the week of march 21 - 25, 2022
march on, march off
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Identity Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton || Editorial Support: Rebecca Adelsheim
in-person theatre
Eliana Pipes’ DREAM HOU$E is now playing at Long Wharf. The co-world premiere with Alliance and Baltimore Center Stage about two Latina sisters on an HGTV-style reality show grappling with the cultural cost of progress is directed by Laurie Woolery.
Nolan Williams, Jr. and Nikkole Salter’s new musical Grace is now playing at Ford’s Theatre in DC. Robert Barry Fleming directs and choreographs the world premiere that “examines the history of Black culinary tradition and the challenges faced by Black-owned businesses in a changing Philadelphia neighborhood.”
The 39 Steps is now playing at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Kate Bergstrom directs the frenetic theatrical riff on Hitchcock’s 1935 film.
Frank Labovitz’s adaptation of Rhinocéros! is now playing at DC’s Pointless Theatre. Labovitz also directs the production, which features “large scale puppetry to represent the transformation of people to beast.”
The world premiere of Mason Holdings’ Hart Island is now playing through April 9th at The Gym at Judson. The multimedia theatrical meditation on New York City’s potter’s field and the humans connected to it, living and dead, is written by Tracy Weller and created with director Kristjan Thor and set designers Christopher and Justin Swader.
Zizi Majid’s They Came in the Night runs March 24-26 as part of WP Theater’s Pipeline Festival. The play, which follows an Iraqi-American family dealing with the death of its matriarch, an unexpected arrival from Baghdad, and the aftermath of the Iraq War, is directed by Carolyn Cantor and produced/dramaturged by Kristin Leahey.
Ryan J. Haddad’s Hi, Are You Single? starts performances at Woolly Mammoth on March 28th. Laura Savia directs Haddad’s autobiographical solo show about his search to find love (or at least a hookup).
Ike Holter’s The Wolf at the End of the Block starts performances March 30th at Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta. Addae Moon directs the Chicago-set, modern-day neo-noir, which is part of Holter’s seven-play Rightlynd Saga.
digital theatre
The Royal Court will livestream Natal’ya Vorozhbit’s Bad Roads for free as part of a day of readings in solidarity with Ukrainian theatre artists. Presented in partnership with Theater of Playwrights Kyiv and The Guardian,
In Solidarity will “foreground the voices of extraordinary Ukrainian playwrights reflecting the immediate experience and deep roots of the current invasion.” The Royal Court originally produced Bad Roads in 2017, which documents Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and Donbas.
2022-23 season updates
The Donmar Warehouse announced its new season. The line-up includes Blackburn finalist Dawn King’s The Trials (directed by Natalie Abrahami); Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 (directed by James Macdonald); David Yazbek and Itamar Moses’ The Band’s Visit; Sonali Bhattacharyya, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Ishy Din, and Alexandra Wood’s Silence. (I didn’t realize that last year the Donmar hired a climate dramaturg to “reframe the conversation around the climate crisis and the process of making theatre.” I know the British theatre industry isn’t a blemish-free creator’s utopia, but I do think overall it’s far more committed to producing climate-themed work and prioritizing environment sustainability as institutional value.)
Milwaukee Rep announced its 2022-23 season. Projects include the world premieres of Lloyd Suh’s The Heart Sellers and Catherine Trieschmann's The Nativity Variations, Eleanor Burgess’ Wife of a Salesman, Ragtime, Beehive: The 60s Musical, Much Ado About Nothing (directed by Laura Braza), August Wilson’s Seven Guitars (directed by Ron OJ Parsons), Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage, and The Greatest Love for Whitney, a new tribute concert to Whitney Houston.
The Guthrie announced its 2022-23 season. The line-up includes the world premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks' Sally & Tom (a co-pro with the Public), Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone, Rick Cummins and John Scoullar's The Little Prince, Pearl Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky, Hamlet, Lavina Jadhwani’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol, Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, Into the Woods, and the world premiere of Karen Zacarías' Shane (co-pro with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park).
the regional theatre game of thrones
Laura Kepley will step down as artistic director of Cleveland Play House in June. She has led the company for nine years, after serving as associate artistic theatre for three years.
Robert Egan is stepping down as artistic director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference after 21 years. The board is conducting a national search and hopes to name his successor by the end of the year.
assorted news
Seayoung Yim's Jar of Fat won the 2022 Yale Drama Series Prize. The play, “an absurdist comedy about the close bond between two Korean American sisters”, will be published by Yale University Press and Yim will receive $10,000.
The Atlantic announced the inaugural Judith Champion Launch Commissioning Program playwrights. Matthew Capodicasa, Gloria Majule, and Alex Riad will each receive “funding to write a new play and the opportunity for a reading at the end of the process.”
The 2022 LMDA Conference is now open for registration. The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas event will take place online and in-person in Philadelphia this July. (Do I normally post about conferences? No, but I make exceptions for my people and I think everyone should go have brunch at Sabrina’s.)
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.)
Company Manager, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey: $35,000 - 37,000 (overtime exempt)
Living Wage for Morris County, NJ: $50,301
Expenses (2020): $2.12 million / Executive Compensation: $185,000 (Artistic Director)Community Engagement Assistant, American Theatre Wing: $35,000
Living Wage for New York, NY: $56,718
me elsewhere
Thank you to Ashley Lee for featuring me in the LA Times’ cover story this Sunday alongside nine other theatre workers who have opted not to return to the industry full-time. (I played the hits and talked about how theatres specifically do not value dramaturgical labor but also do not value their workers at-large.)
