Encore Michigan

Flint Rep premieres ‘The Future is Female’ 2/3-2/19

Show Announcement January 12, 2023

FLINT, MI – FIM Flint Repertory Theatre presents another world premiere with The Future is Female… by Nandita Shenoy February 3-19. The sharp new comedy addressing women’s rights is directed by Kathryn Walsh and stars playwright Nandita Shenoy (Washer/Dryer) alongside Hallie Bee Bard (Birthday Candles), Siho Ellsmore and Clara Tristan.

Set in the not-too-distant future, four women attend a feminine wellness retreat in hopes of finding solace, empowerment and solidarity in a world increasingly hostile to females. But once there, they discover that freedom may not mean the same thing to all of them and they may not be willing to pay the price of clawing back political power. This timely satire explores a possible reaction to the rolling back of reproductive rights and its inevitable backlash.

“The play couldn’t be timelier,” says FIM Flint Rep Producing Artistic Director Michael Lluberes. “Playwright Nandita Shenoy is a voice to be reckoned with. Her work is laugh-out-loud funny and packs a political gut punch.”

The production features scenic design by Yi-Chien Lee, costume design by Shelby Newport, lighting design by Gabrielle Strong, sound design by Caroline Eng, and props design and set dressing by Miranda Sue Hartmann. It is stage managed by Melissa A. Nathan.

Actor-writer Nandita Shenoy’s play Washer/Dryer has been produced multiple times across the country including an Off-Broadway run in which she also starred. Her first full-length play, Lyme Park: An Austonian Romance of an Indian Nature, was produced by the Hegira in Washington D.C., and Satisfaction had a developmental run at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Shenoy won the 2014 Father Hamblin Award in Playwriting and a 2018 Mellon Creative Research Fellowship. Her acting credits include world premieres of plays by Chelsea Marcantel, Madhuri Shekar, Adam Szymkowicz, Eric Pfeffinger and Richard Dresser as well as a season at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. She sits on the steering committee of the Asian American Performers Action Coalition, which recently won a special Tony honor for its advocacy work.

The Future is Female… was developed in the Flint Rep’s 2022 New Works Festival and is sponsored by Joanne Wood. Tickets are currently available at www.tickets.thefim.org, at the FIM Ticket Center box offices at FIM Whiting Auditorium and FIM Capitol Theatre, or by calling (810) 237-7333.