SARASOTA – The Suncoast's newest name in theater, Urbanite, in downtown SRQ, announced its upcoming season on Monday. Coming off an unthinkably successful debut year in which the company has built a reputation for bringing fresh and edgy productions to the local scene, Summer Dawn Wallace and Brendan Ragan have upped the bar for their eagerly-anticipated follow up.
Urbanite opened in April 2015, when the two FSU/Asolo Conservatory alum put together a very well-received three-show summer season, followed by a four-show regular season that began in October. In June, they will launch a five-show program of all regional premiers that will enjoy longer runs in a second season that runs through April of next year.
The season will open June 24 with Ruby Rae Spiegel's Dry Land, which will be directed by Wallace. Set in the girls’ locker room of a Florida high school, Dry Land was praised by the New York Times as a "remarkable" play "about the complexities of friendship and the fears of the future that grip kids arriving at the threshold of adulthood," when it opened in Tribeca in late 2014. Addressing eating disorders, suicide, bullying, and the political landscape of abortion in the U.S., the play takes a harrowing look at the issues facing contemporary American female teenagers.
Next up will be Jennifer Haley's Breadcrumbs, which will be directed by Ragan and open August 12. This drama focuses on a reclusive fiction writer diagnosed with dementia forcing her to depend upon a troubled young caretaker in order to complete her autobiography. Eric Coble's Barking Dog will open November 11, focusing on the bizarre adventure of two reclusive apartment dwellers' relationship with a wild coyote who visits their urban fire escape.
Comments
No comments on this item
Only paid subscribers can comment
Please log in to comment by clicking here.