the week of july 29 - august 4, 2023
vacation, all i ever wanted
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note
I’ll be on vacation next week — I’m escaping DC’s unholy humidity for a road trip around West Iceland and the Westfjords — so here’s what you can expect in terms of upcoming content while I’m weeping at the majesty of the natural world:
A guest essay published in collaboration with Rescripted (coming your way tonight or tomorrow)
This month’s Bills, Bills, Bills will hit your inbox next Wednesday, August 9th.
No weekly round-up on August 11th, but I’ll be back on August 18th.
summer festivals
The Ojai Playwrights Conference is now running through August 6th. The first festival under the leadership of new producing artistic director Jeremy B. Cohen includes Mathilde Dratwa’s Dirty Laundry, Benjamin Benne’s and thou shalt be healed, Ngozi Anyanwu’s My… Name is Beatrice, Julia Izumi’s Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with Live & Active Cultures!), and Anne Washburn’s The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire. June Carryl, Madeline Sayet, and DeLanna Studi are this year’s writers-in-residence.
Aurora Real de Asua’s Wipeout will have a reading August 4th as part of Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Fridays@3 series. Maggie Burrows directs the new work about a septuagenarian’s quest to learn to surf as she and her two best friends “confront seven decades of secrets and sacrifices, not to mention the odd jellyfish or two.”
Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman will also have a reading August 5-6 as part of Williamtown Theatre Festival’s Main Stage Reading Series. Lila Neugebauer directs Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Michael Chernus and Alison Pill in the lauded dark comedy about tyranny and art in a totalitarian state.
The South Carolina New Play Festival runs August 10 - 13 in Greenville, SC. This year’s line-up includes Rhett Guter’s The Game (directed by West Hyler), Mat Smart’s A Black-billed Cuckoo (directed by Shelley Butler), Vichet Chum’s Kween (directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh), Michael Friedman and Annie Weisman’s musical The Essential Alice (directed by Des McAnuff), and Tyrone L. Robinson and Nichole Jackson’s musical Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream (directed by Clark Nesbitt).
New York Stage and Film concludes its summer 2023 season. The final week includes a workshop of Laurence Fishburne’s solo performance Like They Do In The Movies (directed by Leonard Foglia) and Samara Cohen (Princess Lockeroo) and Harold O’Neal’s dance musical Paradise Ballroom (directed by Colette Robert).
workshops & readings
The Judith Champion MixFest: (Writ)ual Mix — Traditions of the Diaspora runs August 7-16 at The Atlantic. Co-curated by Daaimah Mubashshir, NSangou Njikam, and Awoye Timpo, the free reading series festival includes a.k. payne's BURNBABYBURN: an american dream, Diane Exavier's Good Blood, NSangou Njikam's A Freeky Introduction, and Daaimah Mubashshir's Lifting Weight, plus one-acts from Dennis A. Allen II, Keelay Gipson, Amina Henry, Goldie E. Patrick, and Liza Jessie Peterson.
The 2023 Ground Floor Summer Residency Lab at Berkeley Rep concludes on August 6th. This year’s projects included The Pack’s The Almonds, Or In Defense of Temporary Despair; David Cale’s Blue Cowboy (directed by David Cale); Lauren Spencer and Erika Chong Shuch’s The Cassandra Project; Jo Lampert and Debra Barsha’s Conversations with Ourselves: Two Neurotic Queer Jewish Dykes in Concert (directed by Sivan Battat); Reggie D. White’s Fremont Ave (directed by Ken-Matt Martin); Max Posner’s Hanukkah Spectacular (directed by David Cromer and featuring Kate Berlant); Ryan J. Haddad’s Hold Me in the Water (directed by Danny Sharron); LeAnne Howe, Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate, and Colm Summers’ The Keening; Dan Hoyle’s Rage & Reconciliation (directed by Michael John Garcés); Machel Ross, Sekai Abeni, Nina Grollman, Bubba Weiler, and Ellen Winter’s The Rumspringa Project; Ken Savage, Jessia Hoffman, and Kyle Ewalt’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow; Madeleine George’s The Sore Loser; Samora la Perdida, Mobéy Lola Irizarry, Matthew Zweibel, Josiah Handelman, and Paloma Sierra’s Spanglish Sh!t; Isabella Dawis and Tidtaya Sinutoke’s Sunwatcher; Eric Lockley’s Sweet Chariot (directed by Shariffa Ali); Ro Reddick’s Throwback Island (directed by Taylor Reynolds); Soomi Kim’s Untitled Acts (directed by Peter Kim); and writers-in-residence Joe Waechter, Harrison David Rivers, and Carey Perloff.
productions
Zarina Shea’s Let’s Call Her Patty is now playing at LCT3. Margot Bordelon directs the “comedy about what it means to be a mother, a daughter, or anyone in the world doing their best to disentangle life’s mess.”
Theater in Asylum’s The Nobodies Who Were Everybody is now running through August 20th at Jalopy Theatre in Brooklyn. The devised theatre piece “gives voice to the thousands of incredible artists who powered the Federal Theatre Project, and examines why it is still so difficult to give artists — and audiences —the support we all deserve.”
Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Dial M for Murder starts performances August 16th at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, AR. The suspense thriller is an adaptation of Frederick Knott’s 1952 play, which inspired Hitchcock’s 1954 film, and is directed by Melissa Rain Anderson.
Sanaz Toossi’s English starts performances August 16th at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. The Pulitzer-winning, Iran-set “comedy of miscommunication and look at the ways speaking a new language can expand your world and limit your identity” is directed by Shadi Ghaheri.
William Finn & James Lapine’s A New Brain runs August 16 - September 10 at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, MA. Joe Calarco directs the semi-autobiographical musical about a composer wrestling with mortality after a grim diagnosis.
Albany Park Theater Project & Third Rail Projects’ Port of Entry is now running in Chicago. The immersive experience chronicling “the real-life stories of immigrants and refugees from all parts of the world living side by side in a single apartment building in Albany Park, one of the country’s most diverse immigrant communities” invites just 28 audience members into an iconic courtyard apartment complex meticulously recreated within a 1929 warehouse. (The current schedule is sold out but new fall/winter dates are forthcoming.)
the regional theatre game of thrones
Giovanna Sardelli is the new artistic director of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. She was named interim artistic director a few weeks ago, following Tim Bond’s departure to lead Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
residencies & awards
New Dramatists announced seven new resident playwrights. The writers receiving seven-year residencies are Haruna Lee, Shayan Lotfi, Deepa Purohit, Jordan Seavey, SM Shephard-Massat, Phillip Christian Smith, and Bryna Turner.
Jenny Connell Davis is the new resident playwright at Palm Beach Dramaworks. The company will premiere her commissioned play The Messenger — a new work “inspired by the life of Holocaust survivor Georgia Gabor and connects the dots between Holocaust denialism, free speech in schools, and racial discrimination in present-day America” — later this season.
The American Theatre Critics Association is now accepting entries for the Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism. The award recognizes reviewers, critics, and journalists in the U.S. from under-represented groups (women, people of the global majority, trans, and non-binary) who write about theater and its role in highlighting people from various cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. (Deadline is August 11!)
"Seven-year residences" rather generous.