twi-ny recommended events

THE HOMEBOUND PROJECT — THEATER FOR THE FRONT LINE PART FIVE: HOMEMADE

Who: Brian Cox, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Orson Cox, Torin Cox, Joslyn DeFreece, Lena Dunham, Ryan J. Haddad, Daniel K. Isaac, Andy Lucien, Laurie Metcalf, Kelli O’Hara, Cesar J. Rosado, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Sibilly, Janelle Monáe, Billy Shore
What: New online theatrical works to benefit No Kid Hungry
Where: Link supplied by the Homebound Project after donation
When: August 5-9, $10 or more, 7:00
Why: One of the best theatrical series during the pandemic has been the Homebound Project, short one-act plays, generally between five and ten minutes each, featuring award-winning actors, writers, and directors, filmed wherever the performer is sheltering in place. Among the many highlights from the first four iterations were Alison Pill in C. A. Johnson’s diversions, Marin Ireland in Eliza Clark’s The Jessicas, Kimberly Hébert Gregory in Loy A. Webb’s These Hands, Utkarsh Ambudkar in Marco Ramirez’s Is This a Play Yet, Ashley Park in Bess Wohl’s The Morning Message to the Second Graders in Room 206, directed by Leigh Silverman, Daveed Diggs in Johnson’s Here and Now, Diane Lane in Michael R. Jackson’s Let’s Save the World, also directed by Silverman, Sue Jean Kim in Leslye Headland’s The Rat, directed by Annie Tippe, and Marquise Vilsón in Migdalia Cruz’s Meat & Other Broken Promises, directed by Cándido Tirado. However, if you didn’t catch them the first time around, when they ran online for four days each, then you’re out of luck. But you can catch the fifth and final presentation, which premieres August 5 at 7:00 and can be viewed, with a minimum donation of ten dollars, through August 9 at 7:00. All proceeds benefit No Kid Hungry; more than one hundred thousand dollars has been collected so far.

The theme of the first four installments were “Home,” “Sustenance,” “Champions,” and “Promise”; taking on the prompt of “Homemade” are the following exciting actor/writer/director collaborations: Brian Cox, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Orson Cox, and Torin Cox / Melis Aker / Tatiana Pandiani; Joslyn DeFreece / Lloyd Suh / Colette Robert; Lena Dunham / Lena Dunham / Maggie Burrows; Ryan J. Haddad / Christopher Oscar Peña / Jaki Bradley; Daniel K. Isaac / Sylvia Khoury; Andy Lucien / Donnetta Lavinia Grays; Laurie Metcalf / Stephen Karam; Kelli O’Hara / Lindsey Ferrentino / Scott Ellis; Austin Pendleton / Craig Lucas / Pam MacKinnon; Cesar J. Rosado / Basil Kreimendahl / Samantha Soule; Amanda Seyfried / Catya McMullen / Jenna Worsham; and Johnny Sibilly / Korde Arrington Tuttle / Worsham; along with special appearances by Janelle Monáe and Share Our Strength executive director Billy Shore. These compilations have done a superb job of putting the pandemic in perspective, particularly how it relates to theater; in addition, there’s the major bonus of seeing where these actors are hunkered down during the coronavirus crisis.

