2024 Season
Grab a seat.
Mainstage Production
See What I Wanna See
September 4th-September 29th
Words and Music by Michael John LaChiusa
Directed by Emilio Ramos
Music Direction by Adam Rothenberg
Choreographed by Paul McGill
See What I Wanna See, a musical by Michael John LaChiusa, is based on three short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. The story unfolds like a classical Japanese screen painting, opening each act with a prologue inspired by Kesa and Morito, a pair of fatally contentious lovers. The first act, set in 1951, follows a murder in Central Park from contradicting perspectives where everyone’s truth may be a lie. Act two centers on a priest in 2002, wavering in his faith and creating a hoax about a miracle. His ruse attracts attention; however, the result is something he hadn't bargained for.
OOTB's production of See What I Wanna See features an all-AAPI cast of actors and elements inspired by traditional Asian theater practices, bringing LaChiusa’s Americanized adaptation into conversation with the Asian-American experience.
Earlier this Season…
Earlier this Season…
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Inspired By True Events
MAINSTAGE
July 10th-28th 2024Extended to August 4th!
Written by Ryan Spahn
Directed by Knud AdamsIn the green room of a community theater in Rochester, the Uptown Theater performers are getting ready to play to a full house after opening to rave reviews the night before. When their star actor arrives in a dangerously unhinged state, they must improvise on and off stage in ways they could not have imagined. By turns hilarious, harrowing, and horrifying, Inspired By True Events follows a tenacious group of show people who must determine at what cost the show must go on.
Inspired By True Events received development workshops with New York Stage & Film, The Vineyard Theatre and EST.
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Trash
BUILDING THE BOX
February 2024Written by James Caverly and Andrew Morrill
Directed by Nathaniel P. ClaridadThe first reading announced in Out of the Box Theatrics Building the Box Series. Tim and Jake may be Deaf roommates sharing an apartment in the city, but they are polar opposites – each with very different world views on what it means to be Deaf in a hearing world. When it comes to taking out the trash, they take a comical and insightful dive into their trash and their perceptions of each other’s lives.
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Windows
Custom Work
March 2024Written by Twani O’Dell
11 lives, 8 stories, endless frustration. Fear, hilarity, anger, loss, and love unfolding behind curtains, blinds, broken glass, and bars. Whether navigating the self-reflection of isolation, or the unease of a chance meeting between strangers in need, or the simple realization of how much we value our most basic connection with others, Windows delves into the devastation and new beginnings found in a world forced to face an abyss together but alone. What we each endured as individuals when time suddenly stood still may have differed, but we were all changed by the experience. Our characters reshaped. For better or worse. What were you doing in 2020?
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Starstruck
BUILDING THE BOX
May 2024Music and Lyrics Emily Saliers
Book by Beth Malone and Mary Ann Stratton
Directed by Portia Krieger, Music Directed by Bryan Perri, and Music Supervised by Tom KIttWhere the universe meets Sawtooth, Idaho, Cyd DeBerg is on a mission to save her sliver of sky. She crusades for the first International Dark Sky Reserve in the United States, attracting the attention of NPR journalist Roxanne Cooley. Roxanne's magnetism knocks all of Sawtooth out of orbit, including Cyd’s right hand man, Chris. In Cyrano fashion, Cyd begins a courtship on his behalf. When words come too easily and feel uncomfortably true, Cyd is forced to concede the world as she knew it. Cyd and Roxanne are upended by the mysterious universe, truths hidden in darkness, and a collision course of love.