Incredible to consider: City Lights is headed into its 42nd season.
The long-standing San Jose theater company has revealed the 2024-25 line-up which will feature six shows in total. Per the announcement from City Lights:
- Drama An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
- Truce: A Christmas Wish from the Great War by City Lights artists Kit Wilder and Jeffrey Bracco
- Madhuri Shekar’s romcom In Love and Warcraft
- The classic Agatha Christie mystery The Mousetrap
- Bekah Brunstetter’s The Cake, a comedy about faith, family and frosting, featuring real-life couple Luisa Sermol and Tom Gough
- Summer musical Head Over Heels, a love-affirming tale set to the music of the Go-Go’s
The goals and themes of the season are to “inspire audiences to think about the connections we make, whether they’re the tangled webs we weave or the lasting bonds we form when we learn to understand each other. It’s a small world, after all.”
More details below.
“I like work that makes people lean forward in their seats,” Executive Artistic Director Lisa Mallette said. “We’re all about creating theatrical environments that transport you — even while they help you better understand yourself and connect with others in the world we live in today.”
City Lights Theater Company
2024/25 Season
An Inspector Calls
September 26 – October 20, 2024
As the well-to-do Birlings celebrate an engagement in the family, the festive evening is suddenly punctured by an uninvited visitor: an inspector looking into the death of a young woman. Questions multiply and guilt mounts, and Inspector Goole’s grim revelations begin to crack the foundations of the Birlings’ comfortable lives. Before long, they are all challenged to examine their decisions and consciences. Filled with Hitchcockian suspense, this enigmatic tale is a plea for a more just society, and a foreboding of the consequences if we fail to attain it.
Truce: A Christmas Wish from the Great War
November 21 – December 22, 2024
In 2014, City Lights marked the centenary of the World War I Christmas Truce with a hit world premiere. Now Truce is back with returning and new artists. The story follows soldiers on both sides who embraced a spontaneous ceasefire to celebrate Christmas in 1914. Through dialogue, music and documents from the era, the play exemplifies the holiday spirit.
In Love and Warcraft
January 15 –February 9, 2025
Direct from a twice-extended run on Broadway, Berkeley Rep will next present the West Coast premiere of Jocelyn Bioh’s new comedy. Step into the vibrant world of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, a beloved Harlem hotspot where West African immigrant braiders work their magic on the locals’ locks. Amidst the lively buzz of a scorching summer, love ignites, dreams soar, and secrets unravel. But beneath the surface lies a current of uncertainty, pushing this close-knit community to confront the challenges of being outsiders in their own neighborhood.
The Mousetrap
March 13 – April 6, 2025
Trapped in Monkswell Manor by a snowstorm, a sundry group of guests and staff are also ensnared in a chilling web of fear after a local woman is murdered. A police detective arrives on skis to interrogate the diverse mix of suspects, who include the newlyweds running the house, the peculiar young architect, the haughty old pensioner, the retired general, the weary traveler, and the mysterious stranger. Will they find the murderer in time? Or is it too late to escape from this trap?
The Cake
May 15 – June 8, 2025
In her North Carolina bakery, Della is renowned for creating the most delicious, beautiful cakes. So it’s no surprise that when the girl she helped raise returns to the South, she asks Della to make her wedding cake. The surprise? There are two brides. Now, even as Della’s life is complicated by the unexpected chance to be on a reality baking show, she questions her beliefs and her marriage — and the true meaning of family, faith and frosting. Starring City Lights favorites Luisa Sermol and Tom Gough.
Head Over Heels
July 17 – August 24, 2025
A love story set to the infectious music of the iconic ’80s female rock band The Go-Go’s, featuring hit songs including “Vacation” and “Our Lips Are Sealed.” Led by the free-spirited Princess Pamela, the royal family journeys to save the kingdom of Arcadia from extinction. Throughout a wild adventure filled with mistaken identities, forbidden romances and unexpected twists, the family learns the key to their realm’s survival lies in their own hearts.
Season passes are on sale now, with single tickets available on May 1.
A non-profit organization, City Lights was founded in 1982 and attracts top talent and nurtures emerging artists at its 100-seat facility in downtown San Jose.
