Monthly Archives: April 2022

THE HUMAN RACE BOLDLY MARCHES INTO ITS NEXT 35 YEARS WITH A GROUNDBREAKING 22-23 LOFT SEASON 

The Human Race embraces its mission of “exploring the human condition” in its 36th season by presenting themes of family, national security, dementia, creativity, race, and autism. Honoring its mission by “promoting enlightenment, inclusion and understanding,” the season includes two World Premieres (one play and one musical), a regional premiere, a Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play, and the return of a favorite.  Outgoing Artistic Director Kevin Moore and incoming Artistic Director Emily N. Wells have created a first-rate season that will entertain and challenge theatregoers in southwest Ohio.

“Sometimes you read a play and you know it is just right for our audience,” said Kevin Moore. “Sometimes a play from your ‘bucket-list’ rises to the top and makes for a perfect addition,” offered Emily Wells. “And other times, a golden opportunity just lands in your lap,” added Moore.  This year, all of the above happened – making it the perfect storm.

The season launches in September with George Brandt’s powerful story of a female drone pilot who tries to balance hunting terrorists by day and being a wife and mother at night in Grounded. This play will mark The Human Race directing debut of its new Artistic Director, Emily N. Wells.  In October, just in time for Halloween, we present the World Premiere comedy/thriller/whodunit by Marcia Kash and Douglas E. Hughes, Deadline.  And December marks the return of that outrageous Seuss ingenue, Cindy Lou Who, as she makes your holidays “merry and bright” in Who’s Holiday! by Matthew Lombardo.

In February 2023, The Human Race and Dayton Live co-present, at the Victoria Theatre, the award-winning, Broadway production of A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller in its only Ohio engagement on its national tour.  Returning to the Loft Theatre in April, the company will present the hilarious and unpredictable comedy Barbecue by Robert O’Hara.  The Human Race closes the season in June with the World Premiere musical Indigo by Scott Evan Davis, Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione about a non-verbal teen with autism and the family that takes her in. Indigo will be helmed by Broadway director and native Daytonian, Schele Williams.

5-Show Loft Subscription Packages are available.  Other “Flexible Options” include 3 and 4 show packages, and annual Memberships.  Who’s Holiday! may be added to any package.  Renewals are currently underway and new subscriptions are available at anytime.  All tickets are available through Dayton Live Box Office at 937-228-3630 or https://www.daytonlive.org/series/loft-season/.

The Human Race’s 2022-23 Loft Theatre Season 

GROUNDED
By George Brant
Directed by Emily N. Wells
September 8 – 25, 2022

Grounded tells the story of a hot-shot F16 fighter pilot whose unexpected pregnancy ends her career in the sky. After maternity leave, she is reassigned as a reluctant operator of remotely piloted aircraft in the Middle East.  From an air-conditioned trailer in the desert near Vegas, the Pilot struggles through dreamlike 12-hour shifts hunting terrorists by day and being a wife and mother by night, leading her into a downward spiral. It’s a frightening reflection on war and the controversial wartime use of drones, and demonstrates the psychological effects experienced by a human who has the power of a wrathful deity.

“Grounded was one of the first plays to explore a new form of war…creating a smash that channeled Top Gun.”   – Matt Trueman, The Guardian

DEADLINE
A World Premiere Comedy Thriller
By Marcia Kash and Douglas E. Hughes
October 27 – November 13, 2022

Playwrights Don and Mara are hired to finish a famous mystery writer’s last play following his mysterious death, shortly before its Broadway opening. The play takes place on a yacht, where an estranged family has been called together for the reading of their mother’s will.  As Don and Mara delve deeper into the writing process, they suddenly find themselves literally sucked into the play, trapped in the very world they are trying to complete, where solving the mystery becomes a matter of life and death.

Deadline is a bit of CLUE, and a bit of KNIVES OUT, and a lot of fun!

