the week of february 18-24, 2023
out: TBD slots, in: just announcing the title you haven't finalized yet
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Graphic Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton | Editorial Support: Rebecca Adelsheim
in-person theatre
The world premiere of Rachel Bonds and Zoe Sarnak’s musical The Lonely Few starts previews on February 28th at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. The Kentucky-set “love story between two women searching for a sense of home” is co-directed by Trip Cullman and Ellenore Scott and produced in association with Fourth Wall Theatrical.
The Colorado New Play Summit runs February 25 & 26 at the Denver Center. The festival includes two fully produced world premieres — Alexis Scheer’s Laughs in Spanish (directed by Lisa Portes) and Yussef El Guindi’s Hotter Than Egypt (directed by Chris Coleman) and four readings: Christina Pumariega’s Joan Dark; Vincent Terrell Durham’s Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids; Jake Brasch’s the reservoir; and Sandy Rustin’s The Suffragette’s Murder.
The world premiere of Adrienne Kennedy’s Etta and Ella on the Upper West Side runs February 23-25 at REDCAT in Los Angeles. Monty Cole directs the “intricate blend of monologue, dialogue, voiceover, and prose in a work that is part experimental play, part narrative thriller” about two warring academic sisters.
Keith Bunin’s The Coast Starlight is now in previews at Lincoln Center. The “smart, funny, and compassionate story about our capacity for invention and re-invention when life goes off the rails” is directed by Tyne Rafaeli.
Lauren Gunderson, Bree Lowdermilk, and Kait Kerrigan’s Justice: A New Musical is now playing at Marin Theatre Company. The intimate, epic three-person musical exploring the first three women on the Supreme Court (Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor) is directed by Ashley Rodbro.
Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band runs February 25 - April 2 at Berkeley Rep. Chay Yew directs the touring Signature Theatre production of “the intimate rock epic about family secrets is set against a dark chapter of Cambodian history.”
Zadie Smith’s The Wife of Willesden starts previews February 25th at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge. The modern-day adaptation of “The Wife of Bath" from The Canterbury Tales is directed by Indhu Rubasingham.
The world premiere of Ryan J. Haddad’s Dark Disabled Stories runs February 28 - March 26 at Public Theater. The Bushwick Starr production of the “series of unforgiving vignettes about the strangers [writer/performer Haddad] encounters while navigating a city (and a world) not built for his walker and cerebral palsy” is directed by Jordan Fein.
Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s starts previews March 1st at DC’s Studio Theatre. Candis C. Jones directs the “sweet and savory comedy trading in wonder, Wonder Bread, and the healing powers of food” set it a truck-stop sandwich joint.
The world premiere of Stephen Brown’s The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd starts previews March 1st at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre. The Kendeda Award-winning play about 12-year-old computer genius’ forays into time travel is directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden.
Rajiv Joseph’s Describe the Night runs March 2 - April 9 at Steppenwolf. Austin Pendleton directs the “epic thriller ricocheting through place and time following the unlikely lives of seven individuals – soldiers and poets, KGB agents and babushkas – as they unearth mysteries buried by decades of history, fiction and blood.”
digital theatre
Guillermo Calderón’s Kiss is now streaming on demand through March 5th from the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. Fadi Skeiker directs the new play about “American actors performing a Syrian soap opera realizing the limits of their own cultural understanding.”
2023-24 season announcements
Stages announced its 2023-24 season. The Houston theatre company will produce Ted Swindley’s Always…Patsy Cline; Selina Fillinger’s POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive; Joanna Murray-Smith’s Switzerland, Samuel D. Hunter’s A Case for the Existence of God, Q Brothers’ Othello: The Remix, and the world premiere of TEATRX’s Panto Alicia in Wonderland.
The theatre also announced Alexis Scheer’s Laughs in Spanish, with an asterisk denoting that ‘this project is still in negotiations’ instead of the usual TBD designation. (As someone who spent a good chunk of her previous literary management life writing back-up blurbs for plays in case we couldn’t secure the rights for our top choices in time before the season announcement, that footnote in their press release made me say, “wait, what” out loud. Hope this was all agent-approved! I do encourage everyone to produce Alexis Scheer plays — through the proper channels, of course.)
the regional theatre game of thrones
Benjamin Hanna is the new artistic director of Indiana Repertory Theatre. Hanna, the theatre’s current associate artistic director, succeeds Janet Allen, who is retiring after spending 40 years in various roles at IRT.
awards & fellowships
Lanise Antoine Shelley is the 2023 Black Theatre Coalition AMEX Directing Fellow. The Haitian director, actor, adaptor, visual artist, and most recent artistic director of the House Theatre of Chicago will receive a $50,000 stipend.
Woolly Mammoth is now accepting applications for its third cohort of Miranda Family Fellows. Fellowships will be offered in the Connectivity, Development, and New Work departments and each one is structured as a paid, full-time, year-long, entry-level position ($22.07/hour) with health insurance benefits.
the big survey of care
The Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) is collecting data “to get a better picture of the challenges caregivers face in the theater industry.”
The survey is accepting responses through March 1st. It’s open to current and former workers in all fields within the performing arts. (The survey takes between 15-30 minutes to complete and does not need to be finished in one sitting.)