VOICES FROM THE GREAT EXPERIMENT

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Who: Theater Breaking Through Barriers
What: Second Virtual Playmakers Intensive
Where: TBTB YouTube, Facebook
When: August 3-10, free, 7:30 on YouTube, 8:15 on Facebook
Why: Now in its forty-first season, New York City-based Theater Breaking Through Barriers “is dedicated to advancing artists and developing audiences of people with disabilities and altering the misperceptions surrounding disability by proving, once and for all, that disability does not affect the quality or integrity of our art or artists.” Because of the pandemic lockdown, it is going online with its Second Virtual Playmakers Intensive, titled “Voices from the Great Experiment,” consisting of new plays created on and for Zoom. From August 3 to 10, the troupe will present eight works exploring the American condition, one each night, streaming for free at 7:30 on YouTube and 8:15 on Facebook, consisting of Fareeda Ahmed’s The Olympians, directed by Kristin Heckler and starring Shravan Amin, Samantha Debicki, and Paul Pryce; Khalil LeSaldo’s Sing, directed by Ward Nixon, with Martin Lewis and AhDream Smith; Enrique Huili’s 3 Stops from Loop Tape Station, directed by Ashley Scott, with Juan Carlos Diaz and Melissa Jennifer Gonzalez; Christopher Chan Roberson’s M-O-U-S-E, directed by Kimille Howard, with Scott Barton, Nayab Hussein, Ayako Ibaraki, and Sean Phillips; Chris Phillips’s Cloudbusting, directed by Stuart Green, with Jen Bradley, Richard Lear, and Dan Teachout; Jeff Tabnick’s What If You Read My Plays, directed by Richard M. Rose, with Alyssa M. Chase and David Harrell; Tatiana G. Rivera’s (UNTITLED), directed by Everett Quinton, with Veronica Cruz, Christopher Imbrosiano, Patrick O’Hare, and Estrella Tamez-Penney; and Monet Marshall’s 3 Gods on a Zoom, directed by Keyanna Alexander, with Kalilah Black, Robin Carmon Marshall, and AhDream Smith. “Disability intersects with all populations in our world: every age, race, gender, and sexual orientation. TBTB strives to create a common ground for all voices and serves as an ambassador in the quest for full, systemic equality in our world,” artistic director Nicholas Viselli said in a statement.

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS AND NEW ORLEANS LITERARY FESTIVAL: THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

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Who: Bryan Batt, Samantha Beaulieu, Troi Bechet, Curtis Billings, Betty Buckley, Leslie Castay, Michael Cerveris, Patricia Clarkson, Patrick Cragin, Brenda Currin, Lisa D’Amour, Arsène DeLay, Gwendolyne Foxworth, Alison Fraser, Lawrence Henry Gobble, John Goodman, Rodney Hicks, Kenneth Holditch, Corey Johnson, Idella Johnson, Peggy Scott Laborde, Donald Lewis, Ti Martin, Elizabeth McCoy, Jessica Mixon, Whitney Mixon, Wendell Pierce, Francine Segal, Janet Shea, Harry Shearer, Carol Sutton, Beverly Trask, Kathleen Turner, Cassie Worley, Jake Wynne-Wilson
What: Virtual literary celebration of Tennessee Williams and New Orleans
Where: Festival home page
When: Friday, July 31, free (donations accepted), 8:00
Why: The thirty-fourth annual Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival was scheduled to take place March 25-29, with nearly 150 guests honoring the playwright and his adopted hometown, featuring a circus, a writing marathon, craft sessions, live performances, panel discussions, readings, and more. But with the pandemic lockdown, the event has gone virtual; it has been transformed into a one-night online party, “The Kindness of Strangers,” with a prestigious lineup sharing stories about Williams and the festival and performing excerpts from his writings. Though born in Columbus, Missouri, on March 26, 1911, as Thomas Lanier Williams III, and passing away in New York City on February 25, 1983, Williams became closely associated with his adopted hometown of New Orleans during his half-century career, setting many of his plays there, including A Streetcar Named Desire, Suddenly Last Summer, and Vieux Carré. In a statement, TWFest executive director Paul J. Willis called the tribute a “love letter to the festival, to Tennessee Williams, and to all that he loved about New Orleans. It is a testament to the artistic and enduring spirit of this city and our namesake playwright.” Among the participants are Betty Buckley, Michael Cerveris, Patricia Clarkson, Brenda Currin, Alison Fraser, John Goodman, Corey Johnson, Wendell Pierce, Francine Segal, Harry Shearer, and Kathleen Turner. The show goes live July 31 at 8:00 and will be available for viewing through August 14.

