“When I plan a season, my overall goal is to identify five diverse, quality plays that will entertain and challenge our audiences,” said Hayes. “It was only after putting together the upcoming season that I realized that all five plays, to a greater or lesser degree, really speak to this fraught time we’re living in. Each of these plays is provocative and illuminating, most are laced with humor, but they couldn’t be more different in approach, in scope, and in sensibility. I’m particularly excited to be offering our patrons two world premieres, written by playwrights who are passionate about the stories they’re telling.”

The season opens on October 13 with Lobby Hero, originally scheduled for the truncated 2019-2020 season, a seriocomic exploration of ethics and moral relativism. Up next, beginning December 8, is the world premiere of The Messenger, inspired by the life of Holocaust survivor Georgia Gabor. That’s followed, on February 2, by the world premiere of The Cancellation of Lauren Fein, which, as the title suggests, examines the minefield of cancel culture. The fourth production, opening on March 29, is the shattering Death of a Salesman, the story of Willy Loman’s reckless pursuit of a misguided American Dream. The season concludes with Crumbs from the Table of Joy, a heartfelt memory play that opens on May 24.  

Subscriptions go on sale in the spring.

LOBBY HERO

By Kenneth Lonergan   

October 13-29, 2023

Four New Yorkers involved in a murder investigation – a slacker security guard in a Manhattan apartment building, his by-the-book boss, a rookie cop and her macho partner – face moral and ethical dilemmas in this comic drama by the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Manchester by the Sea. The play explores issues of racism and sexism, and whether it’s ever honorable to do the wrong thing for the right reason. 

THE MESSENGER (World Premiere)

By Jenny Connell Davis

December 8-24, 2023

A meditation on the connections between past, present, and future, and on the choice between speaking up and speaking out regardless of the consequences or remaining silent for the sake of self-preservation. Inspired by the life of Hungarian Holocaust survivor Georgia Gabor, the play interweaves her story with that of a young American woman facing racial discrimination in this country in 2020.   

THE CANCELLATION OF LAUREN FEIN (World Premiere)

By Christopher Demos-Brown

February 2-18, 2024

Lauren Fein and her wife, Paola Munoz, are professors at a prestigious American university. They live with Dylan, their 16-year-old African American foster son whom they’ve cared for since he was a baby. When Professor Fein’s actions run afoul of the university’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies, her groundbreaking research, her career, and her family are all put in jeopardy.

DEATH OF A SALESMAN

By Arthur Miller

March 29-April 14, 2024

This Pulitzer Prize-winning, groundbreaking play changed American theatre in the person of its everyman tragic hero, Willy Loman, a dime a dozen, disappointed, disillusioned, and delusional traveling salesman with a skewed vision of the American Dream. All he wanted, the playwright wrote in his memoir, was “to count.” Or as Willy’s wife, Linda, implores, “Attention must be paid.”

CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY

By Lynn Nottage

May 24-June 9, 2024

Following the death of his wife, a disconsolate Godfrey Crump moves with his daughters, Ernestine and Ermina, from Pensacola, FL to Brooklyn in 1950. Seventeen-year-old Ernestine is our guide in this warm memory play, a coming-of-age tale in which the sisters confront a cultural and racial divide and are exposed to new ideas, as they seek to break free from their father’s restrictive rules.

Palm Beach Dramaworks is a professional, nonprofit theatre company founded in 2000 and located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach. Each season, the award-winning company produces five mainstage shows and offers a wide variety of programs for students at the theatre, in schools, and online. Committed to fostering the future of theatre, PBD has become a hub for playwrights in Florida and around the country to nurture their work through initiatives including Drama(in the)works and the annual New Year/New Plays Festival. PBD is a member of Theatre Communications Group, Florida Professional Theatres Association, and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. palmbeachdramaworks.org

Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30PM, Friday and Saturday at 8PM, and select Sundays at 7PM. Matinee performances are on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2PM. Post-performance discussions follow Wednesday matinee and Sunday evening performances.

The Don & Ann Brown Theatre is located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach, at 201 Clematis Street. For ticket information contact the box office at (561) 514-4042, or visit www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.