Rorschach Theatre is thrilled to announce its 2024/25 season! For 25 years, the award-winning and nationally recognized company has been known for its bold use of theatrical space and its dedication to “impossible” theater. Rorschach Theatre’s explosive new season immerses audiences in adventures both new and reimagined. As the company embarks on its next quarter century, they are forging new paths in revitalizing downtown through partnerships with Golden Triangle BID and Lerner Enterprises; fostering vital dialogues about history and community in neighborhoods across DC through their Psychogeographies Project; and continuing their essential artist development programs KLECKSOGRAPHY and MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES. The 2024/25 SEASON SLEEPING GIANT by Steve Yockey Directed by Jenny McConnell Frederick October 4 – November 3, 2024 When a firework-filled marriage proposal goes very wrong, the accompanying explosions wake up something very old that has been sleeping in the nearby lake for thousands of years. What follows are intimate, darkly comic, and sometimes startling vignettes about the lengths people go to when they desperately want to believe in something. The play explores the allure of dangerous idols, the undertow of mob mentality, and the desperate search for something to believe in – a struggle that resonates as both timeless and dangerously urgent. Written by Emmy-nominated Steve Yockey, the playwright of previous Rorschach shows VERY STILL AND HARD TO SEE and REYKJAVIK, and the creator of the TV series THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT (HBO) and the DEADBOY DETECTIVES (Netflix). THE FIGS by Doug Robinson Directed by Randy Baker February 14 – March 16, 2025 A fig-obsessed king’s bizarre contest sets off a whirlwind adventure featuring quirky farmers, a lovesick innkeeper, and a chaotic storyteller. THE FIGS is an adult fairy tale that deconstructs the genre with self-aware humor, queer characters, and unexpected twists. Playwright Doug Robinson recently received his MFA from Yale and returns to Rorschach after co-creating the first Psychogeographies projects DISTANCE FREQUENCIES (2020) and CHEMICAL EXILE (2021). ¡MAMÁGUA! By jose sebastian alberdi May 2 – June 1, 2025 Absurdly hilarious and surreal, ¡MAMÁGUA! follows a devout Catholic mother who goes to supernatural extremes to save her son’s soul. This offbeat, dark comedy flips the typical coming-out story upside down, blending family drama, religion, and folklore with contemporary perspectives. jose sebastian alberdi received his MFA from New York University and has had work developed at The O’Neill Theatre Center, MacDowell and South Coast Repertory. VOX POPULI A Psychogeographies Project March – August 2025 In partnership with with the American University Humanities Truck Created by Randy Baker, Kylos Brannon, Jenny McConnell Frederick, and Jonelle Walker Two teenagers fall through time after a shared moment in the woods. Trying to find their way home, they land at Washington DC protests through history, encountering the city they thought they knew through the eyes of those who sought to change it. Psychogeographies projects harness the power of both the built and natural world to create a visceral piece of immersive storytelling. Each month participants receive a map and instructions to travel to a new curated location in the DC area. Along with the map, they’ll receive a box of artifacts to engage all five senses while exploring each site with story elements such as letters, music, souvenirs, or photos. From October through May, each monthly box reveals a new location and a new chapter in the ongoing story. OTHER EVENTS IN 2024-25 MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES: SO LATE INTO THE NIGHT | Oct 27, 2024 @ 7pm A work-in-progress staged reading of a brand new rock séance conjured by Shawn Northrip. On the precipice of writing her masterpiece Frankenstein, Mary Shelly gathers with friends and lovers to try and get a look into the afterlife. MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES: NEW PLAY LAB | June 13-15 Rorschach Theatre selects three scripts from hundreds of local and nationwide submissions. The company workshops the scripts and then presents a trio of staged readings featuring some enhanced design components to give audiences a taste of what a full production might feel like. KLECKSOGRAPHY | August 2025 Inspired by the ink-blot test for which Rorschach Theatre was named, KLECKSOGRAPHY invites 30 of the DMV’s most exciting emerging theatre artists to write, revise, stage and rehearse the plays in just one week. ABOUT RORSCHACH THEATRE Jenny McConnell Frederick and Randy Baker, Founding Artistic Directors Through uncommon uses of environment and intimate passionate performances, Rorschach Theatre seeks to lure its audiences beyond the limits of ordinary theatrical experience so that they may discover new elements of their own humanity. Rorschach Theatre tells stories that allow for innovative design and visceral performances. The company treats productions as “installations” that surround the audience with the world of a play. The work centers on the intersection of magic or impossible moments and every day human experiences. Without proselytizing, it provides a complex, intellectual catalyst for self-exploration of challenging subjects. Rorschach is also a vital launching pad for emerging artists. By trusting early-career actors, directors, playwrights and designers with substantive artistic responsibilities, and surrounding them with established professionals and ample resources, the company has become an essential showcase for new talent. In addition to its regular season, Rorschach produces “Magic in Rough Spaces,” an annual new play development series; “Klecksography,” an annual new artist development event (for actors, local playwrights, and directors); and “Fight Camp,” a stage combat training program held every summer. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rorschach completely reimagined the theater’s role in the community and its application of available resources and through that process forged a groundbreaking new program called “Psychogeographies.” These season-long immersive narratives take participants to lesser-known spots around their city as a story unfolds through letters, artifacts, and objects mailed in monthly chapters. Each Psychogeographies Project culminates with a live, in-person production. The Helen Hayes Award-winning Rorschach Theatre has produced more than sixty plays seen by tens of thousands of people in the Washington area. The company has been recognized more than a dozen times by the Helen Hayes Awards; won a Mary Goldwater Award; been a finalist for the Mayor’s Arts Award; and has been the recipient of multiple grants and awards from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The company’s work has garnered the attention of The New York Times, The Washington Post, American Theatre magazine and National Public Radio, as well as countless local publications. SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES Subscriptions can be purchased at https://rorschachtheatre.com/24-25-season/ Package 1: SEE IT ALL ($275) 3 Live, In-Person Productions (SLEEPING GIANT / THE FIGS / ¡MAMÁGUA!) 1 subscription to VOX POPULI, the Six-Chapter Psychogeographies Series 2 Special Events: Klecksography & Magic In Rough Spaces Package 2: ON STAGE ($125) 3 Live, In-Person Productions (SLEEPING GIANT / THE FIGS / ¡MAMÁGUA!) 2 Special Events: Klecksography & Magic In Rough Spaces Package 3: PSYCHOGEOGRAPHIES ($175) 1 subscription to VOX POPULI, the Multi-Chapter Psychogeographies Series 1 ticket to Klecksography, the live summer conclusion of VOX POPULI There will also be “mid-season” subscriptions for those who have already seen SLEEPING GIANT and want to subscribe to the rest of the season.