Pictured (L to R): Bill Cain, Evan Jackson, Sarah Ruhl, and Morgan Manasa.

Idle Muse Theatre Company has announced the two shows and directors that will make up its 2019 – 2020 season.

The 14th season begins in September with Bill Cain’s “Equivocation,” directed by Evan Jackson, followed in March by Sarah Ruhl’s “In the Next Room (or the vibrator play),” directed by Morgan Manasa.

Both productions take place at The Edge Off Broadway Theatre, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave.

2019 – 2020 Idle Muse Theatre Company Season (from the press release):

“Equivocation”
September 20 – October 20
By Bill Cain
Director: Evan Jackson
Violence Designer: Libby Beyreis

In the aftermath of the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605 to assassinate King James I and destroy the British Parliament, playwright William Shagspeare is commissioned by the powerful Lord Robert Cecil to write the “true historie” of the plot…to the particular specifications of His Majesty. As they work to unravel the truth behind the conspiracy, navigating clandestine meetings, betrayals, and brawls, the King’s Men acting company tests just how far they’re willing to go for each other and to speak truth to power. When duty to country and pursuit of the truth collide, the Globe Theatre becomes the stage for Shag’s darkest play yet – and the battle for a nation’s soul. Fact, fiction, politics and comedy all vie for control in this critically acclaimed dramatic account of an historical national crisis!

“In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)”
March 6 – April 5, 2020
By Sarah Ruhl
Director: Morgan Manasa

1880s New York, The Gilded Age of America. The second Industrial Revolution has ignited a desire to change the fabric of daily life. When her physician husband creates a unique piece of machinery to massage the growing affliction of “female hysteria,” Catherine Givings embarks on some new discoveries of her own. As Dr. Givings garners the attention of new patients, Catherine finds her own attention inexplicably drawn to what occurs “in the next room” and what it means for her. In this intimate and humorous journey of self-examination and sexuality, human connection is not only a climax, but a vital part of life itself.