In a December webinar, the arts research firm WolfBrown, which has been surveying nationwide audience attitudes about returning to the theater since the pandemic’s early days, reported that theatergoers have become more risk-averse. They want to buy tickets to shows they see as sure bets.
San Francisco Playhouse’s 2023-24 season, announced by co-leaders Susi Damilano and Bill English on Sunday, March 26, suggests theaters might be paying attention to that trend. Four of its six shows comprise some of American theater’s most mainstream crowd-pleasers: Jo Swerling, Abe Burrows and Frank Loesser’s “Guys and Dolls” (Nov. 16-Jan. 13), famous for “Luck Be a Lady”; “The 39 Steps” (March 7-April 20, 2024), the madcap, four-actor Patrick Barlow adaptation of the Alfred Hitchcock movie; “The Glass Menagerie” (May 2-June 15, 2024), Tennessee Williams’ classic memory play, directed by Jeffrey Lo; and “Evita” (June 27–Sept. 7, 2024), the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about Eva Perón.
Still, for fans of new plays, the 20-year-old Union Square company offers as its season opener “Nollywood Dreams” (Sept. 28-Nov. 4, 2023) by Ghanaian American writer Jocelyn Bioh, who recently wrote the book for “Goddess” at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The West Coast premiere, directed by Lorraine Hansberry Theatre Artistic Director Margo Hall, follows an aspiring actor in the 1990s who dreams of stardom in Nigeria’s budding film sector but soon finds herself entangled in a romantic web with the industry’s key players.
The new year ushers in a world premiere in “My Home on the Moon” (Jan. 25-Feb. 24) by New York City playwright Minna Lee, who identifies as Hmong-Vietnamese American and who uses both gender-neutral and feminine pronouns. The play follows Mai, a waiter whose pho restaurant undergoes a magical turnaround right as it was about to become a casualty of gentrification. The means? A virtual-reality simulation in the metaverse, from which she must now escape, partly with the aid of her ancestors.
For subscriptions, which range from $190 to $450, call 415-677-9596 or visit www.sfplayhouse.org.
Reach Lily Janiak: ljaniak@sfchronicle.com