THE GAZE: “. . . NO HOMO”

New online media series The Gaze rehearses on Zoom before debuting July 30

Who: Sharon Lawrence, Yvette Cason, Devere Rogers, Galen J. Williams, Jason “Freckle” Green, Eugene Byrd, T. C. Carson, Larry Powell
What: Premiere of new digital series
Where: Facebook, YouTube, Twitch
When: Thursdays, July 30 – August 27, free with RSVP, 10:00
Why: Many theater festivals are going virtual these days because of the pandemic lockdown, and joining the parade is the Evergreen Festival, albeit this one is an all-new, fictional work of metatheater itself, created by actor and playwright Larry Powell. The five-week series follows the life and career of openly queer Black actor Jerome Price over the course of fifty years, beginning with “…NO HOMO.” On its GoFundMe page, Powell explains, “In between protests, self-care, virtual funerals, and starting a full-on performing arts academy all in the span of a couple of months . . . in partnership with Angelica Robinson’s Tell Me a Story Productions and with a small army of multicultural artists and activists, I made this piece of artivism. ⁣The Gaze is a cycle of plays that examines the process of building culturally specific and queer works of color in historically white spaces. It tackles hard topics like racism head-on. It wrestles with the question: Why strain to be free under a gaze fixed on your imprisonment when it’s you who is holding the key? Why stay? Go where?” The impressive cast features Yvette Cason, Devere Rogers, Galen J. Williams, Jason “Freckle” Green, Eugene Byrd, T. C. Carson, and Sharon Lawrence as Evergreen Theatre Festival interim artistic director Miranda Cryer; you can learn more about her and the festival in the below prologue as well as watch a tech rehearsal here.

Presented as the online gathering “Fire Circle: A Celebration of Black, LGBTQIA & BIPOC Lives” with DJs and postshow discussions with artists and activists, each episode can be seen for free on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch from Thursday nights at 10:00 until the next Sunday at 11:59 pm. “Building this work has brought me through the poison of the past to the medicine of the present moment. This work puts the pain into the fire so that it may alchemize into power,” Powell recently posted on social media. “Theater is sacred ritual and it extends into all forms of media. It cannot be left behind. It is the foundation and basis of all forms. Find the theater in anything you do and there you will find the boundless strength and resilience of the human spirit.”

MARTIN LUTHER ON TRIAL: A VIRTUAL PRESENTATION

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Who: Paul DeBoy, Kersti Bryan, John FitzGibbon, Mark Boyett, Fletcher McTaggart, Jamil A. C. Mangan, Max McLean
What: Virtual dramatic reunion reading from Fellowship for Performing Arts
Where: Online link sent day before event
When: Sunday, August 2, free with RSVP, 4:00
Why: In December 2016, Fellowship for Performing Arts presented Martin Luther on Trial at the Pearl Theatre, in honor of the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Now, during the pandemic lockdown, FPA, which approaches theater from a Christian perspective — other works include The Screwtape Letters, Paradise Lost, and A Man for All Seasons — is bringing back the original cast for Martin Luther on Trial: A Virtual Presentation, a live reunion reading on August 2 at 4:00. In a program note from the Pearl production, cowriter and FPA artistic director Max McLean explained, “In 1517, a young Augustinian monk nailed 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. This act launched the Protestant Reformation, or Revolt, depending on your point of view. Regardless of where you come down, few will disagree that Martin Luther left an indelible imprint on Western Civilization. That imprint — from Justification by Faith alone, to the scandal of a splintered Christianity, and his role in the German-Jewish question — is still with us today.” The returning ensemble features Paul DeBoy as the Devil, Kersti Bryan as Katie Von Bora, John FitzGibbon as St. Peter, Mark Boyett as Hitler, St. Paul, Josel, Freud, Hans Luther, and Pope Francis, Fletcher McTaggart as Martin Luther, and Jamil A. C. Mangan as Tetzel, Confessor, Martin Luther King Jr., Philip Melanchthon, the Holy Roman Emperor, and Michael the Archangel. Set in the afterlife as Lucifer makes his case for Luther’s soul, the play, originally directed by Michael Parva onstage, was written by Chris Cragin-Day and McLean. The free reading will be followed by a live Q&A moderated by McLean.

LIBERTY OR JUST US: A CITY PARK STORY

Theatre for the New City hopes to take latest summer musical offscreen and into parks

Theater for the New City hopes to take latest summer musical offscreen and into parks

Who: Crystal Field, Matthew Angel, JC Augustin, Alexander Bartenieff, Celeste Bradsher, Celestina Bradsher, Cheryl Gadsen, Michael-David Gordon, Sam Gutierrez, Ben Harburg, Dan Kelley, Terry Lee King, T. Scott Lily, Mark Marcante, Jessy Ortiz, Allison Patrick, Emily Pezzella, Justin Rodriguez, Michael Sanders, Ebonaya Smallwood, Natasha Velez, Juan Villegas, Lei Zhou
What: New oratorio by Crystal Field and Joseph Vernon Banks
Where: Theater for the New City online and individual park websites
When: Saturdays and Sundays, August 1 – September 13, free, 2:00
Why: The original plan was for Theater for the New City to stage its latest Summer Street Theater work, Liberty or Just Us: A City Park Story, at outdoor sites across the five boroughs, from Tenth St. and First Ave. in front of the troupe’s home to St. Mary’s Park, Abe Lebewohl Park, the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, Fort Greene Park, Travers Park, Tappen Park, and other locations, but Covid-19 had something to say about that. In the show, a large cast of eighteen actors and a keyboardist (trimmed down from a six-piece band) follows a park manager as he navigates through the coronavirus pandemic while dealing with privatization, police brutality, land grabbing, and prejudice; the details were developed through workshops with park managers, a teacher, a protest organizer, a Black policeman, and even a clown. TNC cofounder and artistic director and Obie winner Crystal Field wrote the book and lyrics and directs; the music is by Joseph Vernon Banks. Liberty or Just Us: A City Park Story has been adapted both for online viewing and for socially distanced outdoor presentations, should New York City’s rules about performances and gatherings change. There will also be an opportunity to occasionally sing along, with words projected onscreen.

HAM4CHANGE: A VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER EVENT

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Who: Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Christopher Jackson, Jonathan Groff, Brian d’Arcy James, Rory O’Malley, Andrew Rannells, Neil Haskell, Andrew Chappelle, Thayne Jasperson, Morgan Marcell, Javier Muñoz, Seth Stewart, Betsy Struxness, Sasha Hutchings
What: Livestreamed fundraisers with behind-the-scenes look at Hamilton, trivia, games, prizes, original content, and more
Where: Looped Live
When: Saturday, August 1, $10.75, 1:00; Sunday, August 9, 1:00; Saturday, August 15, 7:00
Why: Even with Broadway shut down, Hamilton continues to have an impact on theater and the world at large, particularly through criticism of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s treatment of slavery in the show, particularly in conjunction with the filmed version now streaming on Disney+. In the meantime, original cast members of the musical have organized Ham4Change, three online presentations to raise money for When We All Vote, LEAP (Law Enforcement Accountability Project), BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective), Until Freedom, Color of Change, Dance4Hope, Know Your Rights Camp, BAI (Black AIDS Institute), and the African American Policy Forum. The program, featuring trivia, games, prizes, original content, and more, begins August 1 with Hamilton originals Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Christopher Jackson, and Jonathan Groff and special guests Brian d’Arcy James, Rory O’Malley, Andrew Rannells, Neil Haskell, Andrew Chappelle, Thayne Jasperson, Morgan Marcell, Javier Muñoz, Seth Stewart, and Betsy Struxness, hosted by Sasha Hutchings. Tickets are $10.75; VIP packages include Virtual Meet & Greets with many of the stars ($75) and Digital Fan Experiences with Groff, Muñoz, and Struxness ($1,000 each). The series continues August 9 at 1:00 and August 15 at 7:00; participants have yet to be announced.