University Players opens its 64th season Oct. 21 at Essex Hall Theatre with Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Philip Geller.

A Métis (Red River) and Jewish (Ashkenazi) artist and educator whose practice includes land-based creation, circular storytelling, and destabilizing hierarchical power structures in the rehearsal process, Geller focuses on anti-oppressive and anti-racist modalities.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone follows Jean, a woman who discovers that the man sitting next to her at the café has died when his cell phone won’t stop ringing. In frustration, she answers the phone, and falls headlong into the man’s life, eventually becoming entangled with his mother, brother, wife, and mistress.

The theatre company is looking forward to inviting audiences back to Essex Hall for the first time since January 2020.

“It will open up the doors of connection for you. It’s a wonderful way to be welcomed back to the theatre, to meet each other again, to see each other again, to hear each other again, to be with each other again,” Geller says. “It’s going to be really fun, and playful, and — just a little bit — strange.”

Dead Man’s Cell Phone runs until Oct. 30 at Essex Hall Theatre. Tickets are available at the online box office at www.universityplayers.com. University of Windsor students can see the show for $10.