PUSH collaboration on ‘Dracula’ highlights Blackfriars season – Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

PUSH Physical Theatre, which presented its version of Jekyll & Hyde at Blackfriars, has a new collaboration this season.(Photo: Jamie Germano)

Last weeks theater news included Rochester Broadway Theatre League bringing in Lin-Manuel Mirandas Hamilton for its 2018-19 season. Then Geva Theatre Center booking Mirandas In the Heights for its upcoming season, as well as a reading of long-forgotten 1917 Broadway play, also called Hamilton, written by a woman from West Bloomfield.

So expectations were understandably high that Monday nights 2017-18 season announcement from Blackfriars Theatre would include something Hamilton-like. Or Miranda related. Perhaps something he wrote in the sixth grade.

Rather than hip-hop Founding Fathers, Blackfriars season opener is a gender-swapping take on the Shakespeare comedy Twelfth Night. After a presidential campaign where the denigration of women became an issue, Twelfth Night will feature an all-women cast. As Artistic and Managing Director Danny Hoskins pointed out, in booking this season, Blackfriars paid attention to the social and political climate we live in.

And a production of the new play,When We Were Young & Unfraid, will be brought to the stage by an all-female production team. Set in 1972, before Roe V. Wade and the Violence Against Women Act, its the story of a bed and breakfast offering shelter to victims of domestic violence.

The 2017-18 Blackfriars season:

Twelfth Night, Sept. 1 through Sept. 23. The show will also feature original music by local musicans.

PUSH Physical Theatres Dracula, Oct. 31 through Nov. 12. A fleshed-out version of the show written by Hoskins and first presented by PUSH in 2009, with more-fully developed characters in this version. In particular, adding more of Draculas story, said PUSH Director Darren Stevenson.

Little Women, The Musical, Dec. 15 through Dec. 31.

Glengarry Glen Ross, Feb. 2 through Feb. 18.

When We Were Young & Unafraid, March 23 through April 8.

Avenue Q, May 11 through May 27. With human, and puppet, actors, this comedy is the story of young people trying to find their places in life.

Blackfriars still has one show remaining on its current season, Death of a Salesman.

The nonprofit theater group took a few aggressive leaps forward last season, adding a second full-time employee in its history, with Mary Tiballi Hoffman brought on as Blackfriars new development manager. The venue was upgraded with new seats and a new sound system, and saw the introduction of the Blackfriars Theatre Summer Intensive training program for high school and college theater artists. It will present Grease from July 7 through July 16.

The upcoming seasons focus on female artists and storytelling will include Blackfriars aiming to develop partnerships with community and cultural organizations in support of diversity, creativity, empathy and humanity. Groups whose missions are at risk or under fire, Hoskins said. An obvious partnership, he added, is Dracula and a blood drive.

Blackfriars focus on female artists will include a full-year residency of The Big Wigs, the local drag queen duo of Mrs. Kasha Davis and Aggy Dune. Gender-fluid, Mrs. Davis noted is not just a cocktail at the bar. The Big Wigs, known for their impersonations of female music celebrities, will present shows July 20 through July 23; Oct. 13 through Oct. 15; and Dec. 1 through Dec. 3.

Blackfriars expansion of its community engagement includes free tickets for local charities and organizations, as well as post-show panel discussions and book drives.

Those partnerships join last seasons collaboration with Nazareth Colleges Visual Communications Design Program, with David DiPrimo as the upcoming season designer and Kristopher Kodweis working as special events designer. Blackfriars also offers a technical internship program with RITs theater department.

The Blackfriars Comedy Series continues with the local groups Unleashed! Improv and Canary in a Coal Mine, while Writers and Books will co-produce the 24 Hour Musical Theatre Festival. The Hourglass Play Reading Series will introduce five new works.

Season subscriptions for the upcoming season are on sale now, with flexible options ranging from $90 to $185. They are available at the box office, 795 E. Main St., blackfriars.org and (585) 454-1260.

JSPEVAK@Gannett.com

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PUSH collaboration on 'Dracula' highlights Blackfriars season - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle