There’s always something brand new at Quantum Theatre. Returning audiences know that they may experience theater as some locations only once as they visit niches of Pittsburgh poised for redevelopment or discover historic spots they’ve never before visited.
Again in a season that kicks off on August 5, Artistic Director Karla Boos demonstrates her knack for matching productions to memorable space for exploration by both artists and audiences.
Patrons are kept sharp by imaginative productions of plays that seek truths in the human experience. They also anticipate digging deep into not only characters’ consciences but also our collective consciousness.
“Time to begin our next 25 years,” say Karla Boos, founder and artistic director. Boos is recharging on a three-month sabbatical, but said why she is excited for the next season in Quantum’s announcement.
“2016-17 is filled with new collaborators and old friends tackling new challenges,” Boos shared. “We’ll reflect the widest dimensions of the Spanish-speaking world; poetic interpretations of nature worthy of Blake and Yeats; the mysteries of the human brain; and political cycles all too familiar… in a season that explores, excavates, and offers up the truths we find.”
The summer production of Peribañez by Lope de Vega brings the company back to Jennie King Garden in Shadyside’s Mellon Park for a rare drama by a Spanish master. Gender and class roles collide around a wedding in a working-class farm community in this production directed by Megan Monaghan Rivas and Tlaloc Rivas. Quantum chooses a more contemporary adaption by Tanya Ronder that was presented by the Young Vic (UK) in 2003. Quantums’ outdoor setting and live music will enhance the drama’s charm, August 5-28. The company previously staged productions in including The Crucible and Dark of the Moon in Mellon Park.
The Gerri Kay New Voices Program Fellows for Peribañez: Siddiq Saunderson (Peribañez), Isabel
Pask (Casilda), Freddy Miyares (Leonardo, Lisardo, Gil); photo credit: Quantum Theatre
There’s also a new initiative for developing artists at Quantum with The Gerri Kay New Voices Program, which honors a longtime supporter. In its second year, the program provides mentoring artists, this time actors, the Gerri Kay New Voices Program Fellows Siddiq Saunderson , Isabel Pask, and Freddy Miyares in Peribañez. 2015 Kay Fellow Adil Mansoor (Chickens in the Yard) returns to director The River by Jez Butterworth (Jerusalem), in the second production of the new season.
Truth-seeking is common in Quantum’s repertoire choices as Boos programs works that dig deep into characters’ consciences and our collective consciousness. Audiences are always expected to explore while they always arrive at an adventurous venue for each production.
Quantum will surprise audiences with the locations for the other three productions of the new season, which once again includes a chamber opera.
Boos will stage The Man Who Mistook His Wife, a chamber opera by Michael Nyman based on the book by neurologist Oliver Sacks. Andres Cladera returns as musical director and Joe Seaman again creates projection design, both having collaborated with Boos on The Winter’s Tale, Ainadamar, and Maria de Buenos Aires. The opera run Nov. 25 – Dec. 11.
One of Pittsburgh’s longest-running directors Jed Allen Harris will stage Collaborators by John Hodge, April 7 – 30, 2017. His intrepid style will suit this surreal drama, set in Moscow in 1938 where a dissident writer is offered freedom in exchange for a play that celebrates Stalin on his birthday.
Subscribers can choose special options including Ladies Night, Quantum Quaff, and Quantum on the Couch, and new Drinks with the Director events. Prices for subscriptions go up on June 1, but subscriptions and tickets are now available by calling 412-362-1713 10 am-5 pm) or online at quantumtheatre.com where details for production venues will be shared.
Check out the rest of our 2016 Summer Preview here! Follow along with our summer adventures with the hashtag #SummerwithPITR on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Categories: Feature