this week in theater

A VERY BRADY MUSICAL: A VIRTUAL BENEFIT READING

Who: Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, Gavin Lee, Kerry Butler, Klea Blackhurst, Trista Dollison, Celia Hottenstein, Diana Huey, Troy Iwata, Mason Reeves, Anthony Zambito, Tracy Bidleman, Jason Matthews, Melinda Portages, Chuck Ragsdale
What: Virtual benefit reading and Q&A
Where: Ogunquit Playhouse
When: Wednesday, October 28, suggested donation $20, 7:00
Why: It was bound to happen. How many of us have not at least once made a Brady Bunch joke during a Zoom session? Well, that was the impetus behind the virtual reading of the 2008 show A Very Brady Musical, benefiting Maine’s Ogunquit Playhouse. The cast features Gavin Lee as Mike Brady, Kerry Butler as Carol, Klea Blackhurst as Alice, Trista Dollison as Cindy, Celia Hottenstein as Marcia, Diana Huey as Jan, Troy Iwata as Peter, Mason Reeves as Greg, and Anthony Zambito as Bobby in addition to Tracy Bidleman, Jason Matthews, Melinda Portages, and Chuck Ragsdale as the kids try to prevent their parents from divorcing. The book is by Lloyd J. Schwartz and Hope Juber, with music and lyrics by Hope Juber and Laurence Juber; the show is directed by Richard Israel, with technical direction and video design by Jeremy Handelman.

“As we move through 2020, we are continuing our mission of new works development while celebrating how many of us are spending our lives in the ‘Brady square’ virtual worlds of Zoom and other online platforms,” Ogunquit Playhouse executive artistic director Bradford T. Kenney said in a statement. “Working with our outstanding A Very Brady Musical team, we’re taking what could be a static reading, adding a dash of digital magic, and layering it with that iconic Brady framing to create a unique experience that appeals to every kind of theatergoer.” The reading will take place October 28 at 7:00 and be available for viewing through November 1; the suggested donation is $20. Donations of $100 or more give you access to the live Zoom talkback and Q&A with members of the cast and crew and original Bradys Barry Williams (Greg) and Christopher Knight (Peter).

CONSCIENCE

George Street Playhouse reimagines Joe DiPietro’s Conscience for Zoom

Who: Harriet Harris, Mark Junek, Lee Sellars, Cathryn Wake
What: Live world premiere play reading
Where: George Street Playhouse
When: October 27-31, November 11-15, suggested donation $25
Why: In March, the world premiere of two-time Tony winner Joe DiPietro’s Conscience opened at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, but the pandemic shut it down. The original cast is now reuniting for a live, virtual adaptation streaming October 27-31 (with an encore November 11-15). The play is built around Maine senator Margaret Chase Smith’s “Declaration of Conscience,” which she delivered on the Senate floor on June 1, 1950; it was directed at President Harry S. Truman and explained that “the United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the greatest deliberative body in the world. But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity” while also calling for “the right to criticize. The right to hold unpopular beliefs. The right to protest. The right of independent thought.” Sound familiar? Tony winner Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Desperate Housewives) stars as Smith, with Lee Sellars as Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Mark Junek as William Lewis, and Cathryn Wake as Jean Kerr, directed by David Saint. For more on the production, you can watch an April Q&A with Wake here and listen to a virtual symposium with Saint, DiPietro, and playhouse director of education and community artistic programming Jim Jack here.

READING OF THE KEYS BY DOROTHY LYMAN

Dorothy Lyman’s The Keys looks at life in Florida during the current health crisis

Who: Dorothy Lyman, Tim Jerome
What: Live readings of new play
Where: Zoom
When: Sunday, October 25, free with RSVP, 4:00, and Tuesday, October 27, free with advance RSVP, 7:00
Why: One of my closest friends and regular theatergoing companions has two happy places. One is any dark venue that hosts live dramas, comedies, and musicals; the other is the Florida Keys. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, she cannot fill either of those needs, but she can scratch both itches at least in a small way with a live Zoom reading of Dorothy Lyman’s new play, The Keys. The story is set in the Florida Keys during the current coronavirus crisis, as a pair of senior citizens, Margaret (Lyman) and Gil (Tim Jerome), take stock of their lives in the age of Covid-19, remembering their pasts and imagining an unexpected future. The reading is directed by Elinor Renfield and admission is free, though spaces are limited. Two-time Emmy winner Lyman is a familiar face after spending more than twenty years in soap operas, most notably All My Children, as well as starring in Mama’s Family and the one-woman show My Kitchen Wars; Tony nominee Jerome has appeared in such Broadway productions as Me and My Gal, Beauty and the Beast, The Phantom of the Opera, and Tarzan. It might not be a day at the beach, but what is these days?

