LAST UPDATED: 7/16/2024
Friends always ask me how I see so manyy plays that they’ve never even heard of. The long answer is, “I get recommendations, pay attention to playwrights whose work I’ve liked in the past and most crucially, I also subscribe to (and skim) many, many individual theater’s newsletters.” The short answer is, “It’s weirdly hard and annoying!” And EXPENSIVE.1
This is a free newsletter, but it’s also an ever-updating landing page and a list of what I’m seeing, as well as what I’d like to see in-theater. I’ll annotate when it feels right: a star* means I have a ticket, two stars** means I liked it (or, honestly, a trusted friend-of-the-newsletter did) (If something disappears from this list, wellllllll, it wasn’t that good? )This letter will appear in your inbox when there’s enough worthy of an update. Otherwise, please check back regularly!
SEEN ANYTHING GOOD LATELY? REPLY TO THIS EMAIL & TELL ME!
currently running (and about to run)
CRINGE by The Three Sardines (July 20 — 27, 59E59 Theaters)
CRINGE follows the creation of fanfiction as we know it–an unauthorized celebration of intergenerational fandom, liberative queer space, and collaborative fantasy, with a dose of camp and an even larger dose of… well. Cringe.
DUTCHMAN by Amiri Baraka (July 12 — 21, Gracemoon Arts Theatre)
The play focuses on Clay, played by Daren Herbert and Lula, played by Leah Doz, who meet on a subway train in New York City during the summer. The play, written in 1964 at the height of the civil rights movement, examines the depths of our collusive racism.
Bill’s 44th by Dorothy James & Andy Manjuck (July 10 — 28, HERE)
The streamers are hung, the punch has been poured, and the cake is just begging to be eaten! Our anxious host Bill has planned his party to the last detail—now all that remains is for his guests to arrive. Desperate to fill his apartment with camaraderie and celebration, Bill’s imagination runs wild.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Williams Shakespeare (Directed by Carl Cofield) (July 6 — 28, The Classical Theater of Harlem) [FREE!]
This production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream transports audiences to the height of the Harlem Renaissance, where four young lovers, a troupe of rude mechanicals, and mischievous fairies find themselves entangled in a web of romantic chaos within a mystical forest.
Disaster Theater by CAROL (July 18 — Aug 3, The Brick)
A bio-engineered fly in the ointment, acid rain on our parade, ice cream melting on the hot hot sidewalk. Disaster Theater repurposes pop culture disaster tropes to confront an endless cycle of catastrophe. Deconstructed public service announcements, plague diaries, doomsday films, and more coalesce into an intricate performance collage.
It’s Not What It Looks Like by John Collins (July 24 — Aug 10, Soho Playhouse)
A two-person testimony spanning several months with an assembly of characters tries to answer that. It’s a funny, suspenseful and thrilling story of grief that will make you wonder if it really isn’t what it looks like.
Six Characters by Phillip Howze (July 13 — Aug 25, LCT)*
When some trifling citizens storm a renowned cultural center where they’re not meant to be, all hell breaks loose. Wigs go flying. Wounds get opened. An archive explodes. Will the audience make it out alive?
Someone Spectacular by Doménica Feraud (July 17 — Aug 31, Pershing Signature Center)
Once a week, six recently bereaved strangers gather for group therapy. It’s a stable routine — until one day, their grief counselor is inexplicably MIA. The group’s typical session quickly goes off the rails, offering an open-ended meditation on loss, with revelations that are at once beautiful, funny, and heartbreaking.
ANTIGONE IN THE AMAZON by Milo Rau (Sept 27 — 28, Skirball)*
In this captivating rendition of Antigone, witness the stirring performance by Amazon indigenous activist Kay Sara in the titular role, accompanied by a Greek chorus comprised of survivors from Brazil’s historic Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) massacre in 1996. The production examines the Greek classic as an allegory for political struggle and fierce resistance against the implacable greed of a modern, devastating world.
Sex Variants of 1941: A Study of Homosexual Patterns by The Civilians (Nov 14 — 24, Skirball)*
The Civilians examine the intimate lives of Depression-era queers in this kaleidoscopic, musical fantasia adapted from the 1941 text Sex Variants, a “medical study” of LGBT+ sexuality.
festivals & series
TKTKTKTK
theater over $50 & probably worth it
Pre-Existing Condition by Marin Ireland (June 7 — Aug 3, Connelly Theater)** [EXTENDED]
Pre-Existing Condition explores the challenges, shared community and everyday indignities of learning to move forward after a life-altering, harmful relationship.
Inspired by True Events by Ryan Spahn (July 17 — Aug 4, Theater 154)*
In the green room of a community theater in Rochester, the Uptown Theater performers are getting ready to play to a full house after opening to rave reviews the night before. When their star actor arrives in a dangerously unhinged state, they must improvise on and off stage in ways they could not have imagined.
King Lear by William Shakespeare (Oct 26 — Dec 15, The Shed)2
Kenneth Branagh plays the title role in a new production of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, set in the barbarous landscape of Ancient Britain.
GATZ by Elevator Repair Service (November 1 - December 1, The Public Theater)*
One morning in the office of a mysterious small business, an employee finds a copy of The Great Gatsby in the clutter of his desk. He starts to read it out loud and doesn’t stop. At first his coworkers hardly notice. But after a series of strange coincidences, it’s no longer clear whether he’s reading the book, or the book is transforming him. Told over a single 6 1/2-hour production created by Elevator Repair Service and directed by Elevator Repair Service Artistic Director John Collins, GATZ is not a retelling of the Gatsby story but an enactment of the entire novel.
Quite a few theater companies have “Under 35” OR student discounts. I won’t be noting them here, but you should check for them when you’re buying tickets and you happen to be blessed with the gift of youth. (Or you have an active student ID.) Other ways to get cheaper tickets: sign up for the theater’s newsletter (they’ll often send out codes for discounts) or check TodayTix.
Extremely cool that you can get front row seats for this production for $25 if you’re under 30 [years old]. Extremely UNCOOL that you if you do so, you still can’t bring anyone over 30. THAT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!