Vineyard Theatre Unveils New Season (EXCLUSIVE)

By Brent Lang

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Vineyard Theatre, an off-Broadway venue best known for highlighting provocative new works that are often from emerging writers, has unveiled its 2018 to 2019 season. The non-profit’s slate is comprised entirely of works from playwrights under the age of 40 and will be directed solely by women.

The shows include the New York premiere of Ngozi Anyanwu’s “Good Grief,” a coming-of-age story about a Nigerian-American girl; the world premiere of “Daddy,” an erotic drama with Tony winner Alan Cumming; and “Do You Feel Anger?,” a dark comedy about an empathy coach working at a debt collection agency.

“Good Grief” will open the season this fall. In winter 2019, The Vineyard and The New Group will co-produce “Daddy.” The final production of the season in spring 2019 will be “Do You Feel Anger?” “Good Grief” is being presented in association with Audible, which will record the production and present it as an audio play.

“We are thrilled to announce a season of extraordinary premiere plays by some of most exciting new voices in the theater — Ngozi Anyanwu, Jeremy O. Harris, and Mara Nelson-Greenberg — all making their Vineyard main-stage debuts,” said artistic directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern in a statement. “Their plays wrestle with complex themes — the process of grief, the mysteries of connection, the power of imagination, the erosion of empathy — in compelling, funny, and potent ways. Each evinces a fearless and original theatricality and collision of forms, pushing the boundaries of what theater can be and do.”

The Vineyard has premiered works from the likes of Paula Vogel, Edward Albee, and Becky Mode, as well as launched such productions as “Avenue Q,” “How I Learned to Drive,” and “Three Tall Women.”