this week in theater

JUDGMENT DAY: ONLINE BENEFIT READING

Who: Jason Alexander, Patti LuPone, Santino Fontana, Michael McKean, Loretta Devine, Josh Johnston, Bianca LaVerne Jones, Julian Emile Lerner, Justina Machado, Carol Mansell, Michael Mastro, Elizabeth Stanley
What: Online benefit reading of new play
Where: Barrington Stage Company
When: Saturday, August 22, $35+, 7:30 (available through August 25)
Why: The Pittsfield-based Barrington Stage Company will be holding an all-star benefit reading of a new work on August 22 at 7:30, with proceeds going to the Massachusetts troupe and the Actors Fund. For a donation of $35 or more, you will gain access to the live reading, which features Jason Alexander, Patti LuPone, Santino Fontana, Michael McKean, Loretta Devine, Josh Johnston, Bianca LaVerne Jones, Julian Emile Lerner, Justina Machado, Carol Mansell, Michael Mastro, and Elizabeth Stanley in Rob Ulin’s Judgment Day, directed by Matthew Penn. A near-death experience results in a lawyer (Alexander) examining himself and his faith as questions of morality take center stage. “Judgment Day is the perfect panacea for today’s world — a smart, funny play with a brilliant cast; the play gives us an opportunity to laugh out loud — something we’ve had little opportunity to do recently,” Barrington founder and artistic director Julianne Boyd said in a statement. The link will be available for viewing through August 25.

ARTIST CONVERSATION: IGOR GOLYAK & WANG CHONG

Who: Igor Golyak, Wang Chong, Annie G. Levy
What: Artist conversation
Where: ArtsEmerson, HowlRound
When: Wednesday, August 19, free with RSVP, 10:00 am
Why: Back in June, I called Arlekin Players’ virtual interactive play State vs. Natasha Banina “the future of online productions.” On August 19 at 10:00 am, ArtsEmerson’s Together Apart Series will present a live conversation between Arlekin Players artistic director Igor Golyak, who directs the one-woman show — which stars his wife, Darya Denisova, and which you can still catch here — and Théâtre du Rêve Expérimental artistic director Wang Chong, moderated by theater maker and Emerson artist-in-residence Annie G. Levy. Golyak and Chong will focus on the place of theater during a pandemic.

In his Online Theater Manifesto, Chong writes, “The ancient Greeks probably could not have imagined that the public forum they called theater would still exist more than two thousand years in the future. They absolutely could not have imagined that, more than two thousand years later, a plague like the one in their play Oedipus Rex would suffocate theater. Performances have stopped; venues have closed; theater has disappeared. . . . In this world, theater artists can start from scratch with just their bare hands. We can define all time and space; we can control all language and symbols; we can create all the currents and futures. In this world, it is easier for us to find the Dionysian spirit or the ‘immediate theater’ imagined by Peter Brook.” The talk will have live captioning and ASL interpretation, and the audience is encouraged to ask questions.

CELEBRATING TERRENCE McNALLY: EVERY ACT OF LIFE

Who: Jeff Kaufman
What: Celebration of the life and career of Terrence McNally
Where: PBS American Masters on ITVS OVEE
When: Wednesday, August 19, free with RSVP, 8:00
Why: Emmy and four-time Tony-winning legend Terrence McNally died of Covid-19 complications on March 24 at the age of eighty-one. On August 19 at 8:00, PBS’s American Masters series will be celebrating the life and career of the theater giant with a live presentation by Jeff Kaufman, who wrote, directed, and produced the 2018 documentary Every Act of Life, which I called “a lovely and loving look at playwright and activist Terrence McNally, a compelling film about chasing one’s hopes and dreams, refusing to back down, and fighting for what’s right personally and professionally, onstage and off. Kaufman speaks extensively with McNally, who is forthcoming about his career and his sexuality, which included relationships with Edward Albee and Wendy Wasserstein and several men who died during the height of the AIDS crisis.” The event will feature film clips, discussion, and a live, interactive Q&A. You can read my full review here and check out my interview with Kaufman here.

