Ray of Light Theater, a small company which has distinguished itself with memorable productions of Jerry Springer the Opera, Into the Woods, and Assassins will present an intriguing and promising pair in the 2014 season.
Starting in June with Triassic Parq — by Marshall Pailet, Bryce Norbitz, and Steve Wargo — the Los Angeles and New York award-winning musical promises "a pack of sexually evolving dinosaurs in a certain prehistoric, Spielberg-inspired amusement park as they struggle with love, faith and science." How do dinosaurs evolve sexually (while singing)? Apparently, an all-female group of dinosaurs is shocked when one of its T-Rexes suddenly becomes male. Perhaps "evolves" is not the right word.
Something equally puzzling and provocative? Yeast Nation (the triumph of life) follows in October — "it imagines the hopes, hardships, and political turmoil of the world’s first life forms: salt-eating yeasts."
Writers Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis, whose smash-hit Urinetown set ticket sales records in many venues a decade ago, will be in-residence with Ray of Light to further develop this story of "one dreamer’s curiosity and its colossal impact on the yeasts ... and our history."
In the year 3,000,458,000 B.C., the salt-eating yeasts are the only living creatures on earth, and they’re up against a food shortage, a strange new emotion called “love” and the oppression of a tyrannical king. When the king's dreamer of a son ventures out of the known yeastiverse, the yeasts’ story — and ours, their descendants — is changed forever.
Jason Hoover, artistic director of Ray of Light, explains his programming:
Producing cutting-edge musical theater has always been part of our company’s DNA, so we’re delighted to produce two local premieres this season. While Triassic Parq and Yeast Nation use stories and characters from ages past, the themes they present are still applicable to our modern lives. These shows are bold and exciting, and we can’t wait for Bay Area audiences to experience them, likely for the first time ever.