San Francisco Playhouse

Twelfth Night is a rousing contemporary musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy about mistaken identity and self-discovery. On the twelfth day of Christmas, shipwrecked Viola washes up on the shores of Illyria, disguises herself as a man, is sent to court a countess and falls hard for a Duke. As she navigates the gender confusion in all her roles, she finds her true self and true love in the process. Featuring an original jazz-funk score by Shaina Taub, Twelfth Night is a soulful shake-up of a Shakespearean classic, perfect for the 12th night of Christmas or any day of the year.

Starting Here, Starting Now is a thrilling and touching musical using the songs of Richard Maltby, Jr., and David Shire (Big, Baby, Closer Than Ever). Starting Here, Starting Now offers a tender-tough inventory of love and the lonesome lack thereof. Made for each other, the wry lyrics of Richard Maltby, Jr., combined with David Shire‘s buoyant music, forge a fast-moving, ingratiating look at how love can go right, wrong or nowhere. This bold, extroverted journey takes a winsome cast of four through the maze of modern relationships with its heart firmly on its sleeve. As with all of Maltby and Shire’s work, each song is an impeccably crafted story – original, engaging, and bursting with character.

It’s about one moment. It’s about hitting the wall and having to make a choice… or take a stand… or turn around and go back. These are the stories and characters of today, the Songs for a New World. The first musical from Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, Bridges of Madison County), this moving collection of powerful songs examines life, love and the choices that we make.

In this hilariously heartwarming story, a prequel to Copeland’s hit solo show Not a Genuine Black Man, a young Brian heads to the “mean streets” of Oakland to buy his mom a Christmas present. When he finds the perfect gift – a jewelry box in the White Front store – six-year-old Brian sets out to earn the required $11.97 by Christmas Eve.

Serge has purchased a very expensive modern work of art: a five-feet-by-four-feet painting of white diagonal lines on a white canvas. Marc cannot believe that a friend of his could possibly spend so much money on such a piece, and Yvan wants everyone to get along. Winner of the 1998 Tony Award for Best Play, Art is a timely exploration of the complex layers of friendship and how even the closest friends can turn on one another.

Involuntarily displaced in Chicago two months post-Katrina, 13-year-old Davis wrestles with the cultural landscape of a new city and school community while secretly coping with the PTSD of an assault at the Superdome. With her mother still in New Orleans committed to the fight for Black land ownership and her father committed to starting a new life in the Midwest, divorce threatens to further separate a family already torn apart. Will Davis be left hanging in the balance? [hieroglyph] traverses the intersection of environmental racism, sexual violence, and displacement, examining the psychological effects of a state-sanctioned man-made disaster on the most vulnerable members of the Katrina diaspora.

Hold These Truths is based on the incredible true story of one of America’s unsung heroes. In February 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the relocation and incarceration of tens of thousands of innocent American citizens of Japanese ancestry. Among these citizens was Gordon Hirabayashi, whose defiance of the internment order catapulted him into a 50-year journey of conscience to protect the Constitution from a country that viewed him as the enemy. Hold These Truths was inspired by many hours of interviews conducted by playwright Jeanne Sakata with Mr. Hirabayashi as well as numerous primary sources from his life.

Julia Brothers’ first solo show, a San Francisco Playhouse commission, is an 70-minute ride on the rails of life. From watching RFK’s funeral train pass by as a child with her father, to riding a commuter train to visit her aging mother, each stop brings a collage of memories questioning what is real, imagined or forever forgotten. Fullness and loss appear and disappear along the way, leading her to ask, What is left when memories fade or collide; when the heart sings out and the mind says no? How do we keep memories alive and how do we trust what they were to begin with? Filled with pathos and humor and directed by Padraic Lillis, Julia takes us on a journey of the heart: to discover what it is to love, lose and love again.

Jackie has dementia. She also has a pact, carefully crafted with her two daughters, for how to depart on her own terms when the time comes. Well, the night has arrived, the girls have gathered, the plan is in motion—but Jackie forgot the pact. Shoot Me When… is a heartfelt and humorous exploration of love, responsibility, and finding joy in life’s challenges.