When the rights to produce the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winning drama A Strange Loop were acquired by Richmond Triangle Players, it soon became clear that a collaboration with Firehouse Theatre was a possibility.
“We spent some time exploring how such an arrangement could benefit both organizations and came up with a very solid and satisfactory plan,” says Philip Crosby, executive director of RTP.
The ground-breaking show was an “obvious fit for the two companies to collaborate,” says actor/director Katrinah Carol Lewis, who serves as associate artistic director at Firehouse. “We are constantly looking for spaces where we can collaborate.”
The critically acclaimed winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2022 among many Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and other awards, A Strange Loop opens Friday night and runs through August 9 on the RTP stage.
“This represents the Virginia premiere,” Carol Lewis says of the show.
The musical, featuring different genres of music, centers on the mind of Usher, a young, gay, Black writer (who hates his day job) as well as the self-image he has of himself, as he writes a musical about a young, gay, Black writer who is writing a musical about a young, gay, Black writer… thus the strange loop.
As the show plays out, it confronts issues around race, religion, identity and artistic expression. “There are pressures from his agent and family,” Carol Lewis says. “He tries finding a place to belong. He wants people to respect him for who he is.”
There are seven cast members in the show — Usher and his six thoughts, which represent parts of his psyche or other characters in his life.
“The thoughts are deeply invested in how the story is going to come to fruition,” Carol Lewis says, adding, the show “steps into Usher’s mind and his spiraling. It’s a trajectory that is not linear. If I have done my job right, the audience will be let in on the metaphor early and can follow it.”
It was pretty clear to Carol Lewis who she wanted to cast as the six thoughts, but she found it difficult to cast Usher, until she discovered Marcus Antonio, who recently made his Richmond debut in the RTP/Firehouse co-production of Fat Ham.
“He was Fat Ham. It turns out he is a gem,” she says. “I love this cast. Their performances are really beautiful. I think people will have a good time and be moved by their work.”
This is not the kind of show “that ties itself in a nice, neat bow,” she adds. “It’s a very unique piece, very challenging, hilarious and poignant. It sneaks up on you.”
The show is recommended for mature audiences, 17 and up. For tickets go to rtriangle.org.
