the week of february 9-15, 2024

that green light, i want it

Lauren Halvorsen

Feb 09, 2024

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

productions dramaturged by me

Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain is now playing through March 10th at The Huntington in Boston. Margot Bordelon directs the coming-of-age comedy-until-it’s-not “about a lively group of young women exploring The Crucible as they begin to discover their power and agency, finding a way to hold both the classic text and their community to account — with a profound sense of rage, authenticity, and hope.”

Our delightful cast includes Japhet Balaban, Maanav Aryan Goyal, Olivia Hebert, Benjamin Izaak, Brianna Martinez, Victoria Omoregie, Jules Talbot, Isabel Van Natta, and Haley Wong. The creative team is Kristen Robinson (scenic), Zoë Sundra (costumes), Aja M. Jackson (lighting),  Sinan Refik Zafar (sound), Christine Hamel (voice & dialect), Rachel Padula-Shufelt (hair and makeup design), Victoria Lynn Awkward (choreography), Jessica Scout Malone (fights & intimacy), and Carla Mirabal Rodríguez (assistant director). Our stage managers are Emily F. McMullen, Lucas Bryce Dixon, and Ashley Pitchford; the production assistants are Kendyl Trott and Winnie Chiang.

I’ve been working on this week’s newsletter at our tech table and Kimberly joked that she didn’t know what else I could say about this play, given my well-documented, years-long, fervent love for it. When John Proctor is the Villain premiered in 2022, I wrote a zero-chill valentine to Kimberly’s writing and recounted the most successful (professional) DM slide of my life.

I’m glad that I wrote a cogent love letter two years ago because the triple-punch combo of tech/remote day job/usual freelance workload means that I can barely put together a sentence. Even if I didn’t currently feel (and look) like a feral raccoon, it’s impossible to capture the immensity of this experience. (Especially when I’m still in the middle of it — our first preview was last night.) I’ve loved living in the wild, loquacious, exuberant world of this play, excavating its layers and textures and Taylor Swift references with this magnificent team. This is the culmination of so many long-held dreams.

The last scene of John Proctor revolves around a dance to Lorde’s “Green Light”. At this point in the rehearsal process, I’ve heard the song approximately one million times. I’ve watched and dissected and calibrated every move and intention with Kimberly (dance captain and playwright), Margot, and the actors. But every time the piano of the pre-chorus hits — but I hear sounds in my mind, brand new sounds in my mind — and the scene builds to its ecstatic catharsis, my heart bangs out of my chest and skitters across the floor like a spooked bird. Every single time. Sometimes I worry that I’ve absorbed too much industry toxicity, that I’ve become too jaded to experience real euphoria in a theatre — and I’m so grateful how John Proctor is the Villain proves me wrong, over and over again.

world premieres

Matthew Paul Olmos’ a home what howls (or the house what was ravine) is now playing through March 2nd at Steppenwolf in Chicago. Laura Alcalá Baker directs the “lyrically-rendered quest of youth activism standing against forces of injustice — a modern myth drawn from the real life struggles of displaced communities around the globe.”
Ryan Drake’s you don't have to do anything. runs February 9-23 at HERE Arts Center in NYC. The coming-of-age exploration of “queer identity during the nascent years of social media and the internet” is directed by Ryan Dobrin.
Paul Michael Thomson’s brother sister cyborg space is now playing at Raven Theatre in Chicago. Terry Guest directs the new work “set against the backdrop of a rapidly-accelerating climate crisis that explores political divisions within families, an expanding definition of humanity, and what we'll do when the clock runs out.”
Gabriel Jason Dean’s RIFT, or white lies is now playing at Luna Stage in West Orange, NJ. The “story of estrangement, ideological divide, and the fight to change our world, inspired by the playwright’s relationship with his brother, a currently-incarcerated high-level member of the alt-right” is directed by Ari Laura Kreith.
Kirsten Potter’s Rubicon starts performances February 9th at the Denver Center as part of the Colorado New Play Summit. Chris Coleman directs the engaging portrait of “Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Pack as she transitions from society wife and mother to steely, seductive agent for British and American Intelligence.”
Christopher Demos-Brown’s The Cancellation of Lauren Fein is now playing through February 18th at Palm Beach Dramaworks. Margaret M. Ledford directs the drama about “a college professor whose research, career, and family are all put in danger after her actions run afoul of the university’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.”
Kate Diaz and Tina Landau’s Redwood starts previews February 13th at La Jolla Playhouse. Idina Menzel stars in the new musical “about one woman’s journey into the precious and precarious world of the redwoods: an intoxicating environment of dense greenery, fractured light and dizzying heights — a place where nature can help us heal, if only we don’t destroy her first.”
Itamar Moses’ The Ally starts performances February 15th at The Public Theater. The “passionate, provocative, and unflinching new play about the vanishing line between the personal and the political” is directed by Lila Neugebauer.
J.T. Rogers’ Corruption starts previews February 15th at Lincoln Center. Bartlett Sher directs “the story behind the story of the phone-hacking scandal that engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in 2011, stunning the world and upending British politics.”
Kate Attwell’s Big Data runs February 15 - March 10 at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. The “revolutionary piece exploring questions of attention, connection, nourishment, and the dizzying possibilities of AI” is directed by Pam MacKinnon.