MOLIÈRE IN THE PARK: THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES

Who: Tonya Pinkins, Kaliswa Brewster, Cristina Pitter, Tamara Sevunts, Mirirai Sithole, Carolyn Michelle Smith, Corey Tazmania
What: Molière in the Park virtual presentation in association with French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF)
Where: Molière in the Park Zoom
When: Saturday, October 24, free with RSVP (donations accepted), 2:00 & 7:00
Why: “Don’t worry, friend; I’m not a fool,” Arnolphe tells Chrysalde at the beginning of Molière’s The School for Wives in Richard Wilbur’s translation. “I shan’t expose myself to ridicule. / I know the tricks and ruses, shrewd and sly, / Which wives employ, and cheat their husbands by; / I know that women can be deep and clever; / But I’ve arranged to be secure forever: / So simple is the girl I’m going to wed / That I’ve no fear of horns upon my head. . . . No, keep your smart ones; I’ve no taste for such. . . . / In short, I want an unaccomplished wife, / And there are four things only she must know: To say her prayers, love me, spin, and sew.” Molière in the Park, following their popular virtual presentations of The Misanthrope and Tartuffe online over the summer instead of in Prospect Park, their usual home, is now taking on Molière’s 1662 five-act comedy, reinvented for Zoom, copresented with FIAF. And in a casting twist that would terrify Arnolphe, all the roles will be portrayed by women, with Mirirai Sithole, Kaliswa Brewster, Cristina Pitter, Tamara Sevunts, Carolyn Michelle Smith, Corey Tazmania, and Tony winner Tonya Pinkins (Jelly’s Last Jam; Caroline, or Change) as the lead cad. (The play ran on Broadway in 1971 with Brian Bedford as Arnolphe, Joan Van Ark as Agnes, and David Dukes as Horace and was made into a 1983 film by Ingmar Bergman with Allan Edwall as Arnolphe, Lena Nyman as Agnes, and Stellan Skarsgård as Horace.)

The troupe has employed unique technical elements in their virtual plays, courtesy of director Lucie Tiberghien, video engineer Andy Carluccio, set designer Lina Younes, costume designer Ari Fulton, composer Paul Brill, sound designer Daniel Williams, and animator Emily Rawson, so it should be fun to see what innovations they will bring this time around. The School for Wives will be performed live on October 24 at 2:00 and 7:00, followed by a Q&A with members of the cast and crew; French and English subtitles are available, and the show can be viewed through October 29. Next up for Molière in the Park is a rare contemporary play, Christina Anderson’s pen/man/ship, on December 12.

TEMPING

Temping is a solo piece that puts audience members to work one person at a time

The Wild Project Gallery
195 East Third St. between Aves. A & B
October 23 – November 22, $10-$45
dutchkillstheater.com/temping
thewildproject.com

Since mid-March, most of us have been stuck at home, either toiling at our desktop computers or laptops or seeking employment while unable to attend live entertainment events. Dutch Kills Theater and Wolf 359 take care of both those dilemmas with Temping, a different kind of solo show, beginning previews October 23 prior to an October 29 opening. The key conceit here is that you are essentially the performer in this unique onsite theatrical experience, one you have to leave the safe confines of your apartment to participate in. Temping takes place in a room at the Wild Project on the Lower East Side, where one audience member at a time sits alone at the vacationing Sarah Jane Tully’s cubicle, using a Windows PC, a corporate phone, and a laser printer to navigate through actuarial tables that predict lifespans, something that has become somewhat more complicated in 2020. The play is written by Michael Yates Crowley and directed by Michael Rau, with production design by Asa Wember and set by Sara C Walsh. There will be thirty minutes between each performance to allow for cleansing before the next person enters; masks must be worn at all times, and hand sanitizer will be provided. Tickets are $10-$30 for previews and $25-$45 after, based on time period, so act fast for the best spots. And please don’t take the sandwich in the refrigerator; there’s a reason it has my name on it (and not yours).

AMERICAN DREAMS

American Dreams turns the path to citizenship into an interactive game show (photo by Cherie B. Tay)

Town Hall: What Does It Mean to Be a Citizen?, Monday, October 19, free with RSVP, 7:30
October 20-25, Working Theater, suggested $30
October 27 – November 1, Hartford Consortium, suggested $25
November 10-15, Marin Theatre Company, price TBD
www.americandreamsplay.com

“It’s a game. It’s a show. It’s AmERica!!!” an announcer declares at the beginning of American Dreams, an interactive online play that skewers US immigration policy and ethnocentricity in funny, clever, and, ultimately, harsh ways. With the country in the process of deciding whether to give President Donald Trump, a former reality TV star, another four years in the White House, the show is on a virtual nationwide tour, stopping October 20-25 at New York City’s Working Theater. First staged at the Cleveland Public Theatre two years ago, Leila Buck’s play has been reimagined for the internet, set up as a game show that gives one of three immigrants the chance to win American citizenship.

