the week of april 1 - 7, 2023
this barbie writes a niche newsletter
You’re reading Nothing for the Group, a newsletter where one dramaturg rounds up one week in theatre news, reviews, and takes. If you like this sort of thing:
The Friday weekly round-up is always free — no gods, no masters, no paywalls — but if you’d like to sustain this project (and get access to occasional bonus content), you can upgrade to a paid tier.
If you want to say hi (or send me a press release), you can email me, tweet @halvorsen, or just reply to this email.
Graphic Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton | Editorial Support: Rebecca Adelsheim
icymi
This month’s Bills, Bills, Bills — a double feature from two playwrights — dropped on Wednesday and Jenna’s editorial note for this one is a must-read:
For paid subscribers, I wrote about some emerging trends and patterns in 2023-24 season announcements, from the dwindling size and scope of regional theatre seasons to some early contenders for American Theatre's most-produced plays of the year list:
in-person theatre
The world premiere of Nathan Alan Davis’ Eternal Life Part 1 runs April 11 - 30 at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. Morgan Green directs the new fable following a future-set American family navigating “space travel, talking animals, a state-of-the-art home, while attempting to answer the same big question: how to live a meaningful life.”
Katie Forgette’s Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily starts performances April 14th at the Alley Theatre in Houston. The Oscar Wilde-meets-Arthur Conan Doyle comic mystery is directed by Brandon Weinbrenner.
Kirsten Greenidge’s Morning, Noon and Night will have a workshop reading on April 15th at Company One in Boston. Summer L. Williams directs the new play following a mother-daughter duo navigating “generational conflict, fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, familial reckoning, and social media’s omnipresent role in modern society.” (The reading will also be available to livestream.)
Hansol Jung’s Wolf Play is now playing through May 6th at Rec Room Arts in Houston. The “wildly theatrical tale about the families we choose and unchoose” is directed by Lily Wolff.
DeLanna Studi’s And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail
of Tears is now playing at the Geva Theatre in Rochester. Corey Madden directs the one-person show, which recounts Cherokee artist Studi and her father’s experience retracing her great-great grandparents’ 900-mile journey along the Trail of Tears to truly understand her own identity and the conflicts of her nation.
The world premiere of Jennifer Chang’s The Devil is a Lie is now playing at Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh. The immersive Faust adaptation is directed by Kyle Haden.
Mat Smart’s Eden Prairie, 1971 runs April 9 - 29 at Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado. Heather Beasley directs the NNPN rolling world premiere about a draft dodger risking arrest to deliver a message to a high school classmate.
2023-24 season announcements
The Court Theatre announced its 2023-24 season. The Chicago company’s line-up includes James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter (directed by Ron OJ Parson), Sophocles’ Antigone (directed by Gabrielle Randle-Bent), Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (directed by Charles Newell), and the world premiere of Nambi E. Kelley’s Stokely: The Unfinished Revolution (directed by Tasia A. Jones).
The Dobama Theatre announced its upcoming season. The Cleveland theatre will produce Bess Wohl’s Make Believe (directed by Nathan Motta), Heather Chrisler’s adaptation of Little Women (directed by Melissa Crum), Terry Guest’s At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen, Selina Fillinger’s Something Clean (directed by Shannon Sindelar), and Joshua Harmon’s Significant Other (directed by Christopher Mirto).
Fault Line Theatre announced its 2023 season. The line-up includes Xavier Clark’s backstroke boys (directed by Sivan Battat), Matthew Barbot’s the beautiful land i seek (directed by José Zayas), and the Irons in the Fire reading series, which will include Lily Akerman’s Moderation (directed by Lily Kanter Riopelle), Karina Billini’s Apple Bottom (directed by Candis C. Jones), Zachariah Ezer’s Legitime (directed by Dominique Rider), and Sophie Sagan-Gutherz’s marked green at birth, marked female at birth (directed by Mack Brown).
SpeakEasy Stage announced its 2023-24 season. The Boston theatre will produce Selina Fillinger’s POTUS (directed by Paula Plum), David Yazbek and Itamar Moses’ The Band’s Visit (directed by Paul Daigneault), Samuel D. Hunter’s A Case for the Existence of God (directed by Melinda Lopez), Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living (directed by Alex Lonati), and Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop (directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent).
broadway news
BAM’s recent production of Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window will transfer to Broadway in less than three weeks. Anne Kauffman directs the rarely seen revival of Hansberry’s “sweeping drama of identity, idealism, and love”, which will now be eligible for the 2023 Tony Awards.
Alex Edelman’s Just for Us will have a limited run on Broadway in July. Adam Brace will direct the OBIE-winning solo show, which centers on Edelman's personal experiences with anti-Semitism and what happens when he crashes a White Nationalist gathering in New York.
playwright news
The Welders announced its fourth cohort. Rebecca Dzida, Kelsey Nicole Jenkins, Taylor Payne, and Shaquille Stewart will take over the DC-based playwrights’ collective in 2024.
Dominique Morisseau and Jasmine Lee-Jones are the 2023 winners of the Windham-Campbell Prize. Each writer receives a $175,000 award to support their work. (At 24, Lee-Jones is the youngest ever recipient of the prize.)