Season One Announcement

(Pictured: Leve Ross, Elisa Rosin, and the cast of “Fortunate Son: A Faust Myth”)

Jan. 2nd, 2018

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Hello, C&G Fam!

We are so excited to announce our first full season, and we remain incredibly grateful to share it with friends from near and far!

Season One opened in the Fall of 2017 with “Fortunate Son: A Faust Myth.” Artistic Director Zach Davidson and virtuoso playwright Cecilia Fairchild collaborated on this Coin & Ghost Original — a dark fantasia through post-Viet Nam New Orleans — in our wild reimagining of Faust’s pact with the devil. Complete with a drag queen voodoo witch and some simmering chemistry between God and Mephistopheles, “Fortunate Son” was a burst of energy and a philosophical waltz all in one.

The season continues in the Spring of 2018 with our gender-flipped “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” a play that follows the story of Valentine and Proteus — two “gentlemen” who fall in love with the same woman. As Valentine leaves Verona to travel to  Milan, Proteus remains behind to woo his first love, Julia. But a complex dynamic soon emerges, as Valentine falls in love with a young woman named Sylvia, and Proteus (while on a visit to Milan), falls in love with her as well.

In a moment when many of the titans of art and entertainment are being hoisted by their own sexual petards, our production confronts the roles of power, privilege, sex, and gender in modern society. Is it riskier to call out truth, or pretend not to see? Can we still enjoy the works of artists who AT BEST disappointed us, and AT WORST committed despicable crimes? Co-directed by Davidson and Managing Director Marguerite French, C&G’s take on “Two Gents” tackles one of The Bard’s many “problem plays” in a subversive, timely light.

The season rounds out in the Summer of 2018 with another Coin & Ghost Original: a modern American take on the Greek Classic, “Antigone.” After Antigone’s brothers kill each other in a civil war, her uncle Creon becomes the new ruler of Thebes. He honors the burial of one of her brothers — the one who fought on his side in the war — and orders the other body to be left in the street to rot, threatening to kill anyone who attempts a proper burial. Antigone defies his edicts, risking her life to perform the proper burial rites for her brother.

Inspired by the spark of the Black Lives Matter movement, C&G’s remix shines a light on the systematic destruction of the Black body. In telling the story of a mother torn by mourning, Associate Artistic Director Kendall Johnson recontextualizes Sophocles’ work, and uncovers the ways we lose our humanity when tribalism takes over.

As part of our mission to make theater available to all, we’re expanding our education wing to bring this season’s works and questions into schools and community centers in underserved areas. We’ll explore the issues of race, gender, privilege, and power through text analysis, real-life extrapolation, and performance work. We’re excited to hear what the students see, hear, and feel through these challenging and rewarding plays.

We’ve had an amazing time so far, and it’s all because of you: our beautiful community. We wouldn’t be here without you, and we are eternally grateful to share this work with kindred spirits. Thank you for your support as we consider the questions, big and small, funny and somber, that theater has to offer.

See you soon!
-Team C&G