the week of january 31 - february 6, 2025
mutant rabbits, marionettes, divine swans
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Graphic Design: Elizabeth Morton | Editorial Support: Ryan Adelsheim
I should be less surprised that I fully forgot to finish and schedule the newsletter by its usual 10am deadline. It’s been a miserable, sad week to live in DC. Last night, after Trump blamed the plane crash on diversity, the writer Hanif Abdurraqib wrote, “It is a profoundly unwell society that places no value on life, and therefore the dead don’t exist as lost lives, but opportunities.” It’s the only thing I read this week that wholly articulates my rage and grief.
I still believe in the accumulation of small actions and locating power in the collective — and, especially when I feel depressed and exhausted, it’s crucial to support others doing the work to combat amoral billionaire failsons. I donated a portion of my subscription income this week to the Trans Journalists Association and SMYAL, an organization that supports LGBTQ+ youth in DC.
world premieres
Sarah Saltwick’s Rabbits is now playing through February 16th at The VORTEX in Austin, TX. The post-apocalyptic drama chronicling “the fate of a traveler, a father, and a daughter as they attempt to survive the wild landscape, monstrous rabbits, and each other” is directed by Chris Fontanes.
Samuel D. Hunter’s Grangeville runs February 4 - March 16 at Signature Theatre Off-Broadway. Jack Serio directs the “new play about the fallibility of memory, the stories we tell to make sense of our suffering, and the complexity of forgiveness.”
Bess Wohl’s Liberation is now playing through March 30th at Roundabout Theatre Company. The “provocative, revealing, and irreverent jolt of a play about what really goes on when women meet behind closed doors” is directed by Whitney White.
Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s production of Philip W. Chung’s My Man Kono starts performances February 6th at A.R.T./NY. Jeff Liu directs the gripping drama about a “Japanese émigré who becomes the loyal confidante of Charlie Chaplin — before he’s swept up in anti-Japanese hysteria and accused of espionage at the dawn of WWII.”
Susan Soon He Stanton’s Cygnus runs February 6 - March 16 at The Gift Theatre in Chicago. The “mythic, hilarious, and poetic new play, [in which] a burnt feather may illuminate the possibility of a divine intervention” is directed by Brittany Burch.
Keith Bunin’s adaptation of The Thing About Jellyfish is now running through March 9th at Berkeley Rep. Tyne Rafaeli directs the “visually stunning and deeply emotional coming-of-age story about love, loss, friendship, and the profound expansiveness of the human spirit.”
productions
Matt Barbot’s El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom is now running through February 16th at Long Wharf Theater at The Lyman Center in New Haven, CT. The electrifying story of “a struggling comic book artist with a secret identity of his own navigate the challenges of being a hero both on and off the page” is directed by Kinan Valdez.
The Indian Ink Theatre Company’s presentation of Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis’ Mrs Krishnan's Party starts performances January 31st at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Set in the backroom of the titular character’s convenience store, the immersive and interactive experience features “actors juggling cooking, music, and guests in an unfolding drama.”
The Baxter Theatre Centre and Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus production of The Life & Times of Michael K runs January 31 - February 9 at ArtsEmerson in Boston. The adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s award-winning novel uses “intricate marionettes to depict the trials and tribulations faced by a South African man and his mother as they seek to escape political turmoil.”
Talene Monahon’s Jane Anger starts performances January 31st at Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, SC. Anne Kelly Tromsness directs the Jacobean revenge comedy as Shakespeare’s writer’s block (and quarantine) are disrupted by the arrival of “a woman with a scheme to change history.”
Keith Morris and Jules Talbot’s The Draw runs February 1-4 at The TANK in NYC. Performed with live drawing and painting, “The Draw is an all-out brawl between two actors-slash-artists.”
Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust starts performances February 1st at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Timothy Douglas directs the “achingly beautiful, modern-day tale that celebrates friendship and connection.”
Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust runs February 2 - March 2 at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore. The Pulitzer-winning drama about a “shy and gentle man who is forced to rejoin society after being fired from his bookstore job” is directed by Reginald L. Douglas.
A Midsummer Night's Dream starts performances February 1st at The Guthrie in Minneapolis. Joseph Haj directs Shakespeare’s “beloved tale of mischief and merriment.”
Sarah Silverman, Adam Schlesinger, and Joshua Harmon’s musical The Bedwetter runs February 4 - March 16 at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. The musical adaptation of Silverman’s memoir about “a funny little girl with clinical depression” is directed by Anne Kauffman and choreographed by Danny Mefford.
Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class starts performances February 4th at The New Group in NYC. Scott Elliott directs the classic “dismantling of the American dream [as a family] white knuckles to their past, while scratching and clawing their way towards a better future.”
Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s runs February 5 -March 2 at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. The truck-stop comedy and “spirited culinary quest where second chances are as vibrant as the flavors sizzling in the pan” is directed by Josiah Davis.
David Adjmi’s Marie Antoinette starts performances February 6th at Actor’s Express in Atlanta. Donya K. Washington directs the “hilarious and audacious take on history’s most provocative icon.”
York Walker’s Covenant runs February 6 – March 2 at ArtsWest in Seattle. The “mythic and suspenseful new play exploring the power of belief and the thin line between rumor and truth” is directed by Nicholas Japaul Bernard.
Nick Payne’s Constellations starts performances February 6th at Constellation Theatre Company in Washington, DC. Nikki Mirza directs the “vivid love story set in a swirling multiverse, where star-crossed lovers travel through infinite possibilities.”
Harley Granville-Barker’s Waste runs February 6 - March 2 at Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley, CA. The Edwardian drama following “a promising politician’s career derailed by a scandalous tragic affair” is directed by Carey Perloff.
Lia Romeo’s Still is now running through March 23rd at The Sheen Center in NYC. Adrienne Campbell-Holt directs the “funny and heartwrenching Off-Broadway premiere about getting older and roads not taken.”
Deborah Zoe Laufer’s Rooted is now running through February 16th at Amphibian Stage in Fort Worth, TX. The “satisfyingly strange and offbeat comedy about fame, family, and the roots we grow” is directed by Scott Evans.
Lindsay Joelle’s The Garbologists is now running through February 23rd at Theater Alliance in Washington, DC. Shanara Gabrielle directs the “fresh, quirky buddy comedy about two unlikely partners, thrown together in the cab of a nineteen-ton garbage truck.”
workshops & readings
Donja R. Love’s The Teetee and Lala Show will have a reading on January 31st as part of the The Relentless Reading Series. A finalist for the 2024 Relentless Award, Love also directs the “tender, bold, and irreverent exploration of loyalty, resilience, and the fantasies that sustain us following two LGBTQ+ teens on the coldest night of the year as they try to scheme their way off the streets.”
Theater J’s Expanding the Canon National Convening will take place on February 2nd in Washington, DC. The event will feature excerpts from newly commissioned works by Harley Elias, Zachariah Ezer, Carolivia Herron, Jesse Jae Hoon, M.J. Kang, and Kendell Pinkney.
2025-26 season announcements
Milwaukee Rep announced its 2025-26 season. The line-up includes Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s musical Come From Away (directed by Mark Clements), Katie Dahl’s musical The Fisherman’s Daughters (directed by Molly Rhode), Joe Landry’s It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (directed by Jonathan Hetler), Ben Power’s adaptation of Stefano Massini’s The Lehman Trilogy (directed by Arin Arbus), Ayad Akhtar’s McNeal (directed by Clements), August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson (directed by Lou Bellamy), Richard Maltby Jr. & Murray Horwitz’s Ain’t Misbehavin’, Vanessa Severo’s Frida…A Self Portrait (directed by Joanie Schultz), Heidi Armbruster’s Mrs. Christie (directed by Joanie Schultz), Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (directed by Laura Braza), and the world premiere of Tami Workentin’s George & Gracie: A Love Story (directed by Laura Braza).
the nyc theatre game of thrones
Andrew Neisler and Anna Morton Stacey are the next Co-Artistic Directors of Ars Nova. The duo are currently Associate Artistic Directors at the Off Broadway theatre. Founding Artistic Director Jason Eagan will step down in June and transition into an advisory role.
As Playbill’s Logan Culwell-Block noted, “The move comes in a time of larger leadership shifts at the company. Former Producing Executive Director Renee Blinkwolt recently announced she'd been fired from her role last year (the theatre itself has only acknowledged that Blinkwolt is no longer with the company), and Managing Director Casey York has also stepped away from her role. Eagan and Interim Executive Director Preston Whiteway are currently leading the search to find a new managing director to work alongside Neisler and Stacey.”
end of an era
Capital Fringe Festival will cease producing its annual festival after 20 years. The DC-based organization’s announcement cited “years of mounting obstacles that have only been addressed with short-term solutions.” (Kriston Capps summarized the Fringe’s decades of space woes for the Washington Post, here’s a gift link.) This fall, the organization plans to launch an annual cash prize for a “single artist who works in the visual arts, music, theater, dance or other fields.”
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 and the most recently available 990 data. (You can read more about the methodology here.)
Casting Director/Artistic Associate at Signature Theatre (VA): “mid-to-high 50Ks” (Full-Time)
Living Wage for Arlington County, VA: $67,980
Revenue (2023): $11.8 million / Net Income: -$2.84 million
Executive Compensation: