the week of april 22 - 28, 2023
the spanish golden age boys are back in town
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Graphic Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton | Editorial Support: Rebecca Adelsheim
productions
W. Fran Astorga’s Exhaustion Arroyo: Dancin’ Trees in the Ravine is now running through May 21st at San Francisco’s Cutting Ball Theater. Astorga and R. Réal Vargas Alanis co-direct the bilingual world premiere chronicling a trio of friends’ shrooms trip in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries is now playing through May 13th at Repertory Theater of St. Louis. The decades-spanning story of love, vulnerability, and missed opportunities between two childhood friends is directed by Becks Redman.
Jessica Dickey’s The Rembrandt is now playing at TheaterWorks Hartford. Maria Mileaf directs the “visually stunning tour-de-force exploring the power of creative expression and the sacrifices we make in the pursuit of love and beauty.”
Crystal Skillman’s Open runs April 28 - May 27 at Nu Sass Productions in DC. Dom Ocompo directs the queer love story told by an amateur magician.
Kareem Fahmy’s American Fast starts performances April 29th at City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh. The rolling world premiere about a young Muslim college basketball star juggling family and faith during a national championship is directed by Jennifer Chang.
Adrian Mitchell’s translation of Lope de Vega’s Fuente Ovejuna starts previews April 29th at Theatre for a New Audience. Flordelino Lagundino directs the famed Spanish Golden Age playwright’s drama inspired by a 1476 uprising of Castilian farmers and peasants against the locally stationed military.
Rajiv Joseph’s King James starts previews May 2nd at Manhattan Theatre Club. Kenny Leon directs the comedy chronicling the unexpected friendship of two Clevelanders as they bond over the rise of LeBron James.
The world premiere of Diane Exavier’s Bernarda’s Daughters runs May 2 - June 4 from the National Black Theatre and The New Group. The Flatbush-set “sensual and entrancing portrait of a family at a crossroads” inspired by Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba is directed by Dominique Rider.
The world premiere of Kyle Bass’ Tender Rain starts performances May 3rd at Syracuse Stage. Rodney Hudson directs the 1950s-set drama exploring “intimacy, race, and the assumptions we all make about one another.”
Guadalís Del Carmen’s Bees & Honey begins May 4th at MCC Theatre. The love story about the mounting relationship challenges of a young married couple is directed by Melissa Crespo and presented in partnership with The Sol Project.
María Irene Fornés’ Life Is a Dream runs May 4-21 at Baltimore Center Stage. Stevie Walker-Webb directs the adaptation of Calderón’s revered 17th century “tale of power, love, and illusion.”
Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust starts previews May 4th at Roundabout. The world premiere following a laid off bookseller “facing a world he's long avoided — with transformative and even comical results” is directed by Knud Adams.
festivals
The world premiere of Michael Shayan’s Avaaz at South Coast Rep starts performances April 29th as part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival. The “personal tribute to the playwright's mother, portrayed by the person who knows her best—her son” is directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel and dramaturged by Abigail Katz.
The PlayLabs Festival at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis runs through April 30th. Featured works include Franky D. Gonzalez’s That Must Be The Entrance to Heaven, AriDy Nox’s A Walless Church: The Black Woman’s Guide to Making God, and Andrew Rosendorf’s Stockade. (The readings will be available to stream online May 15-21.)
Preston Choi’s limp wrist on the lever will have a free reading on April 28th as part of Round House’s National Capital New Play Festival. Ethan Heard directs the new work about “a queer trio's escape plan from a conversion camp taking a topsy-turvy turn in their face off with a straight laced counselor.”
Boston Court Pasadena’s New Play Reading Festival runs April 29 & 30. The featured plays are Tira Palmquist’s The Body’s Midnight (directed by Jessica Kubzansky), Austin Owens Kelly’s Obscura (directed by Michael Michetti), and Vasanti Saxena’s Here is Where (directed by Katherine Chou).
readings & workshops
Aeneas Sagar Hemphill’s A Wake At Singh's will have a reading May 5 & 6 at Prologue Theatre in DC. Mekala Sridhar directs the comedic exploration of grief, community, loss, and capitalism within a found family of immigrant cabbies.
