The first production of Perseverance Theatre’s upcoming season will be a live, virtual one, and its subject matter should make a whole lot of sense on screens.
“In Love and Warcraft,” will kick off the professional, nonprofit theater’s 42nd season, announced Leslie Ishii, Perseverance Theatre’s artistic director, and Peter J. Kuo, associate conservatory director for American Conservatory Theater, Wednesday morning in a live video announcement.
The play, written by Madhuri Shekar centers on a “World of Warcraft”-obsessed college senior who ghostwrites romantic text messages for people and unexpectedly finds herself in a real-life romantic entanglement. It will be a co-production with the San Francisco-based American Conservatory Theater.
“I love this play, now it’s going to be a live, virtual theater piece because it’s actually sexy, it’s funny,” Ishii said. “I love that it got me to think about my relationship with the screen. If you’re a gamer, you’re someone who loves to plays games, you’re really going to relate to it as well.”
[Stage is set for future productions]
Tickets will go on sale starting Aug. 14, Ishii and Kuo said, and the show will run Sept. 4-Sept. 12.
Ishii said some Perseverance Theatre staff will be involved in the production, and she thanked American Conservatory Theater and Kuo for expertise and support that will allow for Perseverance Theatre to wade into the virtual waters amid the ongoing pandemic.
“It’s going to help us actually create a space, create offerings that can engage our audience,” Ishii said.
Kuo, who has worked in digital media for more than a decade and has an extensive theater resume, praised the unique feel of live,virtual theater.
“One of the interesting things for me has been how we’ve been able to translate this medium but also to adopt a lot of the skills and uses of theater, but also pull in elements of film and make this its own medium,” Kuo said.
During the announcement, Ishii teased forthcoming announcements, including names of cast and crew and the creation of an alternative to the theater’s longtime subscription model.
“Stay tuned because we’re going to have more to reveal,” Ishii said.
• Contact Ben Hohenstatt at (907)308-4895 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt
