this week in theater

TNC ON THE AIR: VISITORS IN THE DARK

visitors

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.

GRUDGES

grudges zoom

Who: Knowledge Workings Theater Company
What: Livestreamed play about family and politics
Where: Zoom link sent after ticket purchase
When: July 16-24, $10-$20
Why: Last year, satirist Joe Queenan and actor, director, and producer T. J. Elliott kicked off their Knowledge Workings Theater Company with Alms, a play about sports, religion, and homelessness. They’ve followed that up with Grudges, a comic tale of two brothers torn apart by the 2016 presidential election. The cast features John Blaylock as Matthew McCarthy, Lynne Otis as Faith Vergaretti McCarthy, James Lawson as Paul McCarthy, Jasmine Dorothy Haefner as Candy Cruz, and Andre Montgomery as Jerry Marcus, with Ed Altman serving as narrator; Matthew and Paul are considering reconciling over dinner after two years of battling over Donald Trump and Barack Obama, two names they are not allowed to say to each other. Directed by Dora Endre, the piece will be performed live seven times on Zoom July 16-24; tickets are $10-$20. I’ve been enjoying Queenan’s Wall Street Journal column “Moving Targets” for several years; he has also offered his view on the state of the country in such books as Balsamic Dreams: A Short But Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation; Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon: Joe Queenan’s America; and The Unkindest Cut: How a Hatchet-Man Critic Made His Own $7,000 Movie and Put It All on His Credit Card. So Grudges promises to be sharp, biting, and funny; just don’t hold a grudge against me if it isn’t.

NY CLASSICAL REUNION READING: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

importance

Who: Ademide Akintilo, Kristen Calgaro, Connie Castanzo, Jed Peterson, Kate Goehring, John Michalski, Tina Stafford, Clay Storseth
What: Live reunion reading of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest
Where: NY Classical online
When: Thursday, July 16, free with RSVP, 8:00
Why: Last year, NY Classical Theatre presented a unique version of Oscar Wilde’s classic Victorian farce, The Importance of Being Earnest, indoors and outdoors, with all the actors switching roles and gender for each performance, which took place in A.R.T./New York’s Mezzanine Theatre, Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Carl Schurz Park. As part of its virtual programming during the pandemic lockdown, the troupe is bringing back the original cast for a live reunion reading on July 16 at 8:00, featuring Ademide Akintilo as Algernon, Kristen Calgaro as Gwendolen, Connie Castanzo as Cecily, Jed Peterson as Jack, Kate Goehring as Lady Bracknell, John Michalski as Merriman, Tina Stafford as Miss Prism, and Clay Storseth as Dr. Chasuble. Directed by Stephen Burdman, the reading will be available for viewing through July 20. “Oh, pleasure, pleasure! What else should bring one anywhere?” Jack says in the play. We could all use some pleasure in our lives these days, even as we’re stuck at home, going nowhere.

CLASSIC CONVERSATIONS

classic conversations

Who: George Takei, André De Shields, Becky Ann Baker, Dylan Baker, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Heather Headley, John Doyle
What: Livestreamed discussions about theater in the age of Covid-19
Where: Classic Stage YouTube channel
When: Thursdays, July 16 – August 13, free (donations accepted), 6:00
Why: Now that Classic Stage has concluded its twelve-part “Classic Conversations” series with the performers in the postponed revival of Assassins, the company is turning to other actors with ties to the troupe and its artistic director, John Doyle. The lineup features George Takei on July 16, Tony winner André De Shields on July 23, husband-and-wife team Becky Ann Baker and Dylan Baker on July 30, Obie winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine on August 6, and Tony and Grammy winner Heather Headley on August 13, all moderated by the Tony-winning Doyle. After the livestream, the talks are archived on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

THE ROOM PLAYS: THE LIVING ROOM PLAYS

the living room plays

Who: Eden Theater Company
What: Short Zoom plays about isolation
Where: Zoom room and Facebook Live
When: Thursday, July 16, free with RSVP, 8:00
Why: Last month New City-based Eden Theater Company presented The Bedroom Plays, the first installment in its Room Plays trilogy, each of which consists of three ten-minute plays dealing with isolation during the pandemic lockdown. Jake Brasch’s The Man in the Fuchsia Mask, Cassandra Paras’s Daeva, and Tracy Carns’s In a Bubble, with Only You offered intriguing looks into what life is like in the age of coronavirus. As ETC explains, “This series of short plays are at-home productions that take place in the rooms that we create for ourselves, and the rooms from which we have no immediate exit. The Room Plays provide an empathetic vantage into different experiences, different traumas, and different states of spiritual well-being while in quarantine.” Moving from the bedroom to the living room, the July 16 livestreamed show features Mario Gonzales’s postapocalyptic snapped-shot, directed by Ran Xia and starring Frank Humphries as a Civil War-obsessed loner; Amanda Enzo’s First Day, in which Enzo portrays an art history professor; and husband-and-wife Annie Larussa and Mark Moses’s The Pedicure, in which Larussa and Moses play a couple dealing with NY on PAUSE. The female-driven ETC, led by producing artistic director Diane Davis and creative artistic director Paras, will head toward the bathroom for the intimate finale, scheduled for August 6.

