La Jolla Playhouse has unveiled a 2024-25 season that will include five world premiere plays and musicals that cover subjects as diverse as drag queen Sasha Velour, a musical about Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, a love letter to “A Christmas Carol” shows and a Des McAnuff-led musical about Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.
The season will begin in April with the annual Without Walls Festival April 4 through 7, which returns to the campus of University of California San Diego, where the fest premiered in 2013.
It will be followed by a season of two musicals and four plays. Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley will direct one of the musicals, McAnuff (who ran the Playhouse from 1983 to 1994 and 2001 to 2007) is co-writing the book and directing the other. And Tectonic Theatre Project founder Moisés Kaufman will co-write and direct one of the plays.
La Jolla Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley.
(Courtesy of Becca Batista)
Ashley described the diverse season of stories as all being about the individual moments in people’s lives that can have profound effects.
“Each of us can point to moments in our lives that have caused seismic changes. Moments that crack us open and shift our mindset, both individually and societally. Moments that have a ripple effect beyond the everyday and influence how we move forward,” Ashley said in a statement.
“The six premieres in our 2024-25 season address these monumental moments through stories that explore the vital things we hold dear, the things that bring us joy and that pierce our daily lives to capture our attention, our hearts and our minds, deepening our understanding of ourselves and our world.”
Here’s a look at the six productions which, with the Without Walls Festival, will make up the 2024-25 season. Exact dates for the season shows have not been announced. Subscriptions are now on sale at lajollaplayhouse.org or call (858) 550-1010.
Director Des McAnuff, photographed at La Jolla Playhouse in 2017 during rehearsals for “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.”
(K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)
“The Ballad of Johnny and June”: Former Playhouse chief Des McAnuff, the Tony-winning director of “The Who’s Tommy” and “Jersey Boys,” is co-writing the book with Robert Cary and also directing this musical about the love story of country singer-songwriters Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. The score will feature songs by the Cashes and other songwriters. Told through the eyes of the Cashes’ son, John Carter Cash, the musical will chronicle their 1956 meeting at Grand Ole Opry, his onstage proposal, their life on the road and their many highs and lows, including addiction and arrests. May-June 2024
A reading of Noelle Viñas’ play “Derecho” at La Jolla Playhouse’s 2022 DNA New Works Series. It will get a full production in summer 2024.
(Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse)
“Derecho”: This new play by Uruguayan American writer Noelle Viñas will be the 11th season production borne out of the Playhouse’s DNA New Works Series. It’s a story of two very different sisters and how traditional Latino values conflict with an ever-changing American definition of success. A series of intense storms known as a “derecho” bears down on a Virginia neighborhood near Washington, D.C., where sparks fly between Latina sisters Eugenia, a newly elected politician, and Mercedes, a struggling musician who worries that her sister has lost touch with her cultural roots. Multi-award-winning San Diego director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg will helm the production. July-August
Drag queen Sasha Velour will co-write and star in “Sasha Velour: A Drag Spectacular” at La Jolla Playhouse in summer 2024.
(Courtesy of Tanner Abel)
“Sasha Velour: A Drag Spectacular”: Drag superstar Sasha Velour, a gender-fluid activist, artist and winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” stars in this world premiere autobiographical show that’s part coming-of-age memoir, part drag show, part manifesto and part lesson on the history of drag. Sasha is co-writing the script with Tectonic Theater Project founder Moisés Kaufman (“Laramie Project,” “Here There are Blueberries”), who is also directing the play. Tectonic is co-producing the play. August-September
New York playwright Eboni Booth and director Knud Adams will bring their 2023 off Broadway hit “Primary Trust” to La Jolla Playhouse in fall 2024.
(Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse)
“Primary Trust”: New York playwright Eboni Booth’s play, which made its off Broadway premiere last May, makes its West Coast premiere at the Playhouse. It’s a story about Kenneth, a 36-year-old bookstore worker in a small upstate New York town who spends his evenings sipping mai tais at the local tiki bar with his best friend, Bert. When he’s suddenly laid off, Kenneth faces challenges he has long avoided with transformative and heart-warming results. It will be directed here by Knud Adams, who helmed the acclaimed New York production. September-October
Playwright Anna Ouyang Moench’s comedy “Your Local Theater Presents: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, Again” will make its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in fall 2024.
(Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse)
“Your Local Theater Presents: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, Again”: Anna Ouyang Moench’s world premiere comedy is a love letter to the tradition of regional theater productions of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Eddie is a young Juilliard-trained actor eager to launch a serious dramatic career, but first he must appear in a local “Christmas Carol” production. Over the decades, he finds himself back at the same theater every holiday season playing every “Carol” role onstage and backstage. Moench is the author of the plays “Mothers,” “Man of God,” “Sin Eaters” and “Birds of North America,” the last of which was presented last spring at San Diego’s Moxie Theatre. Obie Award-winning British director Les Waters (“Middletown,” “The Memory of Water”) will direct in his sixth visit to the Playhouse. November-December
Composer Crystal Monee Hall will write the score for the world premiere musical “3 Summers of Lincoln,” opening in February 2025 at La Jolla Playhouse.
(Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse)
“3 Summers of Lincoln”: Tony-winning Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley directs this world premiere musical that imagines the conversations that occurred during the three meetings between president Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist/reformer Frederick Douglass during the Civil War. The musical will feature a gospel, spiritual and R&B-infused score by Crystal Monee Hall, with book by two-time Tony-winner Joe DiPietro and lyrics by Daniel J. Watts and DiPietro. This marks the sixth collaboration between Ashley and DiPietro, whose shared credits include the soon-to-open “Babbitt,” as well as the Tony-winning “Memphis” and “Diana.” February-March 2025
Actor and lyricist Daniel J. Watts will co-write the lyrics for the world premiere musical “3 Summers of Lincoln,” opening in February 2025 at La Jolla Playhouse.
(Courtesy of Nathan Johnson)
