the week of december 6-12, 2024
political grotesque, quaker rituals, hanukkah goblins
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Graphic Design: Elizabeth Morton | Editorial Support: Ryan Adelsheim
icymi: bills, bills, bills #31
This month’s money diary is from a managing director of a mid-sized theatre company months before a crisis rocked their city’s theatre scene:
world & US premieres
Nature Theatre of Oklahoma’s No President is now running through December 7th at NYU Skirball. The North American premiere of the performance ensemble’s latest work is a “wild, tightly choreographed political grotesque, set to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.”
Matthew Barbot’s the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo) is now running through December 29th in a co-production between Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, Latinx Playwrights Circle, and Fault Line Theatre. The “funny, gripping rollercoaster ride through Puerto Rico’s relationship to the United States” is directed by José Zayas.
Isaac Gómez’s The Night Shift Before Christmas is now running through December 29th at The Alley Theatre in Houston. KJ Sanchez directs the holiday comedy following “Margot on her Christmas Eve shift, braving grumpy drive-thru customers until her late best friend’s ghost warns her of imminent spirits.”
Ariel Estrada’s Full Contact starts performances December 6th at Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, AK. Leslie Ishii directs the solo performance “interweaving the story of Estrada’s late Filipino father’s immigration to the United States with his own childhood in Sitka, Alaska and coming-of-age as a gay man in NYC at the height of the AIDS crisis.”
The Hearth’s production of Kallan Dana’s RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR runs December 6-22 at A.R.T./NY. Sarah Blush directs the new work following “a daughter and father on a shapeshifting road trip across the country, into the past, through the gelatinous terrain of their shared nightmares.”
Team Sunshine Performance’s The Sincerity Project #5 runs December 10-15 at FringeArts in Philadelphia. The latest installment of the company’s multi-decade theater piece explores a vast array of takes on parenthood, asking “how do you prepare to raise a child in today’s world? And what are queer, radical ways to imagine a family?”
productions
Andy Boyd, syd island, & Philip Santos Schaffer’s Room, Room, Room, in the many Mansions of eternal glory for Thee and for everyone runs December 6-13 at HERE Arts Center in NYC. The “acoustic hyperpop folk opera about death, sex, God, gender, utopia and the end of the world” combines “rituals from the 18th century Quaker meetinghouse to the contemporary club.”
Elizabeth Irwin’s circuit play runs December 6-15 at Power Moves in Brooklyn, NY. Irwin also directs the site-specific production staged at an exercise studio where “the cleaning crew wipes down dumbbells and folds towels and the workout warriors squat jump and bicep curl. Everyone knows a circuit has an end but how do you know when to get off?”
Benjamin Scheuer’s The Lion is now playing through December 21st at Boise Contemporary Theater. Sean Daniels directs the “turbulent story of Scheuer’s family and his own brush with mortality, with his supporting cast of six guitars.”
Making Our Space Theatre Co.’s production of Bathsheba Doran’s Kin is now running through December 21st at NYC’s The Chain Theatre. The company’s inaugural production is directed by Spencer Whale.
Whitney White’s Macbeth in Stride is now running through December 14th at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, CT. The reimagination of Lady Macbeth’s arc “as the story of an ambitious Black woman, told through her own contemporary perspective of femininity, desire, and power with a capital P” is directed by Taibi Magar and Tyler Dobrowsky and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly.
Soomi Kim’s Testing² is now running through December 15th at The Tank in NYC. Kim and choreographer Laura Peterson “weave together snippets of text, song, anecdotes, and other sound bites from the recording sessions of famous musical duos, toggling the lines between the ridiculous, the profound moments of brilliance, heartbreak and the absurd spaces in between.”
Patrick Page’s All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain starts performances December 6th at DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company. Simon Godwin directs Page’s solo performance “illuminating Shakespeare’s evolving conception of evil by delving into more than a dozen of his most wicked creations, offering a thrilling masterclass on the most terrifying subject of them all: human nature.”
William Goldman’s adaptation of Misery runs December 6-29 at Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, SC. The psychological thriller based on Stephen King’s novel about a tormented novelist held captive by an obsessive fan is directed by Jess Chayes.
Ken Urban’s A Guide for the Homesick starts performances December 6th at DR2 Theatre in NYC. Shira Milikowsky directs the drama about “two strangers in a shabby Amsterdam hotel room exploring the complex nuances of guilt and fear, love and desire.”
Scott Zenreich and Patrick Emile’s adaptation of Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins runs December 11-22 at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Amelia Acosta Powell directs the playful adaptation of the children’s book following “Jewish folk hero and trickster Hershel of Ostropol’s confrontation of the Hanukkah-hating goblins who keep blowing out the candles of every menorah in town.”
workshops & readings
matthew paul olmos’ Richie Never Slept, Was Always Up, Moving Around at Night will have readings December 9 & 10 at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. Inspired by the upbringing of Richard Ramirez (The Night Stalker), the new work follows “a Mexican family caught in an almost ritualistic cycle of revisiting their past as they attempt to understand why their youngest son took a drastic turn in his life.”
Hannah Khalil’s Hakawatis will have a reading on December 7th at DC’s Tenley-Friendship Neighborhood Library as part of Solas Nua’s current season. Mekala Sridhar directs the modern adaptation of the Arabian folktale collection One Thousand And One Nights.
John Kolvenbach’s Aunt Jo will have a public reading on December 10th as part of The Huntington’s Winter New Play Intensive in Boston. Kolvenbach also directs the “exploration of our desperate need for intimacy, the janky harmony of family, and our stumbling attempts to show up for one another.”
festivals
The DNA New Works Series runs December 5-15 at La Jolla Playhouse. The year’s readings include Mat Smart’s A Black-Billed Cuckoo (directed by Shelley Butler); Kirsten Greenidge’s Matilde: A Fable (directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg); Robert Farid Karimi’s American Dream Casino; Eliana Theologides Rodriguez’s Marble Rooftop, Emma Has Church (directed by Jacole Kitchen); and Cheryl L. West’s Invisibles (directed by Timothy Douglas).
IAMA Theatre’s New Works Festival runs December 5-15 in Los Angeles. The line-up includes readings of Hannah Kenah’s Grief World (directed by Hannah Wolf), Keiko Green’s Wad (directed by Rebecca Wear), Jonathan Caren’s HIT MACHINE (or, TRUE WES) (directed by Jaime Castañeda), Joshua Levine’s Baruch HaShem (directed by Stefanie Black), Daria Miyeko Marinelli’s Beautiful Blessed Child (directed by Reena Dutt), Matthew Scott Montgomery’s Foursome (directed by Tom Detrinis), Chloé Hung’s Care Less (directed by Lily Tung Crystal), and KJ Cuitiño Bjorge’s The Playground (directed by Margaux Susi).
The 2024 New Stages Festival runs December 11-15 at The Goodman Theatre in Chicago. The festival includes a developmental reading of Eduardo Machado and Jacinta Clusellas’ musical Broken Eggs (directed by Henry Godinez) and four staged readings: Lee Kirk’s Ashland Avenue (directed by Susan V. Booth), Dolores Díaz’s George Washington’s Mexican Birthday (directed by Gabrielle Randle-Bent), Marco Antonio Rodriguez’s adaptation of Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (directed by Wendy Mateo), and Dael Orlandersmith’s Blood Memory (directed by Neel Keller).