Theatre News Wire

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, announced its 2022-2023 season, opening with the buddy comedy The Garbologists by Lindsay Joelle, directed by Cody Estle; followed by Georgiana & Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, directed by Marti Lyons; the new play by Brent Askari Andy Warhol in Iran, directed by BJ Jones; The Porch on Windy Hill: a new play with old music, conceived and directed by Sherry Lutken; and closing with Marie and Rosetta by George Brant, directed by E. Faye Butler and featuring Bethany Thomas.

BJ Jones comments, "This season we bring you both the familiar and the fresh, work that lifts us up and reflects our world. We've emerged from the last two seasons with renewed vigor and a refreshed vision. I believe we all have a new and powerful appreciation for live theatre, and understand what we have all been missing, the shared artistic experience."

The 2021-2022 season includes:

THE GARBOLOGISTS
By Lindsay Joelle
Directed by Cody Estle
September 1 - October 2, 2022
Opening: Friday, September 9, 2022

This off-beat buddy comedy pairs a blue-collar, old-school sanitation worker with an Ivy League-educated newbie in the shared cab of a New York City garbage truck. When these two essential workers from different worlds are thrown together to pick up what the world has discarded, they discover there's more that binds them than taking out the trash.

GEORGIANA & KITTY: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY
By Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon
Directed by Marti Lyons
ROLLING WORLD PREMIERE
November 25 - December 24, 2022
Opening: Friday, December 2, 2022

The beloved characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice return for a third and final installment of the Pemberley trilogy (Miss Bennet, The Wickhams). The youngest Darcy and Bennet sisters have become fast friends, and eagerly await the arrival of Georgiana's secret correspondent. Mixups of manners and overprotective big brother Mr. Darcy keep romance from unfolding easily. But music, ambition, friendship, and sisterhood lead to happiness... and a love story that spans a lifetime.

ANDY WARHOL IN IRAN
By Brent Askari
Directed by BJ Jones
January 19 - February 19, 2023
Opening: Friday, January 27, 2023

In 1976, the artist Andy Warhol, having re-invented himself as the portrait painter of the rich and famous, travels to Tehran to take Polaroids of the Shah of Iran's wife. Amidst taking in the Crown Jewels and ordering room service caviar, Warhol encounters a young revolutionary who throws his plans into turmoil and opens the pop icon's eyes to a wider world.

THE PORCH ON WINDY HILL: a new play with old music
By Sherry Lutken, Lisa Helmi Johanson, Morgan Morse & David M. Lutken
Conceived and directed by Sherry Lutken
April 13 - May 14, 2023
Opening: Friday, January 21, 2023

A young violinist and her song collector boyfriend flee the confines of their Brooklyn apartment to the mountains of North Carolina, where the Appalachian music of Mira's childhood is just the authentic inspiration they're searching for. When they descend on her old family home, and an estranged grandfather she's never mentioned, the unexpected complexity of past pain, prejudice, joy, and discovery reveals itself through the music that binds them. Featuring bluegrass favorites and the foot-stomping, hand-clapping finest of American roots music.

MARIE AND ROSETTA
By George Brant
Directed by E. Faye Butler
Featuring Bethany Thomas
July 6 - August 6, 2023
Opening: Friday, July 14, 2023

Hailed as the "Godmother of Rock 'n Roll," Sister Rosetta Tharpe influenced rock icons from Elvis Presley to Jimi Hendrix. Bringing fierce guitar playing and sizzling swing to gospel music, Rosetta was a trailblazer, a young Black woman singing at church in the morning and the Cotton Club at night. This play with music chronicles Rosetta's first rehearsal with a young protegee, Marie Knight, as they prepare for a tour that would establish them as one of the great duet teams in musical history.

Curtain times are: Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

Subscriptions to the 2022-2023 Northlight Season are available at northlight.org/subscribe or 847.673.6300.