the week of june 13-17, 2022
this is not a tony awards recap
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Identity Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton | Editorial Support: Rebecca Adelsheim
in-person theatre
Angela Hanks’ Bodies They Ritual runs June 22 - July 2 at the Wild Project as part of Clubbed Thumb’s Summerworks. Knud Adams directs the play that follows “a group of Texan women in a Sante Fe sweat lodge as they process pent-up emotions as a collective.”
The Taming of the Shrew is now playing at the Old Globe in San Diego. Shana Cooper remounts her acclaimed 2018 Hudson Valley Shakes staging of the troublesome comedy.
Benjamin Benne’s In His Hands starts performances June 22nd at DC’s Mosaic Theater Company. The queer rom-com about two men navigating faith, desire, and past trauma is directed by José Carrasquillo. (The production will also be available to stream on demand next month.)
Katori Hall’s The Hot Wing King runs June 22 - July 31 at DC’s Studio Theatre. Steve H. Broadnax III directs the Memphis-set, Pulitzer-winning comedy revolving around a loving gay couple and their extended clan’s quest to take the crown at the annual Hot Wang Festival.
Felicia P. Fields and Ron OJ Parson’s Pearl's Rollin' With the Blues starts performances June 23rd at Writers Theatre outside Chicago. Parson directs the world premiere musical revue that “honors and celebrates the great Blues artists of the past.”
digital theatre
The Wooster Group’s Hamlet is streaming for free on their website through June 22nd. The production “reimagines Shakespeare’s classic tragedy by channeling the ghost of Richard Burton’s legendary 1964 performance.”
2022-23 season updates
The Public Theater announced its 2022-23 season. The line-up includes Elevator Repair Service’s Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun (directed by Robert O’Hara), Madeline Sayet’s Where We Belong (directed by Mei Ann Teo), and five world premieres: Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s shadow/land (directed by Candis C. Jones), Ryan J. Haddad’s Dark Disabled Stories (directed by Jordan Fein), James Ijames’ Good Bones (directed by Saheem Ali), and two from Suzan-Lori Parks — Plays for the Plague Year (directed by Niegel Smith) and the musical The Harder They Come (co-written with Trevor Rhone and co-directed by Sergio Trujillo and Tony Taccone).
A.R.T. announced two more titles in its 2022-23 season. The Cambridge company will produce Anna Deavere Smith's Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (directed by Taibi Magar) and Zadie Smith's The Wife of Willesden (directed by Indhu Rubasingham).
The New Group announced its 2022-23 season. The season includes Will Arbery's Evanston Salt Costs Climbing (directed by Danya Taymor) and two world premieres: Thomas Bradshaw's Chekhov adaptation The Seagull/Woodstock, NY (directed by Scott Elliott) and Diane Exavier’s Bernarda's Daughters (directed by Dominique Rider).
MCC Theater announced its 2022-23 season. The line-up includes Hansol Jung’s Wolf Play (directed by Dustin Wills), and three world premieres: John J. Caswell, Jr.’s Wet Brain (directed by Wills), Guadalís Del Carmen’s Bees and Honey (directed by Melissa Crespo), and Kate Nash, Andy Blankenbuehler, and Ted Malawer’s new musical Only Gold (directed by Blankenbuehler).
The Royal Court announced its 2022-23 season. The London theatre will produce Jonathan Freedland’s Jews. In Their Own Words. (co-directed by Vicky Featherstone and Audrey Sheffield), Martin Crimp’s Not One of These People (directed by Christian Lapointe), Jasmine Naziha Jones’ Baghdaddy (directed by Milli Bhatia), Travis Alabanza’s Sound of the Underground (co-created and directed by Debbie Hannan), Ava Wong Davies’ Graceland, Danny Lee Wynter’s Black Superhero (directed by Daniel Evans), Rabiah Hussain’s Word-Play (directed by Nimmo Ismail).
award season
I’m not writing a Tony Awards recap, as my most incisive hot takes are staying in my group texts where they belong. (I am thrilled for A Strange Loop, I’ve never heard a Misha Fiksel sound design that I didn’t think about for months afterwards, Deirdre O’Connell deserves the world, I gave Joaquina Kalukango a standing ovation in my living room, and Gabby Beans was the best dressed attendee by a mile. Chartreuse and a cape!) Here are some more comprehensive rundowns of the night:
Helen Shaw, Jackson McHenry, and Kathryn VanArendonk on the highs, lows and whoas of the ceremony (Vulture)
McHenry’s behind-the-scenes dispatch of the ceremony and after parties in Vulture’s weekly theatre newsletter Stage Whisperer
Soraya Nadia McDonald and Glen Weldon on Pop Culture Happy Hour (NPR)
the regional theatre game of thrones
Molly Smith is retiring as artistic director of Arena Stage after 25 years. She joined the DC theatre in 1998, during which the theatre extensively renovated and launched the 25-play commission Power Plays Initiative.
Jade King Carroll is the new producing artistic director of Chautauqua Theater Company. Carroll, a director and educator, will succeed Andrew Borba.
things I read this week when I wasn’t reading vladimir
Soraya Nadia McDonald on how MJ The Musical dances around the singer’s full biography (Andscape):
“MJ presents us with a question of conscience: Is there any other way to make commercial theater about a figure with predations that ruined the lives of others? Especially when his fame, talent and money did a great deal to both create those opportunities for predation, and allow him to escape accountability for them?”