Classic Stage Company will present invitation-only readings of Abram Hill’s On Strivers Row and David Auburn’s adaptation of The Wild Duck on May 2 & 4. Tyler Thomas directs Hill’s rarely-seen 1940 farce set in the titular Harlem community of Black artists and intellectuals, while Auburn directs his own adaptation of Ibsen’s classic play about the price of idealism.
streaming theatre
Complicité’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead will be broadcast live April 27-29 from the Bristol Old Vic. Simon McBurney directs the theatrical adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk’s novel that’s “part thriller, part comedy, and part blistering poetic manifesto for the rights of animals and the environment.”
The world premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s Artemisia is available to stream through April 30th from Wisconsin’s Forward Theater. Jen Uphoff Gray directs the new work resurrecting the life and art of the revolutionary 17th century Italian baroque painter.
the regional theatre game of thrones
Hana S. Sharif is the new artistic director of Arena Stage. Sharif is the current artistic director of Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, which she joined in 2019. She will be only the fourth artistic director in the DC theatre’s 75-year history. Sharif succeeds Molly Smith, who is retiring after 25 years.
2023-24 season announcements
American Repertory Theater announced its 2023-24 season. The Cambridge, MA theatre will produce Inua Ellams’ The Half-God of Rainfall (directed by Taibi Magar), and three world premieres: P. Carl’s adaptation of his memoir Becoming A Man (co-directed by Carl and Diane Paulus); Joy Huerta, Benjamin Velez and Lisa Loomer’s musical adaptation of Real Women Have Curves (directed by Sergio Trujillo); and Florence Welch, Thomas Bartlett, and Martyna Majok’s musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby (directed by Rachel Chavkin).
Geffen Playhouse announced its 2023-24 season. The Los Angeles company’s line-up includes James Ijames’ Fat Ham (directed by Saheem Ali), Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe's Every Brilliant Thing (directed by Colm Summers), Selina Fillinger's POTUS (directed by Jennifer Chambers), and three world premieres: Kristen Adele Calhoun's Black Cypress Bayou (directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene), Helder Guimarães' The Hope Theory (directed by Frank Marshall), and Mike Lew's tiny father (directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel).
Olney Theatre Center announced its 2023-24 season. The Maryland theatre will produce James Graham’s Ink (directed by Jason Loewith, co-pro with Round House), Prince Gomolvilas' The Brothers Paranormal (directed by Hallie Gordon and Aria Velz), Fiddler on the Roof (directed by Peter Flynn), Ken Ludwig's Lend Me a Soprano (directed by Eleanor Holdridge), Michael Shayan's Avaaz (directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (directed by Amy Anders Corcoran), Dahlak Brathwaite's Long Way Down (directed and co-choreographed by Ken-Matt Martin), and Stewart Melton and Finn Anderson’s Islander: A New Musical (conceived and directed by Amy Draper).
Everyman Theatre in Baltimore announced its 2023-24 season. The line-up includes Joanie Schultz’s new adaptation of A Doll’s House, Lloyd Suh’s The Chinese Lady, Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Dial M for Murder (directed by Vincent M. Lancisi), Lynn Nottage’s Crumbs from the Table of Joy (directed by Reginald L. Douglas), Karen Zacarías’ The Book Club Play (directed by Laura Kepley), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (directed by Noah Himmelstein).
TimeLine Theatre Company announced its 2023-24 season. The Chicago theatre will present Stefano Massini’s The Lehman Trilogy (co-directed by Nick Bowling and Vanessa Stalling); Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell’s The Lifespan of a Fact (directed by Mechelle Moe); Anna Deavere Smith’s Notes from the Field (directed by Mikael Burke); and the world premiere of Dolores Díaz’s Black Sunday (directed by Sandra Marquez).
Raven Theatre in Chicago announced its upcoming season. The line-up includes Lucille Fletcher’s Night Watch (directed by Georgette Verdin), and two world premieres: Paul Michael Thomson’s brother sister cyborg space and the third installment of Joshua Allen’s The Grand Boulevard Trilogy.
Northlight Theatre announced its 2023-24 season. The Chicago area theatre will produce Noah Haidle’s Birthday Candles (directed by Jessica Thebus), Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Dial M for Murder (directed by Georgette Verdin), Sylvia Khoury’s Selling Kabul (directed by Hamid Dehghani), and the world premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s Brooklyn Laundry (directed by BJ Jones).
what i read this week
Jill Rafson’s remembrance of Roundabout artistic director Todd Haimes in American Theatre, who died last week at age 66.
