I N T E R N A T I O N A L  C I T Y  T H E A T R E

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International City Theatre gets personal and
political with 2024 five-play season

 

LONG BEACH, Calif. (August 15, 2023) – International City Theatre has announced a personal, political, passionate and playful season for 2024.

“Looking forward to what’s sure to be a fraught election year, we want to offer a balanced and carefully curated season that’s at once entertaining and thought-provoking,” says artistic director caryn desai [sic]. “These five plays offer a wonderful mix of serious ideas and comic relief that, I hope, will keep our audiences engaged and talking long after the curtains come down.”

The new season kicks off in February with the world premiere of Marilyn, Mom & Me, written and directed by Luke Yankee. The son of Broadway actress Eileen Heckart who played best friend to Marilyn Monroe in the film Bus Stop, Yankee exposes a side of Monroe no one has seen before as he confronts his own relationship with his mother in this deeply personal, comic drama. (Feb. 16 through March 3; previews Feb. 14 and Feb. 15.)

Next up, in May, is the Obie and New York Drama Critics Circle award-winning What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck. Fifteen-year-old Heidi earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. In this funny, hopeful and very human play, she resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives. ICT artistic director caryn desai [sic] directs. (May 3 through May 19; previews May 1 and May 2.)

In June, Todd Nielsen (last season’s Lend Me a Tenor) will direct The Outsider by Paul Slade Smith. In this timely and hilarious political satire about a flawed candidate who seems destined to fail, Ned Newly is terrified of public speaking, and his poll numbers are impressively bad. But political consultant Arthur Vance sees things a bit differently. Sure, Ned might possibly be the worst candidate to ever run for office — but what if that’s exactly what the public is looking for? (June 14 through June 30; previews June 12 and June 13.)

In 1942, sparked by a letter to the editor from James G. Thompson of Wichita, Kansas, The Pittsburgh Courier kicked off the “Double V” campaign. August sees The Double V, a historical drama by Carole Eglash-Kosoff about the first Black civil rights movement in the U.S., which used the popular “V for Victory” motto to call for triumph not only in World War II, but also in the fight for racial equality in the military and throughout the United States. (Aug. 23 through Sept. 8; previews Aug. 21 and Aug. 22.)

The season closes in October with Murder on the Links. In Steven Dietz’s delightfully entertaining adaptation of Agatha Christie’s most intricate “whodunit,” Detective Hercule Poirot receives an urgent letter from Paul Renauld, summoning him to France. But when Poirot arrives, he finds he’s too late — M. Renauld now lies dead, face down in a grave on the edge of the golf course he was building. Certain facts do not add up… and when a second body is found, it’s been stabbed in a seemingly impossible way. Jamie Torcellini (last season’s The Legend of Georgia McBride) directs this surprising new comic mystery. (Oct. 18 through Nov. 3; previews Oct. 16 and Oct. 17.)

Recognized by Long Beach as the City’s resident professional theater company, International City Theatre is the recipient of over 400 awards, including the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle’s prestigious Margaret Harford Award for “Sustained Excellence” and the LADCC’s 2016 Polly Warfield Award for an “Excellent Season.” In addition to its professional theater productions, ICT offers six community and educational outreach programs each year. The company’s commitment to the community also includes ongoing collaborations with Long Beach’s African American community and other groups and organizations. Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe called ICT “a cultural treasure.”

All performances take place Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

For more information about ICT’s 2024 season and to purchase subscriptions or single tickets, call (562) 436-4610 or visit www.InternationalCityTheatre.org

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