OUR 2022-2023 SEASON
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00 PM
Sundays at 2:00 PM
MICHIGAN PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL
Theatre NOVA focuses on new plays and new playwrights and is dedicated to working with new and local playwrights to help them develop their craft and to offer brand new plays for audiences. We created the Michigan Playwrights Festival to nurture Michigan playwrights and to develop full-length plays for future seasons. Plays that were products of Michigan Playwrights Festivals that have received their world premieres at Theatre NOVA include Mazel Tov, John Lennon by David Wells (Wilde Award for Best New Script), Resisting by David Wells (Wilde Award for Best Original Production), Mrs. Fifty Bakes a Pie by Linda Ramsay Detherage, Clutter by Brian Cox (Wilde Award for Best New Script), Irrational by R. MacKenzie Lewis and David Wells (Wilde Award for Best New Script), Katherine by Kim Carney (Wilde Award Nomination for Best New Script), Spin (aka Swimming While Drowning) by Emilio Rodriguez, and Bird by Kristin Hanratty.
September 29 - October 9, 2022 (Individual tickets: $10, festival passes $30)
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SANCTUARY CITY by Martyna Majok
Michigan Premiere
B and G are DREAMers/Lovers/High school friends negotiating the broken promise of safety and the weight of responsibility in the so-called sanctuary city of Newark. When B learns that his mother will return to her country of origin, these two young people must fight like hell to establish a place for themselves and each other in America. “I have rarely seen a play that so effectively embodies the way external forces - in this case, immigration policies in the United States - distort the inner lives of actual humans. What love is, and can ever mean, is lost in the muddle between the heart and the law.” - New York Times. Directed by Carla Milarch.
November 4-27, 2022 (Single tickets: $22)
SUGAR PLUM PANTO by Carla Milarch and R. MacKenzie Lewis
The holiday tradition is back, complete with all the zany antics you’ve come to expect from this raucous family entertainment. When Clara’s Christmas dream goes awry, an outrageous cast of characters appears to entertain her and save her from the Rat King. Bring the whole family for this festive holiday tradition, with original songs, hilarious parodies, a Bee-oo-ti-ful Panto Dame, and of course, all of the candy you can eat! Book early cuz this holiday favorite sells out!
Dec. 9, 2022 - Jan. 1, 2023, Fri. at 7:30 pm, Sat. at 3pm & 7:30pm, and Sun. at 2:00 pm
No show on Dec. 25.
(Single tickets: $25 for adults, $10 for kids 16 years and under)
THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE by Julia Cho
Michigan Premiere
George is a man obsessed with documenting the dying languages of far-flung cultures. Closer to home, though, language is failing him. He fumbles for the words to say to his wife, to keep her from leaving him. He puzzles over his enamored lab assistant’s words and what they could possibly mean. All while obsessively studying an elderly couple – the last remaining speakers of a language whose culture is already dead. This quirky, romantic piece explores how language can build entire worlds but is often completely useless. Directed by Carla Milarch.
February 3-26, 2023 (Single tickets: $22)
SPLATTERED! by Hal Davis and Carla Milarch
World Premiere
Does art speak to you? It is evening at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where old friends, cousins, and lovers - Sylvie, Astrid, and Justin - gather at a wedding reception. Seminarian Justin sneaks off to be alone in Gallery 406, where he encounters Jackson Pollock’s famous splatter painting One, Number Thirty-One 1950. As the painting mesmerizes him, Pollock’s ghost emerges to challenge some of Justin's most fundamental beliefs, divulging stories and secrets of Pollock's turbulent life. Meanwhile, Astrid and Sylvie come and go, appealing to Justin to join the party, as conflicts from their past bubble back to the surface, prompting Justin to question his choices and his chosen future. Directed by Briana O'Neal.
April 21 - May 14, 2023 (Single tickets: $22)
ARABIC TO ENGLISH by David Wells
World Premiere
This world premiere by the playwright who penned hit productions Resisting, Mazel Tov, John Lennon, and Irrational makes its long-awaited debut. In 2017, as the Trump administration rounds up hundreds of Iraqi immigrants in Southeast Michigan, Faheem, an Arab American man, is accused of fraudulent marriage to gain a visa. Losing in court will send him to a country he barely knows. As his high-stakes trial unfolds, a young Arab American court translator learns how the slipperiness of language can be manipulated to shape his future, and hers, or even reality itself. Directed by Sarab Kamoo.
June 2 - 25, 2023 (Single tickets: $22)
MLIMA'S TALE by Lynn Nottage
Michigan Premiere
A ghost story for our times. Mlima is a magnificent African elephant killed by the underground ivory market for his tusks. As his soul accompanies his tusks on a path forged by greed and colonialism, Mlima takes us on a journey through the agonizing tradition of mining animals. This groundbreaking work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright marries theatricality and social commentary in a play that will truly haunt you. “Those of you who don’t believe in ghosts are likely to think again after seeing Lynn Nottage’s beautiful, endlessly echoing portrait of a murder and its afterlife.” -NY Times. Directed by Lynch Travis.
September 1 - 24, 2023 (Single tickets: $22)
