Kickoff OKCTC’s season with Silence! The Auction.

(Oklahoma City) In anticipation of OKC Theatre Company’s seventeenth season, the company presents Silence! The Auction, a season kickoff celebration and fundraiser on Thursday, August 20, from 5:30-8:30pm at Civic Center Music Hall, in the Freede Theatre.

Artistic Director Rachel Irick says the 2015-16 season promises to build on their reputation for injecting provocative irreverence into the metro theatre scene. This must-attend event also celebrates artists from the company’s previous season when it presented Glengarry Glen Ross, Carrie: the Musical, and Corpus Christi, just to name a few.

The new season appeals to a diverse audience with classics such as Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and outlandish comedies such as Silence! The Musical: the unauthorized parody of Silence of the Lambs. Local playwrights are represented with new comedies Alcoholidays by Ted Satterfield and Melanie Wilderman and Condescendin’ White Boys by La’Charles Purvey. The season concludes in 2016 with Top Girls, a feminist drama by Caryl Churchill and the annual Native American Play Festival featuring the world premiere of Day We Were Born by LA-based playwright Jaisey Bates.

Silence! The Auction is the brain child of new board president Michael McClellan. “We invite everyone to join the celebration as we kick off this season with finger food and beverages, a silent auction including some great gift packages, tickets from area theatre companies, original artwork, and luxury spa items,” said McClellan.

Under Irick’s leadership, OKCTC targeted efforts to address issues of the city’s growing gay community. Starting in 2011, they revived The Boom production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch starring Matthew Alvin Brown, and the following years saw Oklahoma premieres of the controversial Corpus Christi about a gay Christ-figure set in modern-day Texas and The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told (a production that drew loud protests from Rev. Steve Kern, State Rep. Sally Kern, and Governor Fallin’s office).

“Theatre should reflect its community but also challenge the status quo,” Irick said, “As long as we’re addressing controversial issues, provoking strong emotions and loud opinions, I think we must be doing something right. Even a comedy can be thought-provoking and transformative for its community, not merely a pastime.”

For information about the live, daring theatre at OKCTC or to purchase season tickets online, visit the company website at www.OKCTC.org and RSVP by visiting the Silence! The Auction Facebook page.

The Gayly – August 12, 2015 @ 8:20am.