BENEFIT READING AND ACTOR/PLAYWRIGHT DISCUSSION OF GOOD AS NEW

good as new

Who: Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Peter Hedges
What: Benefit reading and discussion for MCC Theater
Where: MCC Theater YouTube channel
When: Thursday, July 16, $25, 7:00
Why: In its twenty-fifth anniversary 1993-94 season, Manhattan Class Company (now known as MCC Theater) presented novelist, screenwriter, and playwright Peter Hedges’s one-act play Good as New, which was turned into a full-length work in 1997 starring John Spencer, Jennifer Dundas, and Laura Esterman. The company is bringing back the shorter, two-character version for a special benefit reading on July 16 at 7:00, with Oscar and Grammy winner Julianne Moore (Far from Heaven, Still Alice) starring as a mother butting heads with her teenage daughter, played by Kaitlyn Dever (Unbelievable, Booksmart), who is learning how to drive. In a statement, Hedges explained, “Thirty-three years ago I met Julianne Moore at the same time I met MCC Theater. Bernie [Telsey], Bob, and Will had arranged for a stage reading of my play Andy and Claire. An actress unknown to me at that time, Julianne Moore, read Claire. In that moment, she became one of my favorite actors in all the world. MCC Theater is my favorite theater in all the world. And back when I wrote plays, MCC often workshopped and produced them. I even wrote much of my first novel, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, reading and staging excerpts under the auspices of MCC Theater. After experiencing the sublime and exquisite live reading this past spring of Alan Bowne’s Beirut with Marisa Tomei and Oscar Isaac, the possibilities of meaningful virtual theater became ever apparent. It was a thrill when MCC approached me about doing a reading of Good as New — and the whole thought of it went to a surreal next level when the great Julianne Moore and one of my favorite younger actors in all the world, the phenomenal Kaitlyn Dever, agreed to come play at what will be a live virtual theatrical party on July 16.”

The twenty-five-minute reading will be directed by Hedges, who has also written and directed such films as Pieces of April, Dan in Real Life, and The Odd Life of Timothy Green and written such plays as Champions of the Average Joe, Imagining Brad, and Baby Anger, and will be followed by a twenty-five-minute interactive talk back with the cast and creative team. Tickets are $25, with proceeds going to MCC’s Be Our Light Campaign; ten percent of any additional donations will go to the Artist Co-op.

THE NEW GROUP OFF STAGE: THE TRUE (and more)

the true reunion

Who: Austin Cauldwell, Edie Falco, Glenn Fitzgerald, Michael McKean, John Pankow, Peter Scolari, Tracy Shayne
What: Live reunion reading by the New Group
Where: The New Group Off Stage
When: Thursday, July 16 (available through July 19 at midnight), $25, 7:00
Why: In my September 2018 review of the New Group’s world premiere of The True, I wrote, “Obie-winning playwright Sharr White and director Scott Elliott manage to make a story about the 1977 mayoral election in Albany, New York, tense and exciting.” White’s fact-based drama featured a stellar cast taking us behind the scenes of political intrigue in the state capital. The Manhattan-based troupe is bringing the original cast back for a live, virtual reunion reading on July 16 at 7:00 as part of “The New Group Off Stage,” an online initiative benefiting the company and local organizations. Chiming in from wherever they are sheltering in place will be Michael McKean as Erastus Corning II, Glenn Fitzgerald as Howard C. Nolan, John Pankow as Charlie Ryan, Tracy Shayne as Betty Corning, Austin Cauldwell as Bill McCormick, Edie Falco as Dorothea “Polly” Noonan, and Peter Scolari as her husband, Peter. Ten percent of the proceeds will go to Girl Be Heard, which helps build youth resilience.

“The New Group Off Stage” continues July 30 with Jesse Eisenberg’s The Spoils, with Eisenberg, Kunal Nayyar, Erin Darke, Annapurna Sriram, and Michael Zegen, benefiting the Immigrant Freelance Artists for Theatre Fund. In addition, the New Group hosts “Why We Do It” on Wednesdays at 4:00, free live conversations moderated by founding artistic director Scott Elliott; coming up are Suzanne Vega on July 15, Clint Ramos on July 22, Maulik Pancholy on July 29, Erica Schmidt on August 5, Nico Santos on August 26, and Natasha Lyonne on September 2. And the New Group is teaming up with the NRDC for “Facing the Rising Tide: A free digital festival of play readings and conversations about environmental racism, the climate crisis, and hope,” consisting of free live readings and discussions July 20-24 at 7:00, with Charles Gershman’s Quik-Mart, directed by Arpita Mukherjee; Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s shadow/land, directed by Candis C. Jones; Rae Binstock’s That Heaven’s Vault Should Crack, directed by Kareem Fahmy; Jessica Huang’s Mother of Exiles, directed by Seonjae Kim; and Daniella De Jesús’s Mambo Sauce, directed by Machel Ross.