Who: Charles Busch, Julie Halston, Becky London, Ruth Williamson, Carl Andress
What: Online reading of new play
Where: Theater for the New City Facebook Live
When: Monday, July 20, free (donations accepted), 7:00
Why: On May 13, Stars in the House presented a live, one-time-only reading of Charles Busch’s wonderful comedy, The Confessions of Lily Dare, which ran at the Cherry Lane earlier this year. On July 20 at 7:00, the downtown institution Theater for the New City is hosting the world premiere of Busch’s latest work, Visitors in the Dark, on Facebook Live. The play, directed and narrated by longtime Busch collaborator Carl Andress, features Busch as Trina, Julie Halston as Hope, Becky London as Lou, and Ruth Williamson as Yvonne, four characters who find themselves trapped in a Greenwich Village tenement during the Northeast Blackout of 1965, evocative of the current situation with everyone still sheltering in place during the pandemic lockdown. Busch, an actor, playwright, cabaret performer, and drag legend, has either written and/or starred in such works as The Allergist’s Wife, Olive and the Bitter Herbs, The Tribute Artist, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, and Die Mommie Die! The virtual production is part of TNC “On the Air,” which has previously streamed Roberto Monticello’s Café Resistance, Melanie Goodreaux’s The White Blacks, Claude Solnick’s The Statement, William Electric Black’s I Will Never Clean My Room and The Cry, and Eva Dorrepaal’s Raising a Revolutionary, among others. As always, admission is free, but donations are accepted to support this New York City jewel.