the week of january 14-20, 2023
the winter of our content
You’re reading Nothing for the Group, a newsletter where one dramaturg rounds up one week in theatre news, reviews, and takes. If you like this sort of thing:
The Friday weekly round-up is always free — no gods, no masters, no paywalls — but if you’d like to sustain this project (and get access to occasional bonus content), you can upgrade to a paid tier.
If you want to say hi (or send me a press release), you can email me, tweet @halvorsen, or just reply to this email.
Graphic Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton | Editorial Support: Rebecca Adelsheim
in-person theatre
Mosaic Theatre Company’s Catalyst New Play Festival continues this weekend with readings of new plays from Annalisa Dias and Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi. Natsu Onoda Power directs Dias’ The Invention of Seeds, while Edidi’s Between/Time: A Baltimore Cycle Play will be directed by Danielle Drakes.
Folger Theatre’s Reading Room Play Festival is now running through January 21. Works include Reynaldo Piniella and Emily Lyon’s bilingual adaptation of Hamlet (directed by Tatiana Pandiani), Malik Work and Karen Ann Daniels’ Our Verse in Time to Come (in collaboration with and directed by Devin E. Haqq), Al Letson’s Julius X (directed by Nicole Brewer), and Lauren Gunderson’s A Room in the Castle (directed by Eddie DeHais).
The world premiere of Simon Stephens and Mark Eitzel’s Cornelia Street starts previews January 20th at the Atlantic. Neil Pepe directs the new musical about a man trying to “save the restaurant that has been his home for longer than he can remember and release his daughter to the life he dreams she can have.”
Lynn Nottage’s Clyde's starts performances January 20th at Berkeley Rep. The “feel-good comic drama about the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff at a truck-stop sandwich shop attempting to rebuild their lives” is directed by Taylor Reynolds.
Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me runs January 21 - February 12 at City Theatre in Pittsburgh. Marc Masterson directs the “hilarious and optimistic new play reimagining how the Constitution served four different generations of women and what it will mean for the future of America.”
Charly Evon Simpson’s Jump starts performances January 24th at Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre. The “hopeful, breathtaking, and even whimsical exploration into the buoyancy of hope and the power of human connection” is directed by Summer L. Williams.
Sean Daniels’ The White Chip runs January 25 - February 19 in a co-production between Atlanta’s Theatrical Outfit and Dad’s Garage. The grim, autobiographical drama following an alcoholic “from first sip to first love, critical hit to critical care, all the way to rock bottom, where he carves an unusual path to sobriety” is co-directed by Matt Torney and Tim Stoltenberg. (Daniels is also a founding member of Dad’s Garage.)
Anna Ziegler’s The Wanderers starts previews January 26th at Roundabout. Barry Edelstein directs the New York premiere of the drama “that ripples across cultures, challenging two very different couples with the same question: Can we be happy with what we have while we have it?”
digital theatre
A reading of Ray Yamanouchi’s Tha Chink-Mart is available to stream for free January 26 - February 1 from the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. The early-aughts, Long Island-set play follows “five Asian American teenage friends battling through a high school telling them they’re too Asian and a home life telling them they’re too American.”
2023 season updates
The Parsnip Ship announced its 2023 programming. The Brooklyn-based company will present live play recordings of Sam Hamashima’s American Spies; Gina Femia’s And the answer is…; Garrett Kim’s Are You There Truman? It’s Me, Just Another Guy Who Grew Up Secretly Worshiping Your Chiseled Porn Star Body Online, And Now I Think I Love You; Peter Gil-Sheridan’s Cockfight; Francesca Pazniokas’ The Wild Boar of Chernobyl; Javier Rivera DeBruin’s Happy Birthday Angel Dearest; Mary Harriman’s Sadboy Hours (this is a coping mechanism); John Bavoso’s MLM is for Murder (Or, Your Side Hustle is Killing Us); Darrel Alejandro Holnes’ Bird of Pray; Javier Rivera DeBruin and Nina Ki’s Horror Night with Radio Roots; Olivia Levine’s UNSTUCK: A One Woman Show About Growing Up With OCD; and Jei Lawrence’s Trenzas.
