When January Feels Like Summer

By Cori Thomas

Directed by Chuck Patterson

Originally produced at City Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA.

March 26,2010 through April 11, 2010

About the Premiere Production: Hindi goes hip-hop in the hilarious street-smart comedy When January Feels Like Summer by Cori Thomas. The dangers of sexual deviancy, the threat of global warming, the quest for companionship, and the magical powers of Lord Ganesha bring two homeboys, an African American sanitation worker, and an East Indian shopkeeper and her transgendered brother together one warm January in this comic play with serious overtones.

Artistic Statement: I have rarely been as excited about a new voice in the American Theatre scene or a new play that is going to be on our stage as I am about Cori Thomas and When January Feels Like Summer. We look forward to introducing a new writer to our audience and engaging them in a conversation about racial, cultural and gender inclusion. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Thomas’s play is the way that it brings together a disparate group of characters who are different from one another in age, race, ethnicity, education, class and gender orientation and preference. Too often, American plays reflect the experience or perspective of a single segment of society, but one of this play’s strengths is its broad spectrum of characters and the extraordinary things that happen when they cross paths. In addition, Thomas’s vivid and engaging storytelling technique, as well as her facility at threading powerful ideas through the play, enables her to address resonant themes – about inclusion, the power of following one’s dreams and of being true to oneself -- without ever seeming preachy.

Director:Chuck Patterson

Set Design:Anne Mundell

Lighting Design:Allen Hahn

Sound Design:Rob Kalpowitz

Costume Design:Ange Vesco

Additional Funders:

National Endowment for the Arts
The Heinz Endowments
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts