Announcing Our Mainstage 2020-21 Season: Facing the Unknown
This season was born out of a year-long collaborative process with our students during monthly meetings filled with lively discussions and thoughtful commentary on who we are as a Program and a people. In addition, this season was curated before the worldwide pandemic took hold and prior to the murder of George Floyd. As we continue to engage our ever-changing world and field, we could not be more excited to share these stories of reckoning and transformation with our audiences. Fordham Theatre remains steadfast in our season’s choices and look forward to Facing the Unknown together in our continued fight for racial justice and equality, all while being good stewards of the work, our city, and our world.
MEN ON BOATS
Written by Jaclyn Backhaus
Directed by Sarah Elizabeth Wansley
October 8, 9, & 10
Jaclyn Backhaus’ innovative and spirited play Men on Boats follows a crew of white male explorers as they chart the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869. Performed by a diverse cast of women, trans, and non-binary actors, Men on Boats pushes us to examine who writes our history and how toxic white masculinity has shaped the America West.
UNCLE VANYA
Written by Anton Chekhov
Directed by Matthew Maguire
Devised by the Company
November 12, 13, & 14
In Uncle Vanya, Chekhov warns us about vast deforestation and the destruction of the planet by its people. What in our natures prevents us from confronting a massive crisis for the planet and ourselves? Is the tsunami of unrequited love the result of emotional lives tortured by loss and ruled by ego? Is despair the cause of our surrender to the earth’s destruction? How might we lift it? Chekhov deliberately offers no answers, but the lives of those who inhabit this rural Russian estate embody the questions with exquisitely concrete detail.
WATER BY THE SPOONFUL
Written by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Directed by Mary Hodges
March 4, 5, & 6, 2021
Water by the Spoonful tells the story of familial bonds. It is a story rooted in trauma, addiction, love, inner ghosts, personal demons, forgiveness, redemption, identity, and culture. Hudes’ Ortiz family may mirror a family we know: broken, but surviving. Is being Americanized and following society’s rules enough? How many of us spend more than 50% of our time bonding with avatars on Instagram, Twitter, and various chat rooms instead of connecting to the real world, with real people? Is this ok? Is it humanly sustainable?
EVERYBODY
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Terrence I. Mosley
April 22, 23, & 24, 2021
A contemporary remix of a 15th-century morality play, Everybody examines existence via reason in order to gain the wisdom to become better humans. Through the character of Everybody (chosen by lottery at each performance), we discover that there’s something more we need to pay attention to about how and why we live.