Cohosted by the deceptively smarmy Christian White (Jens Rasmussen) and bright and perky Sherry Brown (Buck), who are over-the-top gleeful until they turn the tide, the game show is divided into four sections: “How America Works,” “America’s Favorites,” “Aliens with Extraordinary Skills,” and “American Dreams.” Battling it out to live in the United States legally are Adil Akram Mansour (Andre Ali Andre), a chef and philanthropist from Bethlehem (“not the one in Pennsylvania”); Alejandro Rodriguez (Andrew Valdez), a former National Guard medic from Mexico; and Usman Bhutt (Imran Sheikh), a Pakistani illustrator who loves Star Trek. “For the past two seasons,” Sherry says, “we have been offering once-in-a-lifetime chances to people searching for a brighter future in the land of freedom and opportunity. And while this season we can’t be in your town halls, theaters, and auditoriums, we are so glad to be welcomed into your homes.” Chris adds, “On each show, three contestants compete for the equivalent of Columbus’s gold.” Sherry: “One lucky winner will receive, right here, tonight, immediate citizenship to the greatest nation on earth. Our online studio audience has been approved by the highest levels of our government to be the people —” Chris and Sherry: “— who choose the people.” Sherry: “So your votes will determine our contestants’ destinies, as you decide who has the chance to live the American Dream.” It’s more than their destinies that are at stake.

Bree Coffman (India Nicole Burton), deputy director of culture for the US, keeps in touch with the audience throughout. “We all have the power to help shape and control the future of this country — one citizen at a time,” Coffman explains early on. As the game continues, you’re likely to find out that these immigrants know more about America than you do, but that is not necessarily going to mean they’re on the path to citizenship as various roadblocks, arbitrary and not, interfere with their quest, mimicking real life.

Cohosts Christian White (Jens Rasmussen) and Sherry Brown (playwright Leila Buck) lead the way in American Dreams (photo by Cherie B. Tay)

Co-commissioned by ASU Gammage and Texas Performing Arts and presented by Working Theater as well as Round House Theatre, Salt Lake Acting Company, Marin Theatre Company, HartBeat Ensemble, the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, and University of Connecticut’s Thomas J. Dodd Center, American Dreams achieves its goal of making the show a communal experience; the audience, visible in Zoom boxes, gets to fill out surveys, ask questions, cheer, and vote. Director Tamilla Woodard (Men on Boats, La Ruta) uses split screens to make it look like the contestants are in the same studio, even though they’re beaming in from wherever they’re sheltering in place; Woodard mixed Zoom, Skype, and other platforms to create what she refers to as a “beautiful monster.” The cast has a lot of fun, especially during one segment that is heavily improvised, making each performance unique. Even at ninety minutes, American Dreams feels too long, but you might want to stick around for the talkback anyway, which offers further insight into the development of the play. At one point, a prerecorded announcement tells us, “Your participation is key to protecting our democracy. If you see something, say something. The security of the greatest nation on earth depends on you.” As Buck points out, if only it were that easy.

In conjunction with the show’s run at Working Theater, there will be a free, virtual town hall on October 19, at 7:30, held in partnership with Portland’s Boom Arts, addressing the question “What does it mean to be a citizen?” featuring a keynote by actor Carlo Alban, followed by a panel with Nura Elgmagbari of the Portland Refugee Support Group, Richard Lujan-Valerio of the Latino Network, Juanita Sarmiento of Rural and Migrant Ministry, and actor, playwright, and native communities advocate DeLanna Studi (Cherokee), moderated by North Star Fund deputy director Elz Cuya Jones. Tune in and make a difference. Oh, and vote.

THE FALL REUNION READING SERIES: SKELETON CREW BY DOMINIQUE MORISSEAU

Who: Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jason Dirden, Wendell B. Franklin, Nikiya Mathis, Adesola Osakulumi, Caroline Clay
What: Virtual reunion reading
Where: Atlantic Theater Company YouTube
When: October 22-24, free (suggested donation $25)
Why: The Atlantic Theater kicks off its virtual Fall Reunion Reading Series with Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew, which had its world premiere in 2016 at Atlantic Stage 2. Four live readings will take place October 22-24 over YouTube, featuring original cast members Jason Dirden as Dez, Wendell B. Franklin as Reggie, Nikiya Mathis as Shanita, and Adesola Osakulumi as the dancer, with Caroline Clay replacing Lynda Gravatt as Faye; Ruben Santiago-Hudson is back as director. The play, which transferred to the Atlantic’s bigger Linda Gross Theater, is set at an automobile stamping factory during the recession of 2008; it is part of Detroit native Morisseau’s Detroit Project, a trilogy that also includes Detroit ’67 and Paradise Blue. In addition, on October 25 at 4:00, for “Live with Atlantic! Remix,” two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage will interview Morisseau, who has also written Pipeline, Sunset Baby, Blood at the Root, and Follow Me to Nellie’s as well as the book for Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations. The series continues November 5-7 with Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj, with Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed.