*Press Release: For immediate release.*Contact: *info@ensemble-theatre.org <info@ensemble-theatre.org> ::* *216-321-2930 * *ENSEMBLE THEATRE celebrates our second season in our new location with our 44th Season!2023-2024: A Season Of Justice" When Standing By Isn't Enough! * *All performances will take place in the Performing Arts Center on the campus of Notre Dame College in South Euclid. * *All performances are Fridays & Saturdays @7:30. Sundays @2:00 unless otherwise specified. Please check for updates! * *LUNGS* By *Duncan Macmillan* Directed by *Becca MoseleyCLEVELAND PREMIERE* *September 4-24th, 2023.* *From the writer of "Every Brilliant Thing & 'Peoples Places & Things'.**The world is getting hotter, there’s unrest overseas—the seas themselves aren’t very calm—and one couple is thinking about having a child. Lungs is a smart and funny drama that follows a couple through the surprising life cycle of their relationship, as they grapple with questions of family and change, hope, betrayal, happenstance, and the terrible pain that you can only cause the people you love.* *“Duncan Macmillan’s distinctive, off-kilter love story is brutally honest, funny, edgy and current. It gives voice to a generation for whom uncertainty is a way of life through two flawed, but deeply human, people who you don’t always like but start to feel you might love…bravely written, startlingly structured…” -Guardian (UK).* *THE ISLAND* By *Authol Fugard, John Kani, & Winston Ntshona* Directed by *Sarah May* *CLEVELAND Premiere.October 27 - November 12, 2023* John and Winston are black political prisoners in South Africa, spending their days at hard labor and their evenings rehearsing Sophocles' ‘Antigone’. Though the two men are deeply bonded to one another, their friendship is tested when John discovers that his most recent appeal was successful, while Winston is still looking at years of brutal incarceration ahead. A profile on the depth of human resilience in the face of unspeakable injustice and racism. *"While “The Island” may have been fueled by the highly specific iniquities of a now-dismantled political system, the play speaks to any place, any culture, where liberties are at risk." -Variety.com* *MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN* By *Bertolt Brecht. *Translated by *Tony Kushner* Directed by *Ian Wolfgang Hinz* *February 9-25, 2024 **The play received its American Premiere at the Cleveland Play House in 1958. * *Mother Courage* was first performed in Zurich in 1941 and is usually seen as Brecht's greatest work. Remaining a powerful indictment of war and social injustice, it is an epic drama set in the seventeenth century during the Thirty Years' War. The plot follows the resilient Mother Courage who survives by running a commissary business that profits from all sides. As the war claims all of her children in turn, the play poignantly demonstrates that no one can profit from the war without being subject to its terrible cost also. *“The translation, by American playwright Tony Kushner, is fast-moving, articulate, and reaches the heart of Brecht's reasonings” –Daily Express* *THE PROSPECT OF EQUALITY * By *Rachel Zake* Directed by *Celeste CosentinoWorld Premiere NEW PLAY commissioned by Ensemble Theatre!* *May 24th-June 9th, 2024 * A young girl loses her mother as she stands on the precipice of adulthood. A visitor arrives who brings hope and, all at once, an event that should shatter her stands to make her stronger. Young Ruth takes advice from an older version of herself helping to guide her as she changes the world. *The Prospect of Equality* presents Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s story as we would often wish to see our own, with advice from our older selves, assuring us that the fight ahead will truly one day be worth the struggle. *Be a part of the new play process!!Stay tuned for more information on two staged readings of this new work in the early fall and early in the new year prior to the premiere!* *STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE RETURN OF THESE PROGRAMS!! * -The return of Ensemble's *COLOMBI NEW PLAY FESTIVAL *in* MARCH OF 2024!* -The *FOURTH EPISODE* of Ensemble's Co-Production of our *IN OUR OUR WORDS: OUR STORIES :OUR VOICES* series with *SumMedia Productions! * -*STAGED READINGS* of new works throughout the season and throughout Cuyahoga County by our *STAGEWRIGHTS UNIT* composed of local writers! *Ensemble Theatre is excited to announce we have switched to a full service ticketing system with SimpleTix! SINGLE TICKETS are $15-$35 (On Sale by the Early August!)* *SEASON MEMBERSHIPS are $70-$135. (On Sale Now) * Ensemble Season Memberships are FLEX TICKET PACKAGES that can be used in any combination for any production! Visit our website for more information on *memberships, single tickets* and *our new ticketing system!* *Senior, Student, *and* Group Discounts* available. *Visit: * *www.ensembletheatreCLE.org <http://www.ensembletheatrecle.org/>* to purchase online! Call *216-321-2930 *or email *info@ensemble-theatre.org* <info@ensemble-theatre.org> for more information! *We are excited to bring our 44th consecutive season and look forward to seeing you in our audiences soon! *