St. Ann's Warehouse announces virtual fall season, including 'Romantics Anonymous'

The Brooklyn theatre institution will offer a slate of in-person and streamed programming.

St. Ann's Warehouse announced its fall season on Friday, which includes a mix of in-person programming and virtual events. The season will include the American premiere of Romantics Anonymous as well as concerts and installations at the theatre's waterfront building.

Susan Feldman, founding artistic director, said in a statement: "In trying to think of how we could give back, support the Black Lives Matter protests, and get artists back to work without the benefit of our indoor space, I was struck by the poignancy of Bill Frisell playing a porch concert with two friends, all wearing masks, sending out the incredible strains of that bold guitar as only he can play it. And it reminded me of a similar feeling I had when I saw the power of the masked protestors in shorts, with bare arms and bare legs, newly pepper sprayed, lined up against the columns of armed police in heavy riot gear. The power of their human effort and vulnerability in the midst of overwhelming grief and loss, and in the face of arrogant impotence and failed leadership, inspired me to turn the building over to vital voices in whatever ways we could. We would deploy the building itself—the roof, the walls, the archways. And if we couldn't invite audiences to gather, we would 'speak' to the people already in the park."

The season will include the UK premiere of Emma Rice's Romantics Anonymous, which is streaming concurrently in the UK at the Bristol Old Vic. Rice is a longtime collaborator with St. Ann's, and her Brief Encounter premiered at the theatre in 2009 before going on to a successful Broadway run. Based on a French film Les Émotifs Anonymes, the musical follows two young people struggling with social awkwardness yet somehow finding each other. The production will stream Sept. 22-26. In addition to a book by Rice, the musical features lyrics by Christopher Dimond and music by Michael Kooman.

Later this month, Colombian artist Miguel Amortegui's Love in the Time of Corona will bring artwork to Old Dock Street and Water Street in Brooklyn with Amortegui's paintings. 

The season will also include screenings of the filmed versions of the Donmar Warehouse's all-female Shakespeare trilogy, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. The three plays — Julius Caeasar, Henry IV, and The Tempest — all had their American premieres at St. Ann's. The films will stream in separate weeks in October. 

The theater will also stream John Cale and Lou Reed's Songs for 'Drella and Lou Reed's Berlin. The first will screen November 13-19, and the second, which was filmed live at St. Ann's Warehouse, will screen November 20-25.

St. Ann's season began over the summer with a series of outdoor concerts, called GET BACK!. The concerts took place on the theatre's roof and will continue this month with Bobby Previte and Stew and Baba Bibi.

Brooklyn-based photographer and artist Kobie Proctor also presented a photo installation on the exterior walls of the theatre's building. The projected images are from racial justice protests across the U.S. in 2020. Proctor also invited fellow photographer Janette Beckman's 10 Years of Protest exhibit, featuring images from landmark demonstrations over the past decade. The series ended with photographer and former police officer Khary Mason's work documenting family, neighborhood, and the criminal justice system.