UNFINISHED WORK: FINISH THE FIGHT

Who: Harriett D. Foy, Zora Howard, Q’orianka Kilcher, Leah Lewis, Chelsea Rendon
What: Virtual play about women’s suffrage
Where: New York Times online
When: Tuesday, August 18, free with RSVP, 7:00
Why: The Nineteenth Amendment might have given women the right to vote, but there is still a lot of work to do, including ending voter suppression particularly of people of color. On August 18 at 7:00, the New York Times will premiere the new play Finish the Fight, adapted by Ming Peiffer (Usual Girls, i wrote on ur wall and now i regret it) from the 2020 picture book Finish the Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote by Veronica Chambers and the Times staff. The show stars Harriett D. Foy as Mary McLeod Bethune, Zora Howard as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Q’orianka Kilcher as Zitkála-Šá, Leah Lewis as Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Chelsea Rendon as Jovita Idár and is directed by Whitney White (Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, What to Send When It Goes Down). Upon registering, you can submit questions for the creators that might be answered in a Q&A following the show.

THEATRE FOR ONE: HERE WE ARE

Who: Candis C. Jones, Carmelita Tropicana, DeLanna Studi, Eisa Davis, Jaclyn Backhaus, Lydia R. Diamond, Lynn Nottage, Mahira Kakkar, Nikkole Salter, Patrice Bell, Rebecca Martinez, Regina Taylor, Russell G. Jones, Shyla Lefner, Stacey Rose, Tamilla Woodard, Taylor Reynolds, Tiffany Nichole Greene, Zuleyma Guevara
What: Microplays performed for one person at a time
Where: Theatre for One online
When: Thursdays, August 20 – October 29, free with advance RSVP, 6:00 – 7:30 (reservations available the Monday before the show at 10:00 am)
Why: Since 2010, Tony-nominated set designer Christine Jones has been presenting Theatre for One, short plays performed for one person at a time inside a mobile four-by-eight-foot repurposed musical equipment container, at such locations as Times Square, the Brookfield Place Winter Garden, Zuccotti Park, the Signature Theatre, and the Grace Building. With the pandemic lockdown, Jones and Brookfield Place are taking the show online, reimagining its motto of “Intimate Exchanges in Public Spaces” for private spaces, where specially commissioned plays by BIPOC women about intimacy and isolation at this challenging moment in history will be staged in computer boxes, for one audience member at a time, sitting in the confines of wherever they are sheltering in place. “Here We Are” is also being held in conjunction with the hundredth anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, but a century later, voter suppression, particularly of people of color, is still a major issue.

Co-artistic directors Jones and Jenny Koons said in a statement, “American theater is facing both a historic crisis and a historic opportunity: the COVID-19 crisis and the opportunity to fundamentally address white supremacy in our culture. A spectrum of responses is essential to create lasting change in the fight against systemic racism. The Black Lives Matter and We See You WAT movements, and all of the theater artists fighting racism in our community, inspire us. ‘Here We Are’ is our vision of American theater: one where a vibrant chorus of the most innovative and eloquent artists are centered to share their voices. Theatre for One is made by many. We are committed to creating intimate exchanges in equitable digital and physical spaces.”

The all-star roster for “Here We Are” includes playwrights Jaclyn Backhaus, Lydia R. Diamond, Lynn Nottage, Carmelita Tropicana, DeLanna Studi, Regina Taylor, Nikkole Salter, and Stacey Rose, directors Tiffany Nichole Greene, Candis C. Jones, Rebecca Martinez, Tamilla Woodard, and Taylor Reynolds, and actors Russell G. Jones, Mahira Kakkar, Patrice Bell, Shyla Lefner, Zuleyma Guevara, and Eisa Davis. Eight microplays (three of which are Pandemic Fight, Here We Are, and Before America Was America) will be performed Thursday nights from 6:00 to 7:30 (with additional, later shows some evenings), August 20 through October 29; free tickets will be available each preceding Monday at 10:00 am. There will be some interactivity, so have your computer audio and camera at the ready.

FROM THE ARCHIVE — COFFEEHOUSE CHRONICLES #139: HAIR 50th ANNIVERSARY (with live Q&A)

La MaMa is livestreaming it 2017 fiftieth anniversary celebration of Hair (photo courtesy La MaMa)

Who: Chris Kapp, Michal Gamily, James Rado, Galt MacDermot, Michael Butler, Annie Golden, Andre De Shields, Ellen Foley, Walter Michael Harris, Melba Moore, Natalie Mosco, Jill O’Hara, Peppy Castro, Dale Soules, Shaleah Adkisson, Lauren Elder, Shelley Ackerman, Debbie Andrews, Andy Berger, Richard Cohen, Dave D’Aranjo, Nina Machlin Dayton, Magie Dominic, Aaron Drescher, Merle Frimark, Ula Hedwig, Antwayn Hopper, Rev. Marjorie Lipari, Thayer Naples, Allan F. Nicholls, Robert I. Rubinsky, Charles Valentino, Balint Varga, Jared Weiss
What: Archival livestream of 2017 performance and live Q&A
Where: LaMaMa and Facebook Live
When: Saturday, August 15, free (donations accepted), 11:00 am
Why: On October 1, 1967, a little rock opera by James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot opened at New York City’s brand-new Public Theater, the first show by living artists that New York Shakespeare Festival founder Joe Papp produced. Known as the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, Hair has propelled generations to stand together, challenge the status quo, celebrate multiculturalism, and work for peace. Fifty years after the Summer of Love, La MaMa, on January 21, 2017, gathered dozens of actors who had performed in the many iterations of the show, from the original off-Broadway version to productions around the world and the 1979 film, for a tribute concert as part of its Coffeehouse Chronicles series, which explores the history of off-off-Broadway.

The presentation featured such stars as Annie Golden, Andre De Shields, Ellen Foley, Walter Michael Harris, Melba Moore, Natalie Mosco, Jill O’Hara, Peppy Castro, and Dale Soules singing songs from the musical; the evening was hosted by Chris Kapp and Michal Gamily and included an interview with Rado and McDermot. On August 15 at 11:00 am, La MaMa will livestream that performance in its entirety — you can get a taste by watching videos of De Shields singing “I Got Life” and Moore performing “Aquarius” — followed by a live Q&A with the eighty-eight-year-old Rado. As revolutionary as Hair was, it’s a shame that so much of its narrative about such social ills as white male dominance, militarization and war, racism, homophobia, and government overreach is still so relevant today, but the music is so energizing and exhilarating, maybe it will spur you to keep fighting the good fight, now more than ever, while having a great time.

BOLD 2020 TEN MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL

Who: Black theater creators
What: Short plays with talkbacks
Where: BOLD 2020 (link sent after registration and prior to event)
When: August 14, 21, 28, free with RSVP, 6:00
Why: With Kamala Harris being selected as Joe Biden’s running mate, the prominence of Black women in America takes another giant leap forward. Expect that to be part of the discussion when BOLD, an organization that “seeks to create a culture in which Black womxn are one another’s allies,” presents “BOLD 2020,” a virtual edition of its ten-minute play festival, consisting of six new works written and directed by Black women and streamed for free over three successive Friday nights. “Black womxn will change the world! The restoration of our culture is dependent on the amplification of the Black womxn’s voices,” BOLD cofounder Destinee Rea said in a statement. “In this year alone we have seen the ways Black womxn are using their voices to inspire, empower, and shift culture. We are in desperate need of their stories being contributed creatively, grafted into the American canon.”

August 14 will feature Brittani Samuels’s In My Arms, or Under My Foot (with Anastacia McCleskey, Tiffany Denise Hobbs, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Trevor Hayes) and Agyeiwaa Asante’s Dainty (with Amber Iman, Zurin Villanueva, Capathia Jenkins, and Candice Marie Woods), directed by Kristolyn Lloyd; on August 21, Chanel Carroll’s Choices and Lakhiyia Hicks’s Sermon I Wish I’d Heard will be directed by Bianca LaVerne Jones; and the festival concludes August 28 with Kristen Adele Calhoun’s The Oldest Town in Texas and Jazmine Stewart’s Queen Nanny, directed by Jones and Tavia Riveé Jefferson. Each night, the two plays will be followed by a live discussion with the creators and others.