Diversity is key as Joseph Haj unveils Guthrie Theater's 2016-17 season

The Minnesota theater community got a clearer idea Friday of Joseph Haj's agenda as Guthrie artistic director when he announced his 2016-17 mainstage seasson.

The nine shows represent a commitment to diverse artists.

"Plural voices make the work better," said Haj, who took over from Joe Dowling last July. "This is a season of breadth and depth that does a lot of the things we've been talking about."

Four women, including two of color, and an African-American man are among the playwrights whose work will be produced. Of the six directors Haj announced, three are women, including two of color.

The season opens on the thrust stage, Sept. 10-Oct. 29, with Kate Hamill's adaptation of "Sense and Sensibility," directed by Sarah Rasmussen, the new Jungle artistic director who staged this show at Dallas Theater Center last season.

Over on the proscenium stage, Mike Wiley's civil-rights-era play with music, "The Parchman Hour: Songs and Stories of the '61 Freedom Riders," runs Oct. 1-Nov. 6. Haj worked with Wiley at Playmaker's Repertory Company in North Carolina, where "Parchman" had its professional debut in 2011. The show takes its title from the penitentiary where the Freedom Riders who agitated to win voting rights for disenfranchised black Southerners were confined. Harlem-based Patricia McGregor will direct.

"The Lion in Winter," James Goldman's familiar play about Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, runs on the proscenium from Nov. 19-Dec. 31. "When we thought about what should run opposite 'Christmas Carol,' we chose this," Haj said. "It's kind of like Christmas with Edward Albee — that dysfunctional family."

After the holidays, "The Royal Family," George Kaufman and Edna Ferber's sly satire of the theatrical Barrymore family (no, not Drew — John and Ethel), will run Jan. 28-March 19, 2017, in the proscenium.

Haj will direct "King Lear" on the thrust stage Feb. 11-April 2, 2017. It will be his first take on the epic Shakespeare story of family and madness. Haj made his Guthrie directing debut in January with Shakespeare's "Pericles."

Lydia Diamond's adaptation of Toni Morrison's 1970 novel "The Bluest Eye" will run April 15-May 21, 2017, on the thrust. Diamond is best known for "Stick Fly," presented by Park Square Theatre in 2013. This play, about a young black girl who wishes she could have Shirley Temple's blue eyes, will be directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, a director from New York City and Miami.

Haj is giving the Moving Company, the Twin Cities troupe made up of old Theatre de la Jeune Lune members, the proscenium stage May 13-June 11, 2017, to create a piece called "Refugia," Haj has worked several times with Dominique Serrand, the company's artistic director.

"I consider Dominique one of our country's truly great directors and it's time for him to return to the Guthrie — and with a world premiere around one of our most pressing contemporary issues," said Haj. Serrand directed "Comedy of Errors" at the Guthrie in 2002.

Haj will direct "Sunday in the Park With George" June 17-Aug. 20, 2017. Though the summer musical is a recent Guthrie tradition, this is a first for a Stephen Sondheim work.

"Native Gardens," a play by Latina playwright Karen Zacarias, runs in the proscenium July 15-Aug. 20. Squabbling neighbors fight over a fenceline in this domestic comedy.

Haj said he is most proud that the Guthrie is producing "100 percent of these plays." The current season includes several productions that originated elsewhere. "We expect that 75 to 80 percent of the roles will be cast with Twin Cities actors," he said.

"A Christmas Carol" will run Nov. 15-Dec. 30. It is not included in subscription packages. More information is at guthrietheater.org or 612-377-2224.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299