this week in theater

THE HOMEBOUND PROJECT: THEATER FOR THE FRONT LINE PART THREE

The third iteration of the Homebound Project features a stellar lineup performing new short plays from their homes

Who: Ralph Brown, Jennifer Carpenter, Thomas Sadoski, Diane Lane, Paola Lázaro, Joshua Leonard, Eve Lindley, Arian Moayed, Ashley Park, Will Pullen, Phillipa Soo, Blair Underwood
What: New online theatrical works to benefit No Kid Hungry
Where: Link supplied by the Homebound Project after donation and shortly before start of stream
When: June 24-28, $10 or more, 7:00
Why: The third edition of the Homebound Project, collections of ten short monologues created by Oscar-, Tony-, Emmy-, and Pulitzer Prize-winning actors, writers, and directors exploring intimate, personal reactions to the current pandemic, promises to be the best of the bunch, and it faces some pretty tough competition. A benefit for the national nonprofit No Kid Hungry, which, as part of Share Our Strength, seeks to solve poverty and hunger issues around the country, each set of mini-plays is available to watch online for four days only, with a minimum donation of ten dollars. In addition to experiencing provocative, compelling, poignant, and humorous takes on the coronavirus crisis, you get to see where these actors are sheltering in place; Amanda Seyfried’s ranch is particularly impressive.

The first lineup of actor/playwright combinations featured Christopher Abbott / Lucy Thurber, Glenn Davis / Ren Dara Santiago, William Jackson Harper / Max Posner, Jessica Hecht / Sarah Ruhl, Marin Ireland / Eliza Clark, Raymond Lee / Qui Nguyen, Alison Pill / C. A. Johnson, Elizabeth Rodriguez / Rajiv Joseph, Thomas Sadoski / Martyna Majok, and Amanda Seyfried / Catya McMullen, while the second iteration consisted of Ngozi Jane Anyanwu / Anne Washburn, Nicholas Braun / Will Arbery, Utkarsh Ambudkar / Marco Ramirez, Betty Gilpin / Lily Houghton, Kimberly Hébert Gregory / Loy A. Webb, Hari Nef / Ngozi Anyanwu, Mary-Louise Parker / Bryna Turner, Christopher Oscar Peña / Brittany K. Allen, Zachary Quinto / Adam Bock, Taylor Schilling / Sarah DeLappe, and Babak Tafti / David Zheng.

The third section, running June 24-28, raises the bar with the following actor/writer/director teams: Ralph Brown (The Ferryman) / Donnetta Lavinia Grays (Where We Stand) / Jenna Worsham (The Siblings Play); Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) / C. A. Johnson (All the Natalie Portmans); Diane Lane (The Mystery of Love and Sex) / Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop) / Taylor Reynolds (Plano); Paola Lázaro (To the Bone) / Gina Femia (ALLOND[R]A) / Taylor Reynolds; Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) and Thomas Sadoski (Other Desert Cities) / John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation) / Jerry Zaks (The House of Blue Leaves); Joshua Leonard (Humpday) / Mara Nelson-Greenberg (Do You Feel Anger?); Eve Lindley (Dispatches from Elsewhere) / Daniel Talbott (Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, America, Kuwait) / Kevin Laibson (Ghosted); Arian Moayed (The Humans) / Xavier Galva (Twenty Five to White); Ashley Park (The King and I) / Bess Wohl (Small Mouth Sounds) / Leigh Silverman (Violet); Will Pullen (To Kill a Mockingbird) / Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale) / Jenna Worsham; Phillipa Soo (Hamilton) / Clare Barron (Dance Nation) / Steven Pasquale; and Blair Underwood (A Soldier’s Story) / Korde A. Tuttle (Graveyard Shift). We might not be able to go to the theater these days, but this is one of the smartest ways the theater is being brought to us, and all for a crucially important cause in very difficult times. And get ready for the fourth iteration, scheduled for July 15-19.

THE ANTONYO AWARDS

antonyo awards

Who: Audra McDonald, Tituss Burgess, Alex Newell, Jordan E. Cooper, Teyonah Parris, Ephraim Sykes, LaChanze, Derrick Baskin, Nicolette Robinson, Jelani Alladin, Christiani Pitts, James Monroe Iglehart, Amber Iman, Kalen Allen, Nzinga Williams, Jackson Alexander, Cody Renard Richard, Ashton Muñiz, Shereen Pimentel, Kirsten Childs, Aisha Jackson, Antoine L. Smith, Griffin Matthews, Michael McElroy, Jocelyn Bioh, L Morgan Lee, more
What: Inaugural Antonyo Awards show with red carpet, musical numbers, and all-star presenters
Where: Broadway Black YouTube and Facebook
When: Friday, June 19, free, 7:30
Why: In celebration of Juneteenth, Broadway Black is hosting the inaugural Antonyo Awards, honoring the best in Black talent on and off Broadway. Online voting, which was open to the general public, has ended — you can watch the nomination ceremony here, then tune in to YouTube or Facebook on Friday night at 7:00 to see a virtual red carpet and the presentation of the awards, the name of which is a sly twist on the Tonys. Among the shows receiving multiple nominations are A Solder’s Play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, A Strange Loop, One in Two, The Hot Wing King, Slave Play, The Secret of Life Bees, We’re Gonna Die, Toni Stone, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, and The Wrong Man, with nods going to such individuals as Okwui Okpokwasili, David Alan Grier, Saycon Sengbloh, Robert O’Hara, Whitney White, Raja Feather Kelly, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Camille A. Brown, Daniel J. Watts, Portia, Danielle Brooks, Audra McDonald, Blair Underwood, and Joshua Henry. In addition, the Kinship Awards (the Lorraine Hansberry Award, the Langston Hughes Award, the Welcome Award, and the Doors of the Theatre Are Open Award) will be given out, and Chuck Cooper will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Scheduled to appear during the broadcast are Tituss Burgess, Jordan E. Cooper, LaChanze, Jelani Alladin, Amber Iman, Nzinga Williams, Ashton Muñiz, Aisha Jackson, Jocelyn Bioh, and many others. Founded in 2012 by Drew Shade, Broadway Black is “dedicated to highlighting the achievements and successes of Black theater artists.”

PlayGround Zoom Fest: POLAR BEARS, BLACK BOYS & PRAIRIE FRINGED ORCHIDS

Illustration credits: Black boy by Goulwen Reboux. Prairie Fringed Orchid by Ananda Heller. Polar Bear by Candy Witcher. Arrangement by Vincent Terrell Durham. Used with permission.

New play looks at systemic racism and white fragility (Black boy by Goulwen Reboux. Prairie Fringed Orchid by Ananda Heller. Polar Bear by Candy Witcher. Arrangement by Vincent Terrell Durham. Used with permission.)

Who: Barrington Stage
What: Special Juneteenth reading
Where: Zoom, Proctors Collaborative YouTube, Capital Rep Facebook
When: Friday June 19, and Monday, June 22, free with advance RSVP (suggested donation of $10 for Black Theatre), 7:30
Why: Most of America probably had never heard of Juneteenth until the last week or so, as protests over police brutality spread across the nation and President Trump initially was going to hold a rally on June 19 — the anniversary of the end of the Civil War and the freeing of the slaves — in Tulsa, Oklahoma, site of the brutal 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. But things are changing. On June 19 at 7:30, Pittsfield-based Barrington Stage and Albany’s Capital Rep, among many other US theater companies, are joining forces with the Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project to present a live PlayGround Zoom Fest reading of Vincent Terrell Durham’s new play, Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids. They will give an encore live reading on June 22 at 7:30; admission is free with advance RSVP, although $10 donations are encouraged to help support Black Theatre.

In the play, screenwriter, poet, author, and former stand-up comic Durham (The Fertile River, Vol. 1; A Post Racial America) invites the audience to a cocktail party hosted by a white liberal couple in their renovated Harlem brownstone, with such guests as a Black Lives Matter black activist, his gay white lover, and the mother of a murdered young black boy as issues of systemic racism, gentrification, police brutality, and white fragility set everyone on edge. The cast, directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene, features Kent Burnham, West Dews, Adrian Kiser, Tracy Liz-Miller, Michael McCorry Rose, Bianca Stinney, Matthew Tenorio, and Peterson Townsend. The Monday performance will be followed by a live Q&A with Barrington community engagement coordinator Sharron Frazier-McClain.

YES! REFLECTIONS OF MOLLY BLOOM

molly bloom

Who: Aedín Moloney of the Irish Repertory Theatre
What: Livestreamed performances adapted for onscreen viewing
Where: Irish Rep onine (link sent after RSVP)
When: Tuesday, June 16, 7:00; Wednesday, June 17, 3:00 & 8:00; Thursday, June 18, 7:00; Friday, June 19, 8:00; Saturday, June 20, 3:00, advance RSVP required (suggested donation $25)
Why: The Irish Rep has become one of the busiest theater companies in New York City during the pandemic, presenting a brand-new coronavirus-related work and hosting the Meet the Makers and The Show Must Go Online series. On May 27 it premiered The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, Darren Murphy’s short, heartbreaking work about a man (Marty Rea) in Belfast with Covid-19 unable to visit his dying mother (Marie Mullen) in Dublin, who is being cared for by her brother (Seán McGinley). Directed by Caitríona McLaughlin, the play gets right to the heart of the crisis as only Irish tales can; it will be available online through October 31.

The Irish Rep now turns its attention to adapting several recent stage productions for the internet, beginning with Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom. The award-winning seventy-five-minute one-woman show, based on James Joyce’s epic Ulysses, was adapted by Aedín Moloney and Colum McCann, directed by Kira Simring, and features music by Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains (and Aedín’s father); it originally ran at the company’s home on West Twenty-Second St. in June and July of last year, with Moloney as Molly Bloom in the early morning hours of June 17, 1904, as she considers love, loneliness, and isolation. The full team has now reimagined the play for onscreen viewing, with Aedín Moloney reprising her role; it will be performed live from June 16 — Bloomsday, when Joyce’s iconic tome takes place — through June 20. Admission is free with advance RSVP, with a suggested donation of $25.

