NSO Show: Fun Home
Book & Lyrics by Lisa Kron
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Directed by Tias Volker
Music Directed by Evan Thomas
Produced by Hannah Chan
Assistant Produced by Siani Woods
Fun Home, the Tony award-winning musical, is a family tragicomedy that follows Alison Bechdel and the exploration of her sexuality during three major stages of her life. As she delves into her coming of age and her coming out story, Bechdel continues to grapple with memories from her childhood and her relationship with her closeted gay father.
Fall Show: The Nether
Written by Jennifer Haley
Directed by Sean Begane
Produced by Hannah Paquet
Asst. Produced by Natalie Kahn
When a young detective investigates an insidious virtual reality realm where pedophiles may live out their fantasies involving children, she brings its creator in for interrogation. As the questioning rages on, they discover their emotions surrounding this realm may be blinding them to the greater questions of ethical behavior, both in the imagination and the outside world.
Winter Show: Manahatta
Written by Mary Kathryn Nagle
Directed by Connor Beard
Produced by Tia Denby
Assistant Produced by Siani Woods
Securities trader Jane Snake is torn between worlds. Her return to Wall Street in 2008 brings her to Manahatta (“island of many hills” in Lenape), the homeland her ancestors were violently forced to leave in the 1600s. Meanwhile, her family in Oklahoma struggles to save their over-mortgaged home. In Mary Kathryn Nagle’s spellbinding drama, past and present intertwine to illuminate the tragic consequences of the commercial exploits that gave rise to the America we know today – and that marginalized and erased Native American people and history. Jane’s return to Manahatta defiantly demonstrates that the Lenape are still here.
Spring Show: We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915
Written by Jackie Sibblies Drury
Directed by Ciara Brown
Produced by Hannah Paquet and Siani Woods
Our spring production was unfortunately canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic
A group of actors gather to tell the little-known story of the first genocide of the 20th century. We Are Proud to Present… takes place largely in a rehearsal room that descends from the collaborative to absurd as a group of idealistic actors — three black and three white — attempt to recreate the extinction of the Herero tribe at the hands of their German colonizers. Along the way, they test the limits of empathy as their own stories, subjectivities, assumptions, and prejudices catalyze their theatrical process. Eventually the full force of a horrific past crashes into the good intentions of the present, and what seemed a faraway place and time comes all too close to home.
Front Row Theatre Co. 