From the famed writer of Moonstruck, Doubt, and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, John Patrick Shanley’s 5 Steps to Transcendence will have its world premiere at the Festival d’Avignon in France this July, 2025. Directed by the award-winning John R. Pepper, this innovative 90-minute production, comprised of 5 one-act plays, offers a raw, intimate journey: we get to experience first-hand the exquisite beauty of the dance when we come together and claim our ‘oneness’. As society grows increasingly isolated, Shanley’s work lights up our primal need for genuine connection - an instinct as inevitable as gravity drawing celestial bodies into orbit - we are perpetually drawn towards each other, to love and be loved, to see and be seen, to understand and be understood.

Making this production even more special, the audience has the unique opportunity to experience the play in two languages: performances on Tuesday & Wednesday are in English, Friday-Monday are in French. Same theater, same director, same cast, indeed the exact same production. What is it like in English compared to French? What is different? What stays the same? How does language form our experience? Translated by leading talent Jade-Rose Parker, each act pulls us deeper in as we experience this funny, sexy, and unflinchingly honest look at the truth of our shared experience by one of the greatest living storytellers of our time.