We provide this information as a service and do our best to inform our patrons as to content. The question of what is or isn’t offensive is a subjective one, particularly when it comes to determining the appropriateness of plays for children. If you have any concerns, we encourage you to read this guide carefully, view our website, and/or read the script. The box office is available to address any specific questions you might have.
Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express
SYNOPSIS: Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed eight times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, the passengers rely on detective Hercule Poirot to identify the murderer – in case they decide to strike again.
LANGUAGE: Mild language
VIOLENCE: While the murder occurs out of sight, there is visible blood shown in the aftermath of the murder scene.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Due to some adult themes—specifically, references to the kidnapping and murder of a young child, as well as the murder of a person on board a train, this production may not be suitable for children. If this were a film, it would likely be rated PG-13.
The Rocky Horror Show
SYNOPSIS: Pioneer Theatre Company’s favorite way to celebrate Halloween! A groundbreaking cult musical and beloved glam rock tribute to B-horror films, The Rocky Horror Show returns with some of the most iconic characters in musical theatre history: In this cult classic, sweethearts Brad and Janet, stuck with a flat tire during a stormy night, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker, a creepy butler, and a swath of drive-in usherettes and creepy sidekicks. Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Dr. Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: his “monster” named, Rocky.
LANGUAGE: There is a small amount of strong language. The production, written in 1973, also contains some outdated terms, which in 2023 might be deemed offensive: i.e. “transvestite.”
SEX: The Dr. Frankenstein character, Frank-n-Furter, is a sexually fluid alien from “transsexual Transylvania” who seduces both Janet and Brad.
VIOLENCE: As befits a horror movie, there is a gruesome murder and a fair amount of blood, all played to comic excess.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES? The Rocky Horror Show is not for conservative audiences or pre-teen children. High school students have been embracing the movie for 40 years, but children should attend only at a parent’s discretion. The film version (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) is rated R.
Christmas in Connecticut
SYNOPSIS: From the bucolic paradise of her Connecticut farm, famed Smart Housekeeping columnist Liz Lane dishes out advice on marriage, cooking, and homemaking to eager housewives across the country. There are just a few small details of which her readers aren’t aware: Liz actually lives in a tiny New York City apartment, she has never been married, and she can’t cook. When a beloved war hero (and fan of Liz’s column) is invited by Liz’s publisher to Christmas on the nonexistent farm, a musical comedy of errors ensues!
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Appropriate for audiences of all ages. If this adaptation were to be made into a film today, it would likely be rated PG.
Native Gardens
SYNOPSIS: From award-winning playwright Karen Zacarias (The Book Club Play) comes a contemporary comedy that reminds us: we can’t always choose our neighbors. Rising attorney Pablo and his doctoral candidate (and very pregnant) wife Tania, have just purchased a D.C. home next to a well-established couple with a prize-worthy English garden. But an impending barbeque for Pablo’s colleagues and a delicate disagreement over a long-standing fence line soon spirals into an all-out border dispute, exposing both couples’ notions of race, taste, class, and privilege. Zacarias’ hilariously biting play sees well-intentioned neighbors turned into feuding enemies in a garden party culture clash for the ages.
LANGUAGE: Mild adult language
VIOLENCE: Characters in a verbal conflict express themselves physically by destroying and threatening to destroy each other’s property.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Contains some adult themes and arguments, pregnancy/childbirth, microaggressions, and discussion of racism. If Native Gardens were to be made into a film, it would likely be PG-13.
Bonnie & Clyde
SYNOPSIS: At the height of the Great Depression, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow went from two small-town nobodies in West Texas to America’s most renowned folk heroes and Texas law enforcement’s worst nightmares. Fearless, shameless and alluring, the Tony-nominated Bonnie & Clyde, from the legendary Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, Civil War, Dracula) is the electrifying story of love, adventure and crime that captured the attention of an entire country.
When Bonnie and Clyde meet, their mutual cravings for excitement and fame immediately set them on a mission to chase their dreams. Their bold and reckless behavior turns the young lovers’ thrilling adventure into a downward spiral, putting themselves and their loved ones in trouble with the law. Forced to stay on the run, the lovers resort to robbery and murder to survive. As the infamous duo’s fame grows bigger, their inevitable end draws nearer.
LANGUAGE: Strong adult language
SMOKING AND DRINKING: There are several mentions of drinking in the dialogue, and adult characters consume alcohol onstage.
SEX: Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are passionately in love, and there are multiple instances of kissing and intimacy, both between them and other characters. There is some period-typical innuendo and sexual harassment toward Bonnie.
VIOLENCE: The play opens with gunshots and the sight of a bullet-riddled, blood-splattered car containing two dead bodies; there are numerous mentions of shooting and violence in dialogue and multiple instances of on-stage violence including physical fighting, shooting and murder, some graphic.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES? Due to the some adult language, violence, and themes, the show is recommended for mature teens and adults. If this adaptation were to be made into a film today, it would likely be PG-13.
The Lehman Trilogy
SYNOPSIS: On a cold September morning in 1844, a Bavarian immigrant arrives in New York City, with his sights set on creating a new life in the new world. When his two brothers join his side, fates are sealed and a 163-year chain of events is set into motion as the family and company they form, Lehman Brothers, forever change the finance world. Told in three parts over the course of a single evening, The Lehman Trilogy is a not-to-be-missed American tale of epic proportions.
LANGUAGE: Mild adult language
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: The production contains moments and themes that some people may find distressing. This includes the non-graphic depiction of a suicide and mentions of suicide. There is also infrequent mention of death, war and slavery. If The Lehman Trilogy were to be made into a film, it would likely be PG.
Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
SYNOPSIS: The much-anticipated Utah premiere of a recent Broadway favorite! Nominated for 12 Tony Awards, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 is an electropop opera based on a scandalous slice of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Young and impulsive, Natasha Rostova arrives in Moscow to await the return of her fiancé from the front lines. When she falls under the spell of the roguish Anatole, it is up to Pierre, a family friend in the middle of an existential crisis, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation.
LANGUAGE: Mild sexual innuendos and themes of intimacy.
VIOLENCE: There is an onstage duel with pistols and the consuming of poison.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Appropriate for audiences of all ages. If Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 were to be made into a film, it would likely be rated PG.