Who: Lisa Banes, Jordan Boatman
What: Virtual reunion premiere
Where: MTC Virtual Theatre
When: May 27 – June 13, free with RSVP
Why: Originally presented at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Studio at Stage II in fall 2018, Eleanor Burgess’s The Niceties is making its virtual premiere in a new online staging, reuniting original cast members Lisa Banes and Jordan Boatman with director Kimberly Senior (Disgraced, Career Suicide). Boatman (Medea, The Path) plays a Black student at an East Coast college who is writing a paper about the American Revolution. Banes (Look Back in Anger, My Sister in This House) portrays her well-respected white professor. Their discussion of the work leads to issues of race, white privilege, and reputation involving the past and the present. The stream is available for free May 27 through June 13.