New Artistic Director Lance Gardner launches Marin Theatre’s 2024/25 season with the U.S. premiere of the critically acclaimed noir mystery-meets-folk tale Yaga, by award-winning Canadian playwright Kat Sandler.
Hailed by The Globe and Mail as “Delightfully devious. Sandler has triumphantly reclaimed the evil-woman myth. Move over, Wicked and Maleficent, and welcome Yaga to the sisterhood,” Yaga follows a big-city private eye who finds himself in a small, isolated town wondering what the disappearance of a yogurt empire heir has to do with random lore about an old witch.
He joins forces with a local police officer, to zero in on a cast of curious characters including a sexy, whip-smart forensic bone expert whose shadowy past includes her healthy appetite for young men.
What begins as a classic whodunit veers into the supernatural as the mythic Baba Yaga, rumored to keep a magic hut in the woods where she grinds the bones of the wicked, is revealed as a character in this crime tale. Noted theatre director Barbara Damashek, who has helmed local productions at Berkeley Rep, Aurora Theatre, Magic Theatre, and the multi-Tony Award-nominated Broadway production of Quilters, is set to direct this dark comedy.
The cast features Rachel Clausen, Adam KuveNiemann, and Julia McNeal, all playing multiple characters. Yaga will be performed October 10 – November 3, 2024 (press opening: October 15) at Marin Theatre, 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley. Tickets ($30-$85) are available at MarinTheatre.org or by calling 415-388-5208.