception of one who was out of
town — introduced their respective shows, and many are familiar faces at
Blackfriars.
The season
opens in September with the longest-running musical revue in Broadway history,
“Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” featuring more than 40 mid-century hit songs. It’s one of
two musicals in the season, the other being “The Noteworthy Life of Howard
Barnes” (February 2021), about a “normal” man who hates musicals and wakes up
one day to find his entire life has become just that (expect encounters with
green witches, cats who sing, and more satirical references).
For
Christmastime, there’s a cheerful alternative to tradition with “Miss Bennet:
Christmas at Pemberley” (December 2020), which theoretically takes place two
years after “Pride and Prejudice” and centers on the character of Mary Bennet, the
bookish middle sister. It’s penned by young playwright Lauren Gunderson, who
also wrote “Silent Sky” (opening in the current BT season on March 27).
Half of the
season leans toward heavier themes, ranging from depression in the new one-man
play “Every Brilliant Thing” (October 2020) to darker adolescent themes in the
hit coming-of-age soccer play, “The Wolves” (March 2021). Interesting notes
include pre-casting of Hoskins in the solo role of “Every Brilliant Thing,” and
a partnership with the Nazareth College Department of Theatre and Dance for
“The Wolves,” which will be completely cast at Nazareth and with the school’s
students. The season closer, Sam Shepard’s classic “True West” (opens May 2021)
will run two productions concurrently, or in rep — one cast of brothers, one of
sisters — and feature the season’s only male director behind the brother
version. It’s the first time this has been done locally, and patrons are
encouraged to see both versions of the production.
Season subscriptions to Blackfriars’ 2020-21 season are now
on sale by phone at 454-1260, or online at blackfriars.org.
Leah
Stacy is a freelance writer for CITY. Feedback on this article can be directed
to becca@rochester-citynews.com.
This article appears in Mar 11-17, 2020.
