City Lights opens season with new play in old downtown digs

While City Lights Theater Company is “aggressively looking” for a new space to stage its shows, the move won’t be happening before the start of its 41st season in September.

“It’s time for us to move, but we’re going to move when it feels right for us,” executive artistic director Lisa Mallette told a group of supporters assembled for the May 31 season announcement at the 386 Lounge, around the corner from City Lights’ current theater in downtown San Jose.

“We’re looking for something like what we have, but bigger,” Mallette said. “We’re looking in downtown first, but if we can’t find anything, we’ll look elsewhere.”

City Lights will open its 2023-24 season with the world premiere of “Toxic” by Kit Wilder, an actor, director and fight choreographer who’s currently serving as City Lights’ grant writer. The play focuses on the survivors of a school shooting, who meet five years after the incident to debate gun control.

“It’s about learning to listen,” Mallette said of the show, which runs Sept. 16-Oct. 15.

The company is staging a whodunit for the holidays. Ken Ludwig’s “The Game’s Afoot; Or Holmes for the Holidays” is set during Christmas in 1936. The comedy takes place at the Connecticut castle of Broadway star William Gillette, renowned for his stage turns as Sherlock Holmes. When a party guest is murdered, Gillette has to play Sherlock for real. The show runs Nov. 18-Dec. 17.

A new retelling of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” rings in the new year at City Lights. Stef Smith’s “Nora: A Doll’s House” sets the story in 1918, 1968 and 2018. In each era, Nora is a wife and mother with a secret that threatens to upend her seemingly perfect life. The play’s Northern California premiere will be directed by Kirsten Brandt, who Mallette said wrote her dissertation on the original play. The show runs Jan. 20-Feb. 18, 2024.

After tackling girls soccer in the 2019 production of “The Wolves,” City Lights again delves into the world of sports with “King Liz.” Fernanda Coppel’s play focuses on sports agent Liz Rico as she takes on high school basketball superstar Freddie Luna, whose temper is as hot as his talent. The production tips off March 23-April 21.

The season’s spring productions continue with the most staged play in America, “Clyde’s” by Lynn Nottage. In this comedy, the eponymous owner of Clyde’s Sandwich Shop hires only staff who have served time in prison. The workers discover purpose in their lives as they share a quest to create the perfect sandwich.

Mallette said she’s thinking about creating a featured sandwich for the show, which runs May 18-June 16.

Continuing its tradition of doing the Time Warp every 10 years, City Lights is closing the season with Richard O’Brien’s “The Rocky Horror Show.” The company previously staged the cult classic in 2003 and 2013. Audience participation is encouraged during this musical, running July 20-Aug. 25.

For more information and to buy season passes, visit cltc.org. Single tickets go on sale on Aug. 15.