The Irish Rep continues its online foray with “Meet the Maker: Frank McCourt . . . And How He Got That Way: A Conversation with Ellen McCourt and Malachy McCourt” on June 18; “Meet the Maker: Conor McPherson” on July 2; a special gala screening with new video of Frank McCourt’s The Irish . . . and How They Got That Way on July 13; “Meet the Makers: John Douglas Thompson and Obi Abili on Breaking Barriers in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones” on July 16; Dan Butler, Sean Gormley, John Keating, Tim Ruddy, and Amanda Quaid in an online version of Conor McPherson’s The Weir from July 21 to 25; and a virtual version of Barry Day’s Love, Noël, a musical about Noël Coward starring Steve Ross and KT Sullivan, from August 11 to 15. I’m exhausted just thinking about it, but I can’t wait to be at my computer to experience the joy of live theater, even if it’s through a screen.

FREE LIVESTREAM BENEFIT READING: THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR

government inspector

Who: Red Bull Theater company
What: Benefit reunion reading of The Government Inspector
Where: Red Bull Theater website and Facebook Live
When: Monday, June 15, free (donations accepted), 7:30
Why: Red Bull Theater continues its outstanding online presentations during the pandemic lockdown with a benefit reunion reading of Jeffrey Hatcher’s fab adaptation of Gogol’s The Government Inspector on June 15 at 7:30. “Nikolai Gogol meets the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Monty Python, and the Three Stooges in Red Bull Theater’s latest terrific farce,” I wrote about the show, which ran at the Duke on 42nd St. in June 2017, adding, “It is just the thing to rid us of those fits of melancholy we all experience from time to time, perhaps more often of late.” Well, ain’t that still the truth.

Directed by Jesse Berger, the cast features Michael McGrath as Mayor Anton Antonovich, David Manis as the school principal, Tom Alan Robbins as the judge, Stephen DeRosa as the hospital director, James Rana as the doctor, Arnie Burton as the postmaster, Ryan Garbayo as Bobchinksy, Ben Mehl as Dobchinsky, Mary Testa as Anna Andreyevna, Talene Monahon as Marya, and the inimitable Michael Urie as Ivan Alexandreyevich Hlestakov, with Mary Lou Rosato, Luis Moreno, and Kelly Hutchinson in multiple smaller roles. Red Bull has previously performed unrehearsed live reunion readings of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Thomas Dekker, John Ford, and William Rowley’s The Witch of Edmonton, and Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, so they know what they’re doing. Settle in for what should be a hysterical event; if you miss the live reading, you will still be able to catch it online through June 19, after which it will disappear forever.

92Y CONFRONTS HATE: ANNA DEAVERE SMITH IN CONVERSATION WITH EW’s SARAH RODMAN

Anna Deavere Smith and Sarah Rodman will discuss in live 92Y talk

Anna Deavere Smith and Sarah Rodman will discuss hate and inequality in livestreamed 92Y talk

Who: Anna Deavere Smith, Sarah Rodman
What: Live discussion about hate and inequality
Where: 92Y YouTube
When: Monday, June 15, free (donations accepted), 7:00
Why: In March 1994, actress, playwright, teacher, and author Anna Deavere Smith wrote and starred in her Tony-nominated one-woman show Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, in which she portrayed dozens of characters to tell the story of the 1992 LA riots after the acquittal of police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King. Late last year, the Signature Theatre revived Smith’s Fires in the Mirror, about the 1991 Crown Heights riots following the death of seven-year-old Gavin Cato. (The Signature was scheduled to revive Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 this spring, but it was canceled because of the Covid-19 crisis.) So the Baltimore-born Smith should have a lot to say about what is happening in America when she sits down for a conversation on June 15 at 7:00 with EW’s Sarah Rodman as part of the 92nd St. Y’s Confronting Hate initiative. You can prep for the free event by watching the filmed version of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 on PBS, while Smith’s latest work, Notes from the Field, which explores racial injustice in the school-to-prison pipeline, is available on HBO. “92Y Confronts Hate” began on June 7 with the panel “The Politics of the Pandemic,” followed June 8 with Rabbi Peter Rubinstein and Reverend Jacques Andre DeGraff discussing “Building Bridges: Is it Possible?” and continues June 17 with “Directly from France” with Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur and Rabbi Rubinstein and June 18 with “Praying with Our Hearts, Hands, and Feet,” in which Rabbi Rubinstein will be joined by Imam Al-Hajj Talib ’Abdur-Rashid.

CHERRY ORCHARD FESTIVAL: STATE VS. NATASHA BANINA

state 2

Who