Guthrie Theater

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) — The Guthrie Theater (Joseph Haj, Artistic Director) today announced 10 ambitious, full-scale productions to commemorate the theater’s 60-year legacy: Qui Nguyen’s love-and-war comedy Vietgone; the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks’ Sally & Tom, produced in collaboration with The Public Theater; the 48th annual production of A Christmas Carol; Rick Cummins and John Scoullar’s whimsical The Little Prince; Pearl Cleage’s powerful character drama Blues for an Alabama Sky; William Shakespeare’s Hamlet; Agatha Christie’s thrilling mystery Murder on the Orient Express; Stephen Sondheim’s beloved musical Into the Woods; Karen Zacarías’ Guthrie-commissioned adaptation of the Western classic Shane; and one more title to be announced.

New season subscriptions go on sale June 1, 2022. To purchase a package, call the Season Ticket Office at 612.225.6238 or 1.877.997.3276 (toll-free) or visit guthrietheater.org.

Artistic Director Joseph Haj remarked, “Founded by a famed theater director and brought to life by the people of Minnesota, the Guthrie Theater forever changed the artistic landscape of the Twin Cities when it opened its doors in 1963. This rich legacy inspired our choices for the 2022–2023 Season, which we wanted to represent all that the Guthrie was, is and will be to our community. So I’m filled with great optimism and gratitude as we embark on this celebratory season together.”

The bold new season begins on the Wurtele Thrust Stage with Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone, a raucous play with music running September 10 – October 16, 2022. When Saigon falls in 1975, Quang and Tong, two Vietnamese refugees separated from their previous partners, have a sexy meet-cute in Arkansas that promptly becomes a no-strings-attached relationship to pass the time. Living in the land of “cheeseburgers, waffle fries and cholesterol” (aka America) proves to be an intoxicating adventure that leads Quang and Tong to question their futures, both together and in their new country. Part history play and part memoir, this whip-smart comedy is punctuated with flashbacks and bursts of rap songs, all while giving unabashed reflections on American culture and offering a human-centered view of the Vietnam War and its aftermath.

Vietgone received the 2016 Steinberg New Play Award. Nguyen’s plays also include Poor Yella Rednecks, She Kills Monsters, Six Rounds of Vengeance, Soul Samurai and Living Dead in Denmark. This is his first play to be produced at the Guthrie.

Next, the Guthrie is thrilled to present the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks’ Sally & Tom. Produced in collaboration with The Public Theater, the play will run on the McGuire Proscenium Stage October 1 – November 6, 2022. In Sally & Tom, playwright Luce has sky-high hopes for her latest script, which examines the relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. To catch the attention of more notable producers, Luce recruits her longtime collaborator (and lover) Mike to direct, and then casts herself and Mike in the lead roles. Their creative visions align at first, but things unravel quickly as they find themselves at odds and deeply entangled in Sally and Tom’s story.

Named among Time magazine’s 100 Innovators for the Next Wave, Parks is one of the most acclaimed playwrights in American drama today. She is the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, she is a MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient and she was awarded the prestigious Gish Prize for excellence in the arts. The Guthrie previously produced Parks’ In the Blood at the Guthrie Lab in 2001.

In addition to the subscription season, the Guthrie will present its 48th annual production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol November 12 – December 30, 2022, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. In 2021, Lavina Jadhwani’s adaptation of the classic received its world premiere at the Guthrie under the direction of Joseph Haj. The same creative team returns in 2022 to further develop the production.

Then, Rick Cummins and John Scoullar’s The Little Prince, based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, will play on the McGuire Proscenium Stage December 10, 2022 – February 5, 2023.

Saint-Exupéry’s endearing allegory has enthralled readers since 1944. The tale begins when a pilot’s plane crashes in the Sahara desert, and as he plots his survival strategy, a little prince with a gleeful spirit appears. Over the course of a week, the prince tells the pilot tales of his intergalactic travels to various planets, Earth included. Each story sheds new light on their philosophical questions until the two unlikely companions find the answers — and their lives — hanging in the balance. Full of whimsy and wonder, this imaginative fairy tale for the whole family studies the contrast between the innocence of youth and the inevitable realities of adulthood.

On the Wurtele Thrust Stage, the Guthrie will next present Pearl Cleage’s bold character drama, Blues for an Alabama Sky, January 28 – March 12, 2023. Cleage’s play invites the audience into a Depression-era Harlem apartment building where a close-knit group of friends has become a chosen family. New roommates Angel and Guy — a recently fired blues singer and a promising costume designer with Paris in his sights — live across the hall from Delia, a social worker who sparks a relationship with the hardworking doctor Sam. Their lives are upturned when Southern newcomer Leland arrives and falls hard for Angel, who is torn between a stable life in Manhattan and an exhilarating overseas adventure with Guy. Angel chooses her path, but the decision leads to devastating consequences that shift the trajectory of everyone’s futures and long-held dreams.

Blues for an Alabama Sky premiered in 1995 at Alliance Theatre, where Cleage is the distinguished Mellon Playwright in Residence. Among her plays are Pointing at the Moon, What I Learned in Paris, Flyin’ West and Bourbon at the Border. She is also the author of several novels, including What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day and Seen It All and Done the Rest, as well as collections of poetry and essays. This will be the first play by Cleage to be produced by the Guthrie.

In an homage to the Guthrie’s inaugural production, which opened on May 7, 1963, the theater will present William Shakespeare’s Hamlet April 8 – May 21, 2023, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Hamlet has been previously produced by the Guthrie four times: 1963, directed by the theater’s founder Sir Tyrone Guthrie; 1978, directed byStephen Kanee; 1988, directed by Garland Wright; and 2006, directed by Joe Dowling, which closed the theater’s original location on Vineland Place.

Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, returns home to mourn his father’s death and begrudgingly attend the wedding of his mother, Queen Gertrude, to his uncle Claudius, who has all too willingly taken his brother’s throne. When the former king’s ghost appears and cries murder, Hamlet’s grief turns to obsessive revenge as he seeks to uncover evidence and unmask Claudius. Tension builds and plots spiral out of control, leading to a deadly final showdown.

The Guthrie will continue its longtime tradition of offering student matinees and inviting youth from across the region to experience world-class Shakespeare on its signature thrust stage at little or no cost.

On the McGuire Proscenium Stage, the Guthrie will present Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig, May 13 – July 2, 2023. In Christie’s thrilling mystery, passengers aboard the opulent Orient Express awake to frightful news: Overnight, the American business mogul among them was stabbed to death behind locked doors. Thankfully, debonair detective Hercule Poirot is on the train and on the case. He promptly begins interviewing suspects, securing alibis and forming theories about the killer, who remains at large and could be closing in on the next victim. As the plot thickens and the travelers grow restless, Poirot presents two viable scenarios about who murdered the mogul and why, taking the audience on a wildly glamorous crime-solving ride.

Ludwig adapted Murder on the Orient Express at the request of the Agatha Christie Estate, and it premiered at McCarter Theatre Center in 2017. A Tony and Olivier Award winner, Ludwig’s writing credits include Lend Me a Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo, Twentieth Century and the book for the musical Crazy for You. Murder on the Orient Express marks the first time the work of Christie or Ludwig will be produced by the Guthrie.

In celebration of the late musical theater giant Stephen Sondheim, the Guthrie will present the award-winning storybook musical Into the Woods, with music and lyrics by Sondheim and book by James Lapine, June 17 – August 20, 2023, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage.

When Sondheim passed away in 2021, he was among the most well-known and influential lyricists and composers in American musical theater history. His work includes lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy as well as music and lyrics for Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Assassins. The Guthrie has previously produced four musicals featuring Sondheim’s work: Sweeney Todd in 1999, Merrily We Roll Along in 2001, Sunday in the Park With George in 2017 and West Side Story in 2018.

In this unexpected musical, Cinderella pines to make a cameo at the ball, Jack (of beanstalk fame) tends to his pet cow, Little Red Riding Hood sets off toward grandmother’s house and a baker and his wife discover they are barren, thanks to a curse from the neighboring witch. They all head into the woods and embark on remarkable journeys that include falling in love, slaying a giant, facing off with a wolf and more. Just when all wishes appear to be granted, a stray magic bean sprouts a second stalk and the giant’s vengeful wife disrupts everyone’s happy ending. Featuring beloved music and classic fairy tale characters, this heartfelt musical explores what happens after “happily ever after.”

Into the Woods opened on Broadway in 1987, was nominated for 10 Tony Awards (and received three) and won the 1988 New York Drama Critics’ Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Best Musical. The musical features songs such as “I Know Things Now,” “Giants in the Sky,” “Agony,” “Ever After,” “No One Is Alone” and “Children Will Listen.”

Closing the season on the McGuire Proscenium Stage will be Karen Zacarías’ Shane, based on the 1949 Western novel by Jack Schaefer. Playing July 15 – August 27, 2023, this new work interrogates the assumptions and myths of the American West. Shane is a co-commission and co-production with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where the play will make its world premiere in June 2023.

Set in 1889, Shane tells the story of a loner with a dark and mysterious past who rides into the heart of Wyoming’s cattle country. He’s instantly idolized by the young Bob Starrett, whose settler parents welcome Shane into their home and put him to work on their farm, where Shane discovers the family he never had. Meanwhile, hostility grows between the ruthless rancher Fletcher and the settlers starting their farms. When Fletcher plans to squeeze them out, Shane’s dangerous ways resurface as he fights to save the Starretts from ruin.

Zacarías is one of the most produced playwrights in the country. Her work includes Native Gardens, which was produced by the Guthrie in 2017; an adaptation of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents; The Book Club Play; Mariela in the Desert; and The Sins of Sor Juana, which won her The Kennedy Center’s Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play.

In the coming weeks, the Guthrie will announce an additional play to run on the McGuire Proscenium Stage in spring 2023. As the Guthrie continues to rehire staff and rebuild the organization following years of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, public programming in the Dowling Studio will remain paused. Throughout the 2022–2023 Season, the studio will be utilized for artistic and educational purposes as well as private events. A full slate of programming is expected for the Guthrie’s 2023–2024 Season.

The Guthrie Theater’s 2022–2023 Season sponsors include the Minnesota State Arts Board, The Shubert Foundation and U.S. Bank.

Ticket Information
Nine plays will be available as part of the 2022–2023 subscription series: Vietgone, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Hamlet and Into the Woods on the Wurtele Thrust Stage, plus Sally & Tom, The Little Prince, Murder on the Orient Express, Shane and a production to be announced on the McGuire Proscenium Stage.

New season subscriptions start at $64 and go on sale June 1, 2022. Single tickets for Vietgone, Sally & Tom and The Little Prince go on sale July 15, 2022. Single tickets for A Christmas Carol go on sale September 6, 2022. Single tickets for Blues for an Alabama Sky, Hamlet, Murder on the Orient Express and the TBA production go on sale November 8, 2022. Single tickets for Into the Woods and Shane go on sale January 10, 2023. Single ticket prices for all mainstage shows, excluding A Christmas Carol, range from $20 to $94. Tickets for A Christmas Carol range from $20 to $134. Discounts are available for students, educators, seniors and children.

To purchase a season subscription, call the Season Ticket Office at 612.225.6238 or 1.877.997.3276 (toll-free) or visit guthrietheater.org.

Health and Safety
During the 2022–2023 Season, the Guthrie will continue to consult with medical experts and its COVID-19 Safety Team to adjust health and safety policies as needed. For the most up-to-date Guthrie requirements for masking and vaccination, visit www.guthrietheater.org/health.

Land Acknowledgment
The Guthrie Theater acknowledges that it resides on the traditional land of the Dakota People and honors with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations, including the Ojibwe and other Indigenous nations.

The GUTHRIE THEATER (Joseph Haj, Artistic Director) is an American center for theater performance in Minneapolis, Minnesota, dedicated to producing a mix of classic and contemporary plays and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Under Haj’s leadership, the Guthrie is guided by four core values: Artistic Excellence; Community; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; and Fiscal Responsibility. Since its founding in 1963, the theater has continued to set a national standard for excellence in the field and serve the people of Minnesota as a vital cultural resource. The Guthrie houses three state-of-the-art stages, production facilities, classrooms, restaurants and dramatic public spaces. guthrietheater.org