The 2008–09 Bar Mitzvah Season

In 2008–09 Impact will turn 13, the traditional age that Jewish boys and girls become adults, performing the rite of passage known as bar mitzvah (bat mitzvah for the girls). So it's pretty fitting that Impact is growing up a little this year: we finally have real seats, a door that blocks the sound from upstairs, and for the first time we're offering subscriptions. Look at us—now we're just like those big-kid theatre companies!

Not.

We're still the same Impact, focusing on kickass new plays by emerging playwrights, and this season we have some real scores: Lauren Yee's award-winning comedy Ching Chong Chinaman; the Bay Area debut of Melanie Marnich, whose Tallgrass Gothic was featured at the Humana festival; and the return of Impact Briefs with an all-new lineup of plays focusing on—wait for it—puberty. (We may be growing up, but we're still 13, you know.) And of course the season wouldn't be complete without an Impact-style classic, and this year Artistic Director Melissa Hillman brings the funny with her first Shakespearean comedy for Impact, A Midsummer Night's Dream, set in the world of 1980's dance clubs. At the end of the season, we'll have our third annual Full Houses poker tournament benefit, and this year the prizes will be better than ever.

We're also changing a couple of things around: instead of every Thursday being pay-what-you-wish, it's now every performance the first two weekends (except opening night). And though we've had to raise the door price to $17 for general admission (the first increase in six years!), our online price is still just $15. Buying your ticket online is also still the best way to guarantee your seat (last season we turned dozens of people away at the door). Student, senior, and TBA tickets are still only $10.

And for the first time, we're offering season subscriptions: for only $13 per play, you can guarantee a reserved seat at every play—you tell us where you want to sit, and we'll reserve it for you.

Speaking of seats, we now have bona fide theatre seats! Now, they're not the cushiony things you'll find at the big venues, but ours have something theirs don't.

Fold-out desks.

That's right—our seats come from a middle school that has upgraded their auditorium, and they come with little fold-out desks, and we're drilling holes in the desks so you can use them not only as a table for your pizza but also as—you guessed it—drink holders for your beer. (Don't worry, we still have the couch, too.)

We hope you'll celebrate our bar mitzvah with us this season. You'll see what we mean when we say, "Now Impact is a man."