the week of may 30 - june 3, 2022
another theater bites the dust
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icymi: bills, bills, bills
The first installment of Bills, Bills, Bills — a new feature showcasing money diaries from theater workers — went out on Wednesday. Read about how a costume shop worker in the Midwest navigates the first week of their annual summer layoff, featuring bike rides, gutter repairs, and a Prince-themed party:
Once again, thanks to our anonymous contributor for their humor and transparency and to the brilliant Jenna Clark Embrey for curating and editing this series. The next one will hit your inbox on July 6th.
in-person theatre
Caryl Churchill’s What If If Only and Air are now running in rep through June 26th at Raleigh’s Burning Coal Theatre Company. Ana Radulescu directs the two short plays; the first 25-minute one-act premiered at the Royal Court last year and the second brief stream-of-consciousness piece was previously produced online in 2020.
christopher oscar peña’s how to make an American Son runs June 4 - 25 at Arizona Theatre Company. The world premiere about a Honduran-born business mogul who feels he must rein in his over-privileged American son when tragedy strikes is directed by Kimberly Senior. (The production is also available to stream on demand.)
Gab Reisman’s Spindle Shuttle Needle starts performances June 6th as a part of Clubbed Thumb’s Summerworks. Tamilla Woodard directs the world premiere “set in a cottage surrounded by an unending siege; inside, a group of women tell tales, do chores, and try to survive until the Market reopens.”
Jocelyn Bioh’s Nollywood Dreams runs June 8 - July 3 at Round House Theatre. Raymond O. Caldwell directs the 1990s-set romantic comedy, which follows an ambitious ingenue in the booming Nigerian film industry.
Kyle Bass’ salt/city/blues starts performances June 9th at Syracuse Stage. The world premiere, set in a fictionalized Syracuse and exploring the complicated history around race, class and urban renewal, is directed by Gilbert McCauley.
Aimee Suzara’s The Real Sappho runs June 9 - July 10 at Cutting Ball in San Francisco. Nailah Harper-Malveaux directs the world premiere exploring Sappho as mother, lover, queer, and a woman in her middle-age.
Jacob Marx Rice’s The Tragical Historie of Maximilien Robespierre runs June 9-11 at the Fled Collective. Tom Costello directs the developmental workshop, which follows “the incredible life of Maximilien Robespierre, from radical revolutionary to national hero to mass murderer.”
digital theatre
Fake Friends’ Circle Jerk is back — in-person and streaming — June 9 - 25. Rory Pelsue directs the Pulitzer finalist — written by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, in collaboration with Ariel Sibert and Cat Rodriguéz — about a “chaotic descent into the high-energy, quick-change, low-brow shitpit of the internet.”
Matthew López's Zoey’s Perfect Wedding is now streaming through June 5th from TheaterWorks Hartford. The comedy about “love, relationships, expectations, and the courage it takes to find true happiness” is directed by Rob Ruggiero.
The world premiere of Liz Duffy Adams’ Born with Teeth is now available on demand from the Alley Theatre. Rob Melrose directs the comic imagining of Marlowe and Shakespeare “meeting in the back room of a pub to collaborate on a history play cycle, navigating the perils of art under a totalitarian regime, and flirting like young men with everything to lose.”
Ken Urban, Knud Adams, and Daniel Kluger’s Vapor Trail premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival June 8 - 19. The audio play stars April Matthis and Maulik Pancholy.
the regional theatre game of thrones
People’s Light expanded its artistic team. The Malvern, PA theatre, now led by producing artistic director Zak Berkman, has “promoted Steve H. Broadnax III from resident director to associate artistic director, appointed Lisa Portes director of new works, brought on Mieke D as director of community programs, and introduced Nikko Kimzin as associate producer for the world premiere of Eisa Davis’s Mushroom.”
2022-23 season updates
Baltimore Center Stage announced its 60th anniversary season. Projects include Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (directed by Stevie Walker-Webb), Jordan E. Cooper’s Ain’t No Mo’ (directed by Lili-Anne Brown, co-pro with Woolly Mammoth), Cheryl Strayed and Nia Vardalos’ Tiny Beautiful Things (directed by Stori Ayers), and María Irene Fornés’ Life is a Dream (directed by Walker-Webb). The theatre will also produce a wide range of artistic initiatives, including a concert series, a young playwrights festival, family-friendly programming, and partnership events centering Baltimore artists and communities.
Long Wharf Theater announced its 2022-23 season. The three-act season kickstarts the theatre’s transition from its long-time physical space to its new itinerant community-focused model. Projects include the virtual new play reading series Black Trans Women at the Center (directed and co-produced by Dane Figueroa Edidi); a concert performance of Jelly’s Last Jam; a work-in-progress sharing of Zack Fine, Bryce Pinkham, Rona Siddiqui, and Kirya Traber’s Dignity, Always Dignity; Home(coming): A Community Parade (conceived and directed by Jenny Koons); a virtual multimedia production of Aaliyah Miller’s I AM: American/Muslim (directed by Halima Flynn); UNIVERSES’ Live From the Edge (directed by Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp); a benefit reading of The Crucible (directed by David Mendizábal); and Project 57, a partnership with other New Haven arts organizations to commission 57 local artists to create a communal quilt telling the story of the city.
Second Stage announced new additions to its 2022-23 season. The theatre will produce Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play (directed by Rachel Chavkin) on Broadway and Bess Wohl’s Camp Siegfried (directed by David Cromer).
BAM announced the upcoming Next Wave Festival. Projects include Thomas Ostermeier’s Hamlet (which features just six actors), Belgian theater collective FC Bergman’s 300 el x 50 el x 30 el, and the American premiere of Ivo van Hove’s stage adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life.
TheaterWorks Hartford announced its 2022-23 season. The line-up includes Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s, Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s musical Fun Home, Hilary Bettis’ Queen of Basel, and Jessica Dickey’s The Rembrandt (directed by Tracy Brigden).
end of an era
House Theatre of Chicago is closing after 21 years. The board president said the company “did not have the financial momentum or audience/donor support to continue beyond this fiscal year.” Founding artistic director Nathan Allen stepped down in October 2020 and was succeeded by Lanise Antoine Shelley in March 2021, who directed the theatre’s final production The Tragedy of King Christophe.
things I read this week when I wasn’t reading chloe caldwell’s the red zone
Howard Sherman on how three recent plays — Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain, Eleanor Burgess’s Wife of a Salesman, and Kelundra Smith’s Younger — riff on and reframe their classic source material. (American Theatre)
