SHOTGUN PLAYERS 2025
PROUDLY ANNOUNCING OUR 33rd SEASON
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?
It’s time to treat yourself to invigorating entertainment that embraces the magic and mayhem of what it means to be human. Great art asks the important questions with a delicate blend of pathos and laughter. That’s what we strive for and why you love us. Let’s do it together.
Whether for our Mainstage shows, our Staged Reading Series or both, sign up now and be the first in line for a season of incredible plays at incredibly affordable prices. And if you subscribe before December 13, you’ll get one FREE early sign-up ticket.
Written by Yasmina Reza
Translated by Christopher Hampton Directed by Emilie Whelan
FRIENDSHIP · WIT · POWER
A long friendship between three men implodes when one purchases an expensive piece of modern art. What is it all worth? Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, 'Art' is well known for its celebrated wordplay. Under the direction of Emilie Whelan, we’re also champing at the bit to unleash the raw, primal humanity at its core.
Performances start March 8
Written by David Henry Hwang Directed by Daniel J. Eslick
AMBITION · IDENTITY · TRUTH
Inspired by the real life controversy over the yellow face casting in Broadway’s Miss Saigon, this comedic faux documentary pokes at our own privilege and prejudice. For centuries, race and culture have been used to marginalize and disempower many in our society. Things get thorny when those same folks turn the tables and leverage race and culture for their own benefit.
Performances start May 10
Written by Terry Guest
Directed by AeJay Antonis Marquis
DESTINY · SECRETS · TOUCH
The Magnolia Ballet is a tale of four men: a son, a lover, an ancestor, and a father. They dance in the sticky heat of a rural, Southern Gothic landscape fraught with secrets and possibilities. With expansive poetry and whispered prose, this piece births resilience underneath the bloom of fresh magnolias.
Performances start July 12
Written by Christopher Chen
Directed by Patrick Dooley
MYSTERY · CONUNDRUM · ETHICS
Morality is a tricky thing – especially when interpreted through the prism of science and our thrilling and often disoriented understanding of its powers. A heated debate on animal testing slips down a kaleidoscopic rabbit hole where the audience is not only a voyeur but an accomplice.
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
Book by James Lapine
Music Directed by David Möschler
LEGACY · BEAUTY · LOVE
Epic in scale – daring, abstract and grounded in the pursuit of love and art, this Sondheim classic is an unconventional love story that imagines the interior life of French painter Georges Seurat. Helmed by Susannah Martin and David Möschler, the architects of our wildly successful Assassins, this artistic dream team will create an experience where the show’s immersive and unbridled passions awaken a kinship in our own spirits.
Performances start November 16
Far from your average staged reading, we give our actors just enough blocking, light and sound design to get started and then we let adrenaline do the rest! Yes, there will be scripts in hands, but there will also be bold action and riveting drama. Subscribe to the CSRS for a perfect pairing to our mainstage season.
HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF
MARCH 31 & APRIL 1
Written by Liliana Padilla
Directed by Gracie Brakeman
Seven college students at a DIY self-defense workshop fight back against the insidious ways rape culture steals one's body and sense of belonging. With sharp humor and brutal honesty, How to Defend Yourself explores what we want, how to ask for it, and the autonomy we can cultivate despite it all.
A BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO
JUNE 9 & 10
Written by Mat Smart
Directed by Mary Ann Rodgers
Brooklyn birdwatchers unite at Prospect Park in a close-knit group that is turned upside down over a rare bird sighting. A comedy that explores the complexities of loss, the power of wonder, and how to move on after missing out.
GLITTER IN THE GLASS
AUGUST 4 & 5
Written by R. Eric Thomas
Directed by Elizabeth Carter
The director of Wolf Play (2023), Elizabeth Carter, is back to tell the story of Chelle, a Black artist whose time is running out to deliver on a grant – a piece of art set to replace a Confederate monument in Baltimore. As her brother plans a Juneteenth festival in the park where the monument once was, Chelle catapults on a journey between the past, present and future.
