World Premiere of The Squirrels at La Jolla Playhouse

World Premiere of The Squirrels to Launch La Jolla Playhouse’s 2018/19 Season Featuring All New Work

Christopher Ashley Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse kicks off its 2018/2019 season with the world premiere of The Squirrels, a twisted new comedy by Tony Award nominee Robert Askins (Hand to God), directed by 2017 Tony Award winner and La Jolla Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. The play runs June 5 – July 8 in the Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum.

“This savagely funny new play is at once contemporary and Shakespearean,” noted Ashley. “Featuring a stellar, multi-talented cast and creative team, not to mention a 24-foot tree, The Squirrels touches on today’s socio-political issues through the singular lens of Rob Askins’ untethered imagination.”

No squirrel will go unharmed in this deliciously-demented new comedy. Winter is on the way and the squirrels are getting restless. Mistrust is growing between the rich Gray Squirrels and the outcast Fox Squirrels, and when a wily outsider gets in the mix, he ignites an epic animal kingdom soap opera teeming with rebel armies, conspiracy, love and family loyalties.

The Broadway-seasoned cast features Terence Archie (Broadway’s Rocky) as “Scurius,” Candy Buckley (Playhouse’s Kill Local) as “Mammalia,” Lakisha May (Off-Broadway’s Everybody) as “Chordata,” Tony Award nominee Brad Oscar (Broadway’s The Producers, Something Rotten) as “Scientist/Sciuridae,” Marcus Terrell Smith (Book of Mormon national tour) as “Carolinensus” and local actor Summer Spiro (Playhouse’s DNA New Work Series) as “Rodentia,” along with UC San Diego M.F.A. students Sidney Hill, Max Singer and Danielle Wineman as Squirrel Ensemble members. 

Robert Askins Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse

Askins is the author of the Tony-nominated and Obie Award-winning Broadway hit, Hand to God, which enjoyed a run on London’s West End and was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. His comedy Fish Display was part of the 2012 Ojai Playwrights Conference, and his play Permission had its world premiere off-Broadway at MCC Theater in 2015. He is also a writer on the AMC series The Son, starring Pierce Brosnan.

Continuing La Jolla Playhouse’s tradition of – and deep commitment to – new play development, its 2018/2019 season marks the fifth in a row to showcase primarily new work. In addition toThe Squirrels, the Playhouse will mount the world premiere of Will Power’s  Seize the King, a propulsive and timely retelling of Shakespeare’s Richard III; the west coast premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok’s exquisite and heart-breaking tale about female immigrants in queens; and the world premiere of Lindsey Ferrentino’s time-shifting new play The Year to Come. The Playhouse also welcomes back the Tony Award-winning Memphis team of Joe DiPietro and David Bryan with Diana, a brand new musical about one of the greatest cultural icons in modern history, while the Bengsons’ genre-defying Hundred Days offers a moving musical memoir that explores making the most of the time you have.

Tickets, subscriptions and more information about La Jolla Playhouse’s 2018/19 season are available at LaJollaPlayhouse.org.