the week of october 6 - 12, 2023
much ado about solo performances
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Graphic Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton | Editorial Support: Rebecca Adelsheim
icymi: bills, bills, bills
This month’s money diary — from an artistic director in their 50s getting ready to leave the industry after 25 years in order to secure their financial future — dropped on Wednesday:
productions
The world premiere of Renae Simone Jarrett’s Daphne starts performances October 7th at LCT3. Sarah Hughes directs the “surreal and moving new work about the stories we tell ourselves, and the moments we’re forced to choose between difficult truths and comfortable illusions.”
The world premiere of Ty Defoe and Larissa FastHorse’s For the People runs October 7 - November 12 at The Guthrie in Minneapolis. Created in partnership with the local Indigenous community, the “new comedy examining the myriad facets of contemporary Native life with humor and joy” is directed by Michael John Garcés.
The world premiere of Richard Nelson’s new translation of Anton Chekhov’s Little Comedies starts October 6th at The Alley Theatre in Houston. Nelson also directs the four one-act comedies — Swan Song, The Bear, The Proposal, The Wedding, and On The Harmfulness of Tobacco — newly co-translated with Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.
Bess Wohl’s Make Believe runs October 6-29 at Dobama Theatre in Cleveland. The “moving meditation on how childhood events can continue to haunt us in our adult lives” is directed by Nathan Motta.
The world premiere of Nambi E. Kelley’s Re-Memori starts performances October 10th at Penumbra in Minneapolis. Chris Berry directs the new one-woman show “fusing personal stories with American history, from enslavement to Black Lives Matter, to ask ‘Are the struggles of our ancestors ever really in the past?’”
Jerome Weidman and Harold Rome’s musical I Can Get It For You Wholesale starts previews October 10th at Classic Stage Company. Trip Cullman directs the new revival of the dark musical comedy about a Bronx-born shipping clerk torn between “the comfort of community and his own ambitious dreams.”
Jeremy Tiang’s Salesman之死 runs October 10-28 at the Connelly Theater in NYC. The Yangtze Repertory Theatre production of the “multilingual tale of cultural confusion, impossible translation, and unexpected encounters amid the chaos of theater making” is directed by Michael Leibenluft.
Qui Nguyen’s Poor Yella Rednecks starts previews October 10th at Manhattan Theatre Club. May Adrales directs the “funny, sexy and brash” follow-up to Nguyen’s Vietgone, focusing on a young Vietnamese family’s “bumpy road to the American dream” after resettling in Arkansas.
Whitney White’s Macbeth in Stride runs October 10-29 at DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company in a co-pro with Philadelphia Theatre Company and BAM. The “mesmerizing tapestry of pop, rock, gospel, and R&B, capturing the fatalistic arc of Lady Macbeth alongside contemporary thoughts on Black female power, femininity, rage, and desire” is directed by Tyler Dobrowsky & Taibi Magar and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly.
Ariel Levy and John Turturro’s adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel Sabbath's Theater starts previews October 10th at The New Group. Jo Bonney directs the “part ghost story, part love story about a disgraced puppet maker plunging into increasingly mad and maddening encounters with people from his wild and wicked past.”
The world premiere of Hansol Jung’s Merry Me runs October 11 - November 19 at New York Theatre Workshop. The “intoxicating queer cocktail of restoration comedy and the Greeks, served with a heavy garnish of ridiculous” is directed by Leigh Silverman.
William Goldman’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery starts performances October 11th at Playmakers Rep in Chapel Hill, NC. Jeffrey Meanza directs the psychological thriller about a famous novelist held captive by his number one fan.
Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop runs October 11 - November 5 at Round House Theatre in Bethesda, MD. The fictional depiction of the night before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination, set entirely in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel, is directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg.
The world premiere of Jenny Rachel Weiner’s The Chameleon starts previews October 11th at Theater J in DC. Ellie Heyman directs the new comedy about an actor on the brink of mainstream success grappling with career-threatening news over Jewish Christmas with her family.
Eric John Meyer’s The Antelope Party runs October 12-22 at Oklahoma City Rep. The ensemble comedy about “paranoia taking root among five friends who fear their My Little Pony role-playing game is being targeted” is directed by Jesse Jou.
The world premiere of Kait Kerrigan, Jason Howland, Nathan Tysen’s musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby starts previews October 12th at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ. Marc Bruni directs the “story of extravagance and longing in the lavish Roaring Twenties.”
workshops & readings
Steph Del Rosso’s Precarious will have in-person readings on October 9 & 10 at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. The new play “explores mothers and daughters, and what we choose to leave behind in a world transformed by climate change.” (It will also be available to view online from October 19-25.)
digital
Polly Stenham’s That Face is streaming on demand October 10-13 from The Orange Tree in the UK. The revival of the playwright’s 2007 debut play is directed by Josh Seymour and stars Niamh Cusack.
2024 season updates
Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced its 2024 season. The line-up includes Macbeth (directed by Evren Odcikin), Much Ado About Nothing (directed by Miriam A. Laube), Elizabeth Williamson’s adaptation of Jane Eyre (directed by Dawn Monique Williams), Justin Huertas’ musical Lizard Boy (directed by Brandon Ivie), the Alley Theatre production of Liz Duffy Adams’ Born with Teeth (directed by Rob Melrose), and four solo performances from OSF alumni: Barzin Akhavan’s Behfarmaheen (If You Please), Robin Goodrin Nordli’s Virgins to Villains, Rodney Gardiner’s Smote This, A Comedy About God... and Other Serious $H*T, and Lisa Wolpe’s Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender.
Magic Theatre announced its 2024 line-up. The San Francisco theater will produce Naomi Iizuka’s translation of Richard II (directed by Karina Gutiérrez) and three world premieres: Ashley Smiley’s Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad (directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges), Naomi Iizuka’s Garuda’s Wing (directed by Margo Hall), and Richard Montoya’s concert play Jerry Garcia in the Lower Mission (directed by Montoya and Sean San José).