WHO’S HOLIDAY!
By Matthew Lombardo
December 8 – 23, 2022
Directed by Joe Deer

She’s Back!!!!  That over-indulgent, holiday celebrant “Cindy Lou Who” is back to make your holidays bright!  Who’s Holiday! – last season’s smash-hit comedy by Matthew Lombardo – is back with the hilarious and multi-talented Alex Sunderhaus, offering up some old, some new, some borrowed and some “blue” Christmas to kick your holidays into overdrive.  First-timers and returnees are all welcome!!!!  Cindy Lou does not discriminate.  She’ll offend everyone!

A SOLDIER’S PLAY
By Charles Fuller
A Roundabout Theatre national tour, co-presented by The Human Race Theatre Company and Dayton Live at the Victoria Theatre.
February 14 – 19, 2023

A Soldier’s Play, the1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning thriller by Charles Fuller, has rocketed back into the spotlight, thanks to this 2020 Tony Award®-winning Best Revival from Roundabout Theatre Company.

“This is a play that deserves to be staged regularly all over America—though it’s hard to imagine that it will ever be done better than this. It keeps you guessing all the way to the final curtain”  said The Wall Street Journal.

In 1944, on a Louisiana Army base, two shots ring out. A Black sergeant is murdered. And a series of interrogations triggers a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service, and identity in America. Broadway’s Norm Lewis leads a powerhouse cast in the show Variety calls “a knock-your-socks-off-drama,” directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon.

The tour’s stop in Dayton will be its only Ohio appearance.

BARBECUE
By Robert O‘Hara
April 13 – 30, 2023

In this hilarious and devastating comedy by Robert O‘Hara, the four O’Mallery siblings have planned a barbecue picnic for their youngest sister, Barbara, but it is more of an intervention to confront her outrageous behavior and reckless drug and alcohol use.  We soon learn that the entire family is a mess and each sibling is in need of their own intervention.  Lillie Anne calls James “white trash,” maybe because he brought a Taser along just in case Barbara gets out of hand.  The scene ends – blackout.  When the lights return, so do the four siblings: same park, same situation, same personalities, but they are black instead of white. From that moment the two parallel families alternate, and the barbecue becomes raucous and unpredictable.  Racial politics collide with family stereotypes, survival and America’s fascination with self-destruction as entertainment.

“Barbecue manages to roast its raw characters, while at the same time basting the audience in juicy observations about race and class, truth and authenticity, and modern addictions, including to fame.”    – Jonathan Mandell, New York Theatre

INDIGO
A World Premiere New Musical
Music & Lyrics by Scott Evan Davis
Book by Jay Kuo, Lorenzo Thione & Scott Evan Davis
Directed by Schele Williams
June 8 – 25, 2023

Emma, a non-verbal teen with autism, finds her life upended when the death of her father leaves her in an uncomprehending world. For Emma, the world is a chaotic place until it shifts to the cool blue shades of Indigo, where she is centered and calm in her inner thoughts and dreams. Emma must learn to connect and form bonds with her new family who face daunting challenges of their own. Indigo is a celebration of the human heart and spirit, a moving call for empathy and compassion in a world that often feels devoid of them.

Indigo will be helmed by Broadway Director and native Daytonian, Schele Williams, and is produced by special arrangement with Sing Out, Louise! Productions.

The Human Race acknowledges its gratitude for the public and private support which makes these productions possible:  Loft Season support:  The Jack W. and Sally D. Eichelberger Foundation of The Dayton Foundation;  Additional Season support:  Miriam Rosenthal Foundation for the Arts;  Organizational support:  Culture Works, Montgomery County, Ohio Arts Council, The Shubert Foundation, Erma R. Catterton Trust Fund, The Virginia W. Kettering Foundation;  Sustainability support:  Anne F. Johnson, Steve and Lou Mason and Morris Home; Pay What You CAN Sponsor:  Enterprise Holdings Foundation;

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