productions

The 1491s’ Between Two Knees is now running through February 24th at PAC NYC. The “outrageously funny ride through American history written by the acclaimed intertribal sketch comedy troupe” is directed by Eric Ting.
Anna Ouyang Moench’s MOTHERS is now playing through March 3rd at The Gift in Chicago. Halena Kays directs the “examination of the primal heartache of raising children in a disintegrating world.”
Lindsay Joelle’s The Garbologists is now playing through February 25th at TheaterWorks Hartford. Rob Ruggiero directs the comedy about “an unlikely pair of sanitation workers thrown together to pick up what the world has discarded.”
Mickle Maher’s It Is Magic is now playing through March 2nd at Catastrophic Theatre in Houston. The comic tragedy “revealing the deep, ancient evil at the heart of the community theater audition process” is directed by Jeff Miller.
Long Wharf Theatre’s revival of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge starts performances February 10th at the Canal Dock Boathouse in New Haven. The classic drama “wrestling with truths about family, the complexities of how we assimilate and, ultimately, how we view ourselves as Americans” is directed by James Dean Palmer.
Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of The Matchbox Magic Flute runs February 10 - March 10 at The Goodman in Chicago. The brand new theatrical spin on Mozart’s opera “features a cast of 10 and orchestra of five—following the fantastic adventures of Prince Tamino and Princess Pamina.”
Christina Ham’s Nina Simone: Four Women starts performances February 13th at Kansas City Rep. Malkia Stampley directs the “examination of Nina’s extraordinary artistry and the women around her as their journey leads them down a path of discovery and healing.”
Madeline Sayet’s Where We Belong runs February 15 - March 10 at Folger Theatre in DC. Mei Ann Teo directs the “stirring solo piece from Mohegan theatre-maker Sayet [that] echoes a journey to England braved by her Native ancestors in the 1700s following treaty betrayals—and forces us to consider what it means to belong in an increasingly globalized world.”
Guadalís Del Carmen’s Bees & Honey starts performances February 15th at Marin Theatre Company. The “vibrant, intimate, two-actor portrait of a Dominican couple's love and dreams in New York City” is directed by Karina Gutiérrez.

digital/streaming

Sasha Denisova’s My Mama and The Full-Scale Invasion will livestream four performances February 9-11 from the Wilma Theater and Woolly Mammoth. The world premiere “inspired by online chats with [the playwright’s mother] about a family’s connection and legacy amidst the present-day war in Ukraine” is directed by Yury Urnov. (The production will also be available to stream on demand February 19 - March 17.)

the regional theatre game of thrones

Shanara Gabrielle is the new producing artistic director of Theater Alliance in DC. The DC-based director and cultural producer succeeds Raymond O. Caldwell.
Charlotte Brathwaite and Sunder Ganglani are the new co-artistic directors of Cornerstone Theatre Company in Los Angeles. The long-time collaborators succeed Michael John Garcés, who stepped down last summer after 17 years.
Cynthia Levin is retiring as producing artistic director of Unicorn Theatre in June. Levin has led the Kansas City company since 1983.

2024 season updates

East West Players announced its 2024 season. The Los Angeles theatre’s line-up includes Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Pacific Overtures and two world premieres: Lisa Sanaye Dring's Kairos (directed by Jesca Prudencio) and Philip W. Chung's Unbroken Blossoms (directed by Jeff Liu).
Rec Room Arts in Houston announced its 2024 season. The line-up includes Rajiv Joseph’s King James (directed by Philip Kershaw), Harold Pinter’s Betrayal (directed by Sophia Watt), Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s Spring Awakening (directed by Matt Hune), and Roland Schimmelpfennig’s Winter Solstice (directed by Bradley Michalakis).

award season

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize announced the 2024 finalists. The award honors female and non-binary playwrights across the world who have written English-language plays. This year’s finalists are Roxy Cook (U.K./Russia) for A Woman Walks into a Bank, April De Angelis (U.K.) for The Divine Mrs S, Justice Hehir (USA) for The Dowagers, Rhianna Ilube (U.K.) for Samuel Takes a Break…,In Male Dungeon No.5 After a Long But Generally Successful Day of Tours, Jasmine Naziha Jones (U.K.) for Baghdaddy, Alex Lin (USA) for Chinese Republicans, Lenelle Moïse (USA) for K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Hannah Moscovitch (Canada) for Red Like Fruit, a.k. payne (USA) for Love I Awethu Further, and Ava Pickett (U.K.) for 1536.

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