Who: Jovan Adepo, Ron Cephas Jones
What: New reading of previously produced MTC play
Where: Manhattan Theatre Club
When: February 18-28, free with RSVP
Why: Manhattan Theatre Club is inaugurating its “Curtain Call” series, in which the institution hosts new readings of older plays it previously presented onstage, with, appropriately enough, Richard Wesley’s The Past Is the Past. Originally produced in April/May 1975, the play, directed by Lloyd Richards, starred Earl Bill Cobbs and Eddie Robert Christian as a father and son, respectively, reconnecting after many years. MTC is bringing it back for a virtual reading February 18–28, featuring two-time Emmy winner Ron Cephas Jones (This Is Us, Truth Be Told) as father Earl Davis and Jovan Adepo (Fences, The Stand) as son Eddie Green, directed by Oz Scott (Bustin’ Loose, Mr. Boogedy). MTC would go on to work with Wesley, who wrote the screenplays for the comedies Uptown Saturday Night and Let’s Do It Again, on such other shows as The Sirens, The Last Street Play, and The Talented Tenth. The free series continues in March with Richard Greenberg’s 1997 Pulitzer finalist and Obie-winning Three Days of Rain, directed by Evan Yionoulis and reuniting the original cast of Patricia Clarkson, John Slattery, and Bradley Whitford, followed by Charlayne Woodard’s 1997 one-woman show, Neat, and Nilo Cruz’s 2006 Beauty of the Father, directed by Michael Greif.