the week of january 17 - 21, 2022
the pulitzer prize for drama goes to the house report for tambo & bones' 1st preview
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Identity Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton || Editorial Support: Rebecca Adelsheim
in-person theatre
Vichet Chum’s High School Play: A Nostalgia Fest starts performances January 21st at the Alley Theatre. Directed by Tiffany Nichole Green, the world premiere coming-of-age comedy about a high school theatre troupe’s controversial entry into a one-act play competition will also be available to stream February 14 - 27.
Somi Kakoma’s world premiere musical Dreaming Zenzile starts performances at the McCarter Theatre on January 21st. The “electrifying portrait of revolutionary artist Miriam Makeba” is directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz.
The world premiere of Change Agent runs January 21 - March 6 at Arena Stage. The 1960s-set political drama is written and directed by Craig Lucas.
Dorothy Fortenberry’s The Lotus Paradox starts performances January 21st at Greenville, SC’s Warehouse Theatre. Directed by Jay Briggs, the world premiere is “a haunting multi-generational tale about motherhood, fan culture, climate change, and if kids can and should save the world.”
SITI Company’s The Medium opens at City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh on January 22. Conceived and directed by Anne Bogart, the company’s first-ever devised piece “explores the effect of media and emerging technologies on our perceptions, our psyches, and our personal lives.”
Vivian J.O. Barnes’ The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes will have a one-night-only reading at Second Stage on January 24th. Part of the 2022 Judith Champion New Voices Series, the Christina Angeles-directed play details the mysterious disappearances of three members of a high-strung competitive dance team days before their big homecoming performance.
Rita Kaljenais’ This Beautiful Future plays at Theatrelab through January 30th. The US premiere of the kaleidoscopic, 1940s-set play about two teenagers from opposite sides of the war falling in love in occupied France is directed by Jack Serio.
Dael Orlandersmith and Antonio Edwards Suarez’s Antonio's Song/I Was Dreaming of a Son premieres at Milwaukee Rep on January 26th. The “poetic journey of a dancer/artist/father questioning the balance of his passions and identities” is directed by Mark Clements and performed by Suarez.
Eliana Pipes’ DREAM HOU$E premieres at the Alliance Theatre on January 28th. The Kendeda Award-winning play about two Latina sisters on an HGTV-style reality show grappling with the cultural cost of progress is directed by Laurie Woolery.
digital theatre
Thaddeus Phillips and Steven Dufala’s live cinematic epic Zoo Mundo is available online through February 13th. The “interactive dream within a 1970s game show, illusions, magic, and miniatures” presents three voyages from Ethiopia to Antarctica to a nightly, limited digital audience of 25 screens.
Psalmayene 24’s Dear Mapel will stream on demand at Mosaic Theater Company from February 2 - 13. Directed by Natsu Onoda Power, the autobiographical solo play centers Psalm’s relationship with his deceased father through a series of letters, both real and imagined, and asks if it is possible to alter relationships we have with those who have died.
James Graham’s new political drama Best of Enemies live-broadcasts through January 22 at the Young Vic. The Headlong co-production, directed by Jeremy Herrin, is about the 1968 nightly televised debates between William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal.
Project Y’s Women in Theatre Festival will stream on demand February 4 - March 18. The featured plays — short two-handers commissioned by the festival for hybrid digital/in-person performance — include Amina Henry’s Blackbox, Kaaron Briscoe’s #GirlPowerHour, Erin Mallon’s Middle C, Georgina Escobar’s Rigged, and Eliza Bent’s In Service of Memory.
nothing in this world that I like more than checks
The advocacy collective On Our Team launched the Pay Equity Standards, a new system to establish pay equity within theater companies and publicly recognize equitably paid art.
the regional theatre game of thrones
Elizabeth Williamson is the new artistic director of Geva Theatre Center. She was most recently associate artistic director and director of new play development at Hartford Stage. (Dramaturgs becoming artistic directors: we love to see it.) Williamson succeeds Mark Cuddy, who led the Rochester company for 27 years.
things I read this week that were not about the season finale of yellowjackets
Nicole Hertvik on how Omicron-related expenses, cancellations, and staff shortages are wreaking havoc on DC theatres. I am not easily shocked because I am a catastrophizing depressive who always expects the worst but the detail that one DC theatre company lost half a million dollars in December alone due to surge-related costs made my jaw drop.
Peter Marks’ remembrance of the late critic, writer, and indispensable theatre advocate Terry Teachout, who passed away on January 13th.
I did not read the house report from the first preview of Dave Harris’ Tambo and Bones but I bet it was wild (per Harris, everyone is okay):
that’s not a living wage
Here are this week’s featured underpaid job listings, paired with the living wage for a 40-hour work week for one adult with no children in that area. (You can read more about the methodology here.)
Play Licensing Associate, Broadway Licensing: $36,000 - $40,000
Living Wage for NYC: $51,323Development Associate, Round House Theatre: $40,000 - $42,000
Living Wage for Montgomery County, MD: $53,385Multimedia Designer, Studio Theatre: $42,000 “and up” (full-time exempt)
Living Wage for DC: $51,245
