the week of november 10-16, 2023
the virgin mary, tiger lily, food bank influencers
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Graphic Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton | Editorial Support: Ryan Adelsheim
scheduling notes
Next week's newsletter will go out one day early on Thursday, November 16th, as I'm going to New York for a long weekend. I’m seeing FOOD, Merrily, Stereophonic, and maybe one other thing — but I'm staying with friends and their toddler is in her Frozen era, so there's a lot of "Let It Go" in my future.
No newsletter on November 24th, so weekly round-ups will resume on December 1st.
productions
Nancy Keystone’s Mariology is now playing through November 12th at Mixed Blood in Minneapolis. Created in collaboration with Critical Mass Performance Group, the new work is set “in a mythical 5th grade classroom, [where] lessons give way to fantasy and rebellion in a rambunctious spectacle of music, text, movement, and image.”
Jen Silverman’s Spain is now in previews at Second Stage. Tyne Rafaeli directs the 1936-set work about “a pair of passionate filmmakers who’ve landed their next big project: a sweeping Spanish Civil War film with the potential to change American hearts and minds. It just happens to be bankrolled by the KGB.”
Rosa Joshi’s adaptation of King John is now playing at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Produced in association with upstart crow collective — a company reimagining the classics with diverse casts of women and non-binary actors — the “fascinating political thriller follows a scheming monarch battling threats from abroad and within.”
Deepali Gupta’s United States v. Gupta runs November 10 - 28 at the JACK in NYC. Caitlin Sullivan directs the “musical tragedy that attempts to tell the story of Deepali’s father Rajat Gupta, who was tried, convicted, and incarcerated for insider trading in 2012...[Deepali] presents her own version of the events, working with materials that are transcribed, remembered, and imagined.”
David Yazbek and Itamar Moses’ The Band's Visit starts previews November 10th in a co-pro between The Huntington and SpeakEasy Stage in Boston. Paul Daigneault directs the Tony-winning musical about “an Egyptian band of musicians stranded in a small Israeli town after a transportation mix-up and the surprising connections made and friendships forged between the band and the locals.”
The world premiere of Isaac Gómez’s RADICAL or, are you gonna miss me? starts performances November 11th at IAMA Theatre in Los Angeles. Jess McLeod directs the “sweeping story of three women on the Mexican-American border who, more than anything, desperately want to be seen — and who will do anything in their power to make themselves known, no matter how great the cost.”
David Saffert & Jillian Snow’s Liberace & Liza Holiday at the Mansion (A Tribute) runs November 11 - December 24 at Portland Center Stage. The “exhilarating parade of musical and comical fireworks” is musically directed by Bo Ayars.
Rajiv Joseph’s Letters of Suresh starts performances November 11th at Curious Theatre Company in Denver. Julie Rada directs the companion piece to Joseph’s play Animals Out of Paper that “reveals intimate mysteries through a series of letters between strangers, friends, daughters, and lovers — many with little in common but a hunger for human connection.”
Shayok Misha Chowdhury’s Public Obscenities starts performances November 13th at DC’s Woolly Mammoth. Chowdhury also directs the transfer of the Soho Rep/NAATCO production of his bilingual play about “the things we see, the things we miss, and the things that turn us on.”
Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Dial M for Murder runs November 14 - December 17 at Milwaukee Rep. The spin on Frederick Knott’s 1952 suspense drama (and Hitchcock’s film) is directed by Laura Braza.
The Vineyard Theatre production of David Cale’s Harry Clarke starts previews November 15th at Berkeley Rep. Leigh Silverman directs Billy Crudup in the tour-de-force solo performance chronicling “the exploits of an awkward Midwestern man leading an outrageous double life as a cocky Londoner.”
Much Ado About Nothing runs November 15 - December 3 at PlayMakers Rep in Chapel Hill, NC. The Shakespearean comedy — this time set in 1940s Appalachia — is directed by Lavina Jadhwani.
Rebekah Greer Melocik and Jacob Yandura’s How to Dance in Ohio starts previews November 15th on Broadway. Sammi Cannold directs the new musical based on Alexandra Shiva’s Peabody-winning documentary that followed “seven autistic young adults in a Columbus, OH counseling center as they came of age and found their ways in the world.”
The world premiere of Iris Bahr’s solo performance See You Tomorrow runs November 14 - 22 at Theater J in DC. Bahr also directs herself in the “hilarious and autobiographical look at a mother-daughter relationship unfolding across an ocean.”
Anthony Hudson’s Looking for Tiger Lily runs November 16-18 at Oklahoma City Rep. Hudson — a queer mixed Native artist better known as Portland, OR’s premiere drag clown Carla Rossi — “uses song, dance, drag, and video to put a queer spin on the ancestral tradition of storytelling.”
Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol starts previews November 16th at Writers Theatre in Glencoe, IL. The performance/design collective’s adaptation of the Dickens holiday classic features their signature blend of visual innovation, puppetry, and music.
workshops & readings
Kristina Wong: #FoodBankInfluencer will have a work-in-progress performance on November 13th at En Garde Arts. The new work looks at the future of emergency food and features Kristina “sharing stories and slides of her work as a food bank influencer in Los Angeles, the Navajo Nation and beyond.”
A workshop production of Matthew Barbot’s the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo) runs November 10-18 at NYC’s Fault Line Theatre. José Zayas directs the 1951-set new work following “two would-be assassins on a train from New York to DC discussing their plan to strike in the name of Puerto Rican independence...as they find themselves interrupted by figures out of art and history, reflections of what their country means to them and has meant to the United States.”
Katie Bender’s Judith will have a workshop reading November 16-18 presented by All for One Theater at WP Theater in NY. Alex Keegan directs the solo show, conceived and performed by Livy Scanlon, that finds “Judith, dressed in drag, heading to London to save her brother’s reputation where she finds herself in a patriarchal, politically-charged, deeply divided nation, discovering the pleasures and pitfalls of passing as a poet known around town as The Bard.”
digital/streaming
Deepa Purohit & Sanjit De Silva’s Crushed Earth is now available for download from People’s Light, Vrialto, Theatre Horizon, and Hedgerow Theatre. The free, immersive audio play “follows the intersecting lives of several Eastern Pennsylvanians caught in a mysterious summertime snowstorm.”
2024 season updates
St. Ann’s Warehouse announced additions to its 2023-24 season. The Brooklyn company will present the Almeida Theatre’s production of The Hunt (adapted by David Farr and directed by Rupert Goold), the National Theatre’s production of Gillian Slovo’s Grenfell: in the words of survivors (co-directed by Phyllida Lloyd & Anthony Simpson-Pike), and Fix + Foxy’s Dark Noon (written and directed by Tue Biering, co-directed & choreographed by Nhlanhla Mahlangu).
The 2024 Under the Radar Festival announced additional programming. The revived festival runs January 5-21 and will also include Krymov Lab NYC's interpretation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin (directed by Dmitry Krimov), Teatime with Salty Brine, Arlekin Players Theatre’s Our Class, and Sister Sylvester’s The Eagle and The Tortoise.
Second Stage announced its Next Stage Festival line-up. The new initiative focusing on early-career playwrights runs January 16 - March 11 and features a one-night-only reading of Ross Golan’s new musical Inside Voices (directed by Michael Mayer), the world premiere of Kate Douglas’ The Apiary (directed by Kate Whoriskey), and readings of D.A. Mindell's On the Evolutionary Function of Shame, Sarah Mantell's The Good Guys, and Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin's Tiger Beat.
