A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classic repertory theatre company, is thrilled to announce its 2021-2022, 30th Anniversary Season with the theme THEY SHATTERED THE CHRYSALIS. A Noise Within’s current season subscribers, donors, and patrons were invited to hear the news first in an exclusive online announcement last week. Season pass holders and new subscribers now have the opportunity to access priority seating. Single tickets will go on sale to the public on July 13, 2021.
“The world is in the midst of extraordinary change,” said ANW Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, “a year of Covid-19; a time of greater awareness of systemic racism, and of confronting violence against people of color; a more aggressive push for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights; and more. The world we once inhabited is shattering. Each of the productions in the 2021-22, 30th Anniversary Season is a passionate examination of seismic shifts in reality and how special individuals summon extraordinary courage to meet these changes head-on.”
A Noise Within’s shattering new season begins in the fall with Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s rendition of An Iliad (September 12 – October 3, 2021) directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott. The Spring 2021 filmed production returns live to the stage with alternating performances from Deborah Strang and Geoff Elliott. An Iliad will be followed by another chapter of August Wilson’s 10-play American Century Cycle, the blues opera Seven Guitars (October 17 – November 14, 2021). Bursting with musical lyricism and courage, Wilson’s Pulitzer-nominated play richly captures the spirit and heritage of African Americans in the 20th Century. Seven Guitars will be directed by Gregg T. Daniel, director of LA Times Critic’s Choice Gem of the Ocean at ANW in 2019 and a recipient of the 2016 NAACP Best Director award for the International City Theatre’s production of Fences.
Finally, A Noise Within will conclude its triumphant return to the live stage with Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses (May 8 – June 5, 2022) directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott. Mary Zimmerman (author of ANW’s award-winning Argonautika) creates this Tony Award®-nominated masterpiece, based on the Myths of Ovid. Be mesmerized with tales of Midas, Orpheus, Aphrodite, and more in a whimsical and heartbreaking meditation on the joys and perils of being human.
ANW Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott conclude, “Change can be joyful or heartbreaking. Change is inevitable. Change is necessary. Change is here! Join us as we celebrate protagonists who each ‘Shattered the Chrysalis.’”
An Iliad | September 12 – October 3, 2021
By Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare
Based on Homer’s The Iliad,
translated by Robert Fagles
Directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott
Our Spring 2021 film returns as a live production onstage! The lone witness of an ancient and ravaged Trojan battlefield weaves a tale of tragedy and triumph, with an enduring love for every victim of war. The Poet, an eternal being tasked with a passionate examination of deadly conflict, grapples with grief and dualities of victory and loss, power and fragility, heroism and hubris in an unforgettable modern take on Homer’s classic.
Seven Guitars | October 17 – November 14, 2021
By August Wilson
Directed by Gregg T. Daniel
In 1948 Pittsburgh, old friends gather to mourn the death of a young guitarist and his dream of stardom. This heartrending blues opera conducts touching elegy, humor, and emotional grit as the characters strike their own notes in a discordant world that threatens their hopes and lives at every turn. Bursting with musical lyricism and courage, Wilson’s Pulitzer-nominated play continues his theatrical saga that richly captures the spirit and heritage of African Americans in the 20th Century.
A Christmas Carol | December 2 – 23, 2021
By Charles Dickens
Adapted for the stage by Geoff Elliott
Directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott
ANW’s delightfully festive, musically merry holiday tradition returns with all new music! Families love the inspirational story of Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and Scrooge—the perfect burst of boundless good cheer for the season and beyond!
All’s Well That Ends Well | February 6 – March 6, 2022
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Nike Doukas
What’s a woman to do with a runaway groom? Hatch a scheme, of course. Roping in a fantastic cast of fools, romantics, and cynics, the clever Helen pursues the crusty Bertram in a clash of wits and deception. Capturing both a fairytale essence and human complexity, Shakespeare’s bittersweet comedy goes on a journey of forgiveness, hope, and love where you least expect it.
Anna in the Tropics | March 20 – April 17, 2022
By Nilo Cruz
Directed by Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx
Shimmering with passion and poetry, this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama weaves the tale of a Cuban-American cigar factory in 1929 Florida where cigars are still rolled by hand and “lectors” are employed to transport and inspire the workers as they toil on the factory floor. As a handsome and debonair new lector reads the words of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, the lives of the workers begin to parallel the novel. Old traditions and new ways collide while longing, love, and betrayal spark a volatile flame that signals the end of an era.
Metamorphoses | May 8 – June 5, 2022
Based on the Myths of Ovid
Written and originally directed by Mary Zimmerman
Directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott
Primal storytelling and modern sensibility collide in a sensual re-envisioning of Greek myths, as gods and mortals alike endure love, loss, and transformation—all while immersed in a pool of water on stage. Swirling with passion, Mary Zimmerman (author of ANW’s award-winning Argonautika) creates this Tony Award®-nominated masterpiece that mesmerizes with tales of Midas, Orpheus, Aphrodite, and more in a whimsical and heartbreaking meditation on the joys and perils of being human.
About A Noise Within
A Noise Within has been called “an oasis for those who love classic stories” by Los Angeles Times and is a leading regional producer based in Pasadena, Calif. ANW’s award-winning resident company practices a rotating repertory model at their state-of-the-art, 324-seat performance space. In addition to producing world-class performances of classic theatre, the organization runs robust education programs committed to inspiring diverse audiences of all ages. ANW is striving to be a theatre that better represents our entire community, through ongoing anti-racism initiatives across the organization and by interpreting our mission to fully engage audiences through various creative forms and community and artist-centered work.
Helmed by Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, who hold MFAs from San Francisco’s renowned American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.), and Managing Director Michael Bateman, A Noise Within truly delivers CLASSIC THEATRE, MODERN MAGIC. www.anoisewithin.org
