the week of april 12-18, 2024

jane eyre, joe turner, & uncle vanya

Lauren Halvorsen

Apr 12, 2024

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Graphic Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton | Editorial Support: Ryan Adelsheim

critical insight: apply now!

This week, Pittsburgh Public Theater and American Theatre announced Critical Insight, a new generative arts journalism fellowship that will “bring the best in the field to early-career and aspiring critics through mentorship, professional insight, seminars with leading guest speakers, arts experiences, and an immersive regional theatre retreat in Washington, DC.”

This opportunity gets top billing in the newsletter because I’m going to be co-leading one of the seminars, alongside an A+ line-up of luminaries: American Theatre editor-in-chief Rob Weinert-Kendt, Vulture co-chief theatre critic Sara Holdren, transdisciplinary artist Annalisa Dias, Broadway News critic and reporter Brittani Samuel, HowlRound senior editor Ashley Malafronte, Los Angeles Times critic Charles McNulty, The New Yorker critic Helen Shaw, BIPOC Critics Lab founder Jose Solís, culture critic Naveen Kumar, and former Washington Post critic Peter Marks.

Applications are now open through June 15th! Applicants should have fewer than two years of professional arts journalism experience and be located in or near the Pittsburgh metropolitan area for the duration of the fellowship. (I lived in Pittsburgh for a year right after college and it’s an underrated gem.)

world premieres

Abe Koogler’s Staff Meal starts performances April 12th at Playwrights Horizons. Morgan Green directs the “funny, startling new play about a mysterious restaurant, where the food is delicious, the service is warm, and some strange power keeps the darkness at bay.”
Dan O’Brien’s Newtown runs April 16 - May 12 at Geva Theatre in Rochester, NY. The “heartbreaking and powerful interrogation of the complex causes of gun violence in our culture” is directed by Elizabeth Williamson.
Miyoko Conley’s Human Museum starts performances April 12th from DC’s Rorschach Theatre. Staged in a two-story former retail store, Randy Baker directs the dark comedy “set in a future where humans are extinct and robots run a museum dedicated to exhibiting the artifacts of human life.”

productions

Elizabeth Williamson’s adaptation of Jane Eyre starts performances April 12th at The Alley Theatre in Houston. Eleanor Holdridge directs the Charlotte Brontë classic following the titular heroine as she “confronts poverty, injustice, and the discovery of a bitter betrayal, before she makes the ultimate decision to follow her heart.”
Gillian Slovo’s Grenfell: in the words of survivors runs April 13 - May 12 at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. Co-directed by Phyllida Lloyd and Anthony Simpson-Pike and drawn from survivor testimonies of West London’s Grenfell Tower fire, the verbatim play is a “riveting call-to-action offering a compelling investigation into the catastrophe, driven by the residents’ stories, their heroic acts, and their impassioned struggle for justice.”
August Wilson’s Joe Turner's Come and Gone starts previews April 13th at The Goodman in Chicago. The second work in Wilson’s ten-play Century Cycle chronicling Black American life in the 20th century is directed by Chuck Smith.
Gerome Ragni, Galt MacDermot, and James Rado’s Hair runs April 16 - July 7 at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA. Matthew Gardiner directs the “sensational, groundbreaking rock musical bursts with the jubilant spirit, raging rebellion and psychedelic color of the 1960s.”
James Ijames’ Fat Ham starts performances April 17th at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, AR. The City Theatre co-production of the Pulitzer-winning “deliciously funny send-up of Shakespeare’s Hamlet” is directed by Monteze Freeland.
Mike Lemme’s Before The Drugs Kick In runs April 18 - 21 at The Broadwater in Los Angeles. Lemme directs the intimate blend of stand-up, theatre and time travel, in which “a 62-year-old woman in an insane asylum closes her eyes and becomes a 28-year-old stand-up comedian with everyone in the audience being part of her imagination including you.”
Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop starts previews April 18th at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Stephen Brackett directs the Pulitzer and Tony-winning musical about “a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer.”

workshops & readings

Denmo Ibrahim’s Arab Spring will have readings on April 18 & 20 as part of Round House Theatre’s National Capital New Play Festival in Bethesda, MD. Lila Rachel Becker directs the “dark comedy about two grown siblings who must make their peace with each other and with their recently deceased, estranged father as they prepare for his funeral.”
Mathilde Dratwa’s Esther Perel Ruined My Life will have in-person reading April 14 & 19 at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. The erotic and thoughtful new work “bravely explores oft-unspoken questions about love and desire post-childbirth and an approach to partnership that embraces our human capacity to continually evolve, grow, and change.” (It will be available to stream May 13-19.)
a.k. payne’s Dwellers will have a reading April 15th as part of The Vineyard’s Works in Progress Reading Series. Josiah Davis directs the nine-character ensemble piece inspired by Dionne Brand's A Map to the Door of No Return.

digital & streaming

Geetha Reddy’s Far, Far Better Things will have online reading April 13 & 14 from WAM Theatre in Lenox, MA. Tatyana-Marie Carlo directs the new play “inspired by Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities [that] tells the tale of two women—Pilar, a Latina domestic worker, and Zoe, a young South Asian doctor—separated by class, race, and the unspoken rules of modern womanhood.”
Daniel Kitson’s Tree is now streaming on Vimeo. The two-hander, starring Kitson and Tim Key, debuted at the Old Vic in 2015 and is “a study of protest and community politics, performed by a pair of comedy masters.” [h/t The Guardian]
Trevor Nunn’s adaptation of Uncle Vanya is available to stream on demand April 16 - 19 from Orange Tree Theatre. Nunn also directs the Chekhov classic set in “the heat of summer, as tempers boil over and forbidden lusts threaten to end in catastrophe.”

2024-25 season updates

The Manhattan Theatre Club production of Jocelyn Bioh's Jaja’s African Hair Braiding will tour to Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre starting this fall. Whitney White returns to direct the comedy “set in a Harlem hair braiding salon where a hot summer day brings out some love, dreams, and secrets.” (Referring to this as a ‘tour’ is interesting because…it just sounds like a multi-theatre co-production to me? Even when the Off-Broadway production of Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band made the regional rounds, it was credited as “A Signature Theatre production” in association with the four participating theatres. But I haven’t read any contracts and I am definitely not a general manager.)
Oklahoma City Rep announced its 2024-25 season. The line-up includes Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play (directed by David Ruttura), Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me (directed by Jessica Holt), Roger Guenveur Smith’s Frederick Douglas NOW, and a show to be announced from the Under the Radar Festival.
Mosaic Theater Company of DC announced its 2024-25 season. The line-up includes Lanie Robertson’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (directed by Reginald L. Douglas), Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s cullud wattah (directed by Danielle Drakes), Ari'el Stachel’s Out of Character (directed by Tony Taccone, co-pro with Theater J of the Berkeley Rep production), Brent Askari’s Andy Warhol in Iran (directed by Serge Seiden), the world premiere of The Art of Care (conceived and directed by Derek Goldman), and a workshop of Marilyn Ness’ POSTMORTEM (directed by Sheryl Kaller).
The Folger Theatre announced its 2024-25 season. The DC theatre will produce Romeo and Juliet (directed by Raymond O. Caldwell), Twelfth Night, Lauren Gunderson’s A Room in the Castle (directed by Kaja Dunn, co-pro with Cincinnati Shakes), and the third year of the Reading Room Festival.
Manhattan Theatre Club announced three productions in its 2024-25 season. The line-up includes the world premiere of Erika Sheffer’s Vladimir (directed by Daniel Sullivan) and two Broadway productions: Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day (directed by Anna D. Shapiro) and Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends (starring Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga; musically staged and directed by Matthew Bourne).
Everyman Theatre announced its 2024-25 season. The Baltimore company will produce Selina Fillinger’s POTUS (directed by Laura Kepley), Caleen Sinnette Jennings’ Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains (directed by Danielle Drakes), Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (directed by Noah Himmelstein), Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust (directed by Reginald L. Douglas), Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (directed by Vincent Lancisi), and Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery of Irma Vep (directed by Joseph W. Ritsch).
Syracuse Stage announced its 2024-25 season. The line-up includes Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Dial M for Murder (directed by Robert Hupp), Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (directed by Melissa Rain Anderson), Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust (directed by Melissa Crespo), Rajiv Joseph’s King James (directed by Jamil Jude, co-pro with Indiana Rep), Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Sense and Sensibility (directed by Jason O’Connell), and the world premiere of Rogelio Martinez’s The National Pastime (directed by Johanna McKeon).
Olney Theatre Center announced its 2024-25 season. The Maryland theatre will produce the New Los Angeles Repertory production of Richard Hellesen’s Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground (directed by Peter Ellenstein), Disney’s Frozen (directed by Alan Muraoka), Paul Morella’s one-man adaptation of A Christmas Carol, Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson’s musical Waitress (directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge), Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini’s Sleepova (directed by Paige Hernandez), Ins Choi’s Kim’s Convenience (directed by Aria Velz), and the world premiere of Joriah Kwamé’s musical Little Miss Perfect (directed by Zhailon Levingston).
Contemporary American Theater Festival announced its 2024 season. The annual new play festival in Shepherdstown, WV will present Donja R. Love’s What Will Happen to All that Beauty (directed by Malika Oyetimein), Mark St. Germain’s The Happiest Man on Earth (directed by Ron Lagomarsino), Harmon dot aut’s Tornado Tastes Like Aluminum Sting (directed by Oliver Butler), and Paloma Nozicka’s Enough to Let the Light In (directed by Kimberly Senior).

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