Fringe Theater Key West’s upcoming season takes audiences rom small-town America to revolutionary France; from an artist’s studio to a future shaped by artificial intelligence. Fringe Theater’s new season covers a lot of territory, but look a little closer, and the five plays have something very human in common.
“Theater has always been a place where we rehearse being human,” said Rebecca Tomlinson, Fringe’s managing artistic director. “And right now, when so much of our cultural conversation is about technology, identity, uncertainty and isolation, gathering in a room to experience a story together feels particularly meaningful.”
It’s an ambitious journey for one season and exactly the kind of journey Fringe’s intimate black-box theater, located at 600 White St., was made for.
The journey begins in a familiar small town.
Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning American classic, “Our Town,” running Nov. 17-21, follows ordinary people through the rhythms of everyday life; growing up, falling in love, building families and eventually saying goodbye. Wilder famously stripped away theatrical spectacle to focus our attention on something much harder to see: the extraordinary hiding inside the ordinary. “Our Town” is directed by Rebecca Tomlinson with movement direction by Lauren Thompson and features a large ensemble of Key West talent.
In January, Fringe starts a revolution.
Award winning playwright Lauren Gunderson’s “The Revolutionists,” running Jan. 13-23, brings together four remarkable women during the French Revolution: a playwright, an assassin, a rebel and a queen. History gets a decidedly contemporary twist as these women wrestle with art, activism, legacy, friendship and the inconvenient possibility of losing one’s head. Smart and funny, the play asks what it means to find your voice when the world around you is being rewritten. The production is directed by Rebecca Tomlinson and features Chantal Pavageaux, Sarah Hunter, Fritzie Estimond and Martha Hooten.
February turns the map “Red.”
John Logan’s Tony Award-winning play “Red” runs Feb. 17-27 and takes audiences inside the studio of Mark Rothko at the height of the painter’s career. Rothko has received one of the most lucrative commissions in the history of modern art. He also has a new young assistant who isn’t afraid to question him. What follows is an intense battle of ideas between generations about art, ambition, commerce, relevance and what happens when the artist who once challenged the establishment suddenly finds himself becoming part of it. Directed by Murphy Davis and featuring Michael Castellano and Zach Franchini, “Red” is an intimate two-person drama about the need to create and the equally human need to matter.
Then Fringe turns toward the future.
Jordan Harrison’s Pulitzer Prize-finalist, “Marjorie Prime,” runs March 24-April 3. In a not-so-distant future, artificial intelligence can preserve our stories, recreate our memories and even allow us to sit across the room from someone we have lost. As 85-year-old Marjorie spends time with an AI recreation of her late husband, questions begin to emerge about who controls the stories of our lives and what happens when technology starts reshaping the memories it was designed to preserve. The production is directed by Rebecca Tomlinson and features Glenda Donovan, Scott Shambaugh, Liz Cloud and Aaron Dotson.
Finally, a multiverse unfolds.
Nick Payne’s award-winning “Constellations,” running April 21-May 1, toggles across multiple possibilities as Payne plays with the idea that every choice we make might create another version of the life we could have lived. The result is a play with an inventive and deeply human exploration of love, free will, chance and the infinite number of ways two people might find or lose each other. “Constellations” is directed by Rebecca Tomlinson and features Susannah Wells and Julio Trinidad.
Most Fringe Theater performances begin at 7 p.m. with Sunday Happy Hour performances offered at 5 p.m. Tickets are available online at keystix.com or by calling the KeysTix box office at 305-295-7676. Seating is limited, so advanced ticket purchase is encouraged.
For complete schedules, show details, tickets and special events, visit fringetheater.org.
