OUR SEASON
DIRECTED BY
GRECHEN WINGERTER
Squats, jumping jacks, quads, hamstrings, butterfly, periods, Trigonometry, pressure, expectations, loss…Sarah DeLappe takes teenage girls seriously, “I wanted to see a portrait of teenage girls as human beings – as complicated, nuanced, very idiosyncratic people who weren’t just girlfriends, or sex objects or manic pixie dream girls but who were athletes and daughters and students and scholars and people who were actively trying to change the world around them.” This sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and sometimes terrifying play takes an insider’s look at a high school girls soccer team and finds a full human microcosm there.
PRESENTED as a co-production between
Pellissippi State Community College Department of Theatre
river & rail Theatre co. at the old city performing arts center
111 State Street, Knoxville, TN 37902
TICKETS ON SALE STARTING OCT 1
Running December 21-23
a special concert performance of
the unusual tale of mary and joseph's baby
MUSIC AND LYRICS BY
DON CHAFFER
BOOK BY
CHRIS CRAGIN DAY
After five incredible years of producing THE UNUSUAL TALE OF MARY AND JOSEPH’S BABY, the River & Rail team is taking a break and stepping back to just enjoy the music. We love the community that we’ve built around this show, and we want everyone to join us for this intimate, magical evening to celebrate the beautiful humanity of the nativity story. In this limited run, we will gather in candle light and simplicity to experience the music that has gone home in our hearts every Christmas season since 2016.
Presented by River & Rail Theatre Co. at the Old City Performing Arts Center
111 State Street, Knoxville, TN 37902
Photography by Adam Brimer. Actor credits (from left image to right, top to bottom): Justin Turpin, Belén Moyano, Steven Romero Schaeffer; Jade Arnold, Hannah Jones, Amberlin McCormick, Gabe Laurito; Taylor Kelly, Aurora Florence, Ellen Nikbakht, Robert George; Robert Parker Jenkins, Grace Belt, Shea Madison, and Kenneth Washington. Designers: Alice Trent, Brueck Brakefield, Erin Reed, Carrie Ferrelli, Clay Eads, Edina Bobrek, Lynn Smith, Jax Wright, and Jordan Vera.
DIRECTED BY
GEOVONDAY JONES
Exactly what was on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s mind as he sat on his scratchy polyester-covered bed, looking down at his sock feet on the bile-colored carpet at the Lorraine Motel on his last night alive? Did he have any idea what was about to happen? What would he have wanted people to know about him? Did these final hours feel holy or special in any way? Katori Hall takes a stunning look at all of these questions and fills them in with brilliant imagination in her play THE MOUNTAINTOP. A speech, a storm, a visitation, a vision: how does a hero’s journey end?
PRESENTED as a co-production between
Presented by River & Rail Theatre Co. at the Old City Performing Arts Center
111 State Street, Knoxville, TN 37902
PERFORMED BY
A NEW ACTOR EACH PERFORMANCE
No director. No set. No rehearsal. This one-person show is written to be handed to its performer on the night of their performance in front of a live audience…to be performed cold turkey. And it is absolutely stunning to watch. Every. Single. Time.
Forbidden to leave his country, playwright Nassim Soleimanpour distilled the experience of an entire generation in a wild, utterly original play. WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT is a work about contemporary Iran and of Nassim’s generation. A generation born amidst the hardship of the Iran-Iraq war. A generation of computer-literate, well-informed young people who have never known an Iran other than the Islamic Republic.
Since its joint premier in 2011 in Edinburgh and Summerworks festival WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT has been translated into more than 25 different languages and been performed over 2000 times by some of the biggest names in theatre and film including actors John Hurt, Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, Stephen Rea, Sinead Cusack, Marcus Brigstocke, Dominic West and film director Ken Loach.
presented by river & rail Theatre co. at the old city performing arts center
111 State Street, Knoxville, TN 37902
Running June 2 - 18
fun home
BASED ON THE GRAPHIC NOVEL BY
ALISON BECHDEL
MUSIC BY
JEANINE TESORI
LYRICS AND BOOK BY
LISA KRON
“Someone just came in the door
Like no one I ever saw before
I feel…
I feel…
I don’t know where you came from
I wish I did
I feel so dumb
I feel…
Your swagger and your bearing
And the just-right clothes you’re wearing
Your short hair and your dungarees
And your lace-up boots
And your keys
Oh, your ring of keys”
Who knew a UPS delivery woman, in her simple act of…well, delivering a package, could unlock such passion and joy in a preteen girl? Alison Bechdel knew.
Tony Award-winning duo, Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron, masterfully capture graphic novelist Alison Bechdel’s coming-of-age story in FUN HOME. As a father and his daughter struggle to open up to one another, they each go on their own journey of discovering love, queerness and all of the pain and beauty that comes with such an awakening. Will their common path be something they can one day share?
PRESENTED as a co-production between
Presented by River & Rail Theatre Co. at the Old City Performing Arts Center
111 State Street, Knoxville, TN 37902
AUDITIONS
R&R SHOWS
Explore past River & Rail Theatre Co. performances and the talented teams that helped make them happen.
