Obsidian Theater announces new season
Ntozake Shange’s poetic theater piece “for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf ” headlines Obsidian Theater’s 2018 season, which was announced late last week.
Shange’s piece tackles themes of racial and sexual oppression through a series of poetic monologues accompanied by dance and music, which the author called “choreopoems.” The piece, directed by Dabrina Sandifer, runs Jan. 25 through Feb. 1.
Obsidian Theater, a company focusing on edgier and inclusive plays, merged with the musical-focused SRO Productions in 2016 and as a result includes a combination of plays and musicals in its next season. “Cabaret,” John Kander and Fred Ebb’s 1966 Broadway musical, plays April 12 to May 5.
A new Southern gothic, “Wanda, Daisy and The Great Rapture,” continues the season May 17 to June 9. The play is by Brooklyn, N.Y.-based playwright Alexis Schaetzle.
From June 21 to July 14, the theater stages “The Last Five Years,” Jason Robert Brown’s musical made famous in part through the 2015 film adaptation starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan.
August marks the Texas premiere of “happiness (and other reasons to die),” a new comedic play by Bob Bartlett about the aftermath of a suicide pact gone wrong. It runs Aug. 17 to Sept. 8.
“Evil Dead: The Musical” is Obsidian Theater’s last announced 2018 production. Running Sept. 27 to Oct. 20, with book and lyrics by George Reinblatt, the campy musical tells the story of five college students who go to an abandoned cabin in the woods and are turned into demons. It’s adapted from Sam Raimi’s cult-favorite horror film franchise.
Obsidian Theater is at 3522 White Oak. Visit obsidiantheater.org or call 832-889-7837 for more information.