For the first time since 2019 House of Ithaqua is taking to the live stage. The local theatre and film production company, which made a remote return late last year with the audio horror drama “Pontypool”, will be presenting Mike Bartlett’s play “Contractions” at The Cherry Artspace from February 17-19 and 23-25 with all 6 performances beginning at 7:00pm.

The play, a two-hander directed by HOI Artistic Director AJ Sage and starring prior collaborators Marissa Accordino (Pontypool) and Erin Lockett (The Skriker) is a dark comedy that weighs in at 75 minutes and touches on the malicious pressure to comply to byzantine regulations in a workspace.

“Like most of what we do, it disturbs and entertains at the same time,” said Sage. “We try to get our audiences off guard where they’re laughing, crying and wincing within minutes. Any script that does those three things is a winner.”

With “Contractions”, House of Ithaqua will also begin a trial wherein every ticket is available on a pay- what-you-will basis with no audience member beholden to a fixed price. It’s a concept the company decided upon in 2020 and is now ready to implement, according to founder and Executive Director Christopher Teitelbaum.

“What we talked about is the reality of how we need to take in money to run the business, but how money should never be a barrier to someone taking part”, said Teitelbaum. “There’s a lot of dialogue about the arts including whole communities and it’s hard to do that without the step of removing the pay wall. So ideally those with resources to spare will support this by choosing to pay a little more - whether they think of that as a donation to the effort or simply the value of the ticket. We want this to be a long term plan.”

“Contractions” is stage managed by Ayla Hodges, with lighting design by Cali Trainor and sound design by Norm Scott. Tickets can be purchased at the door or reserved at the following link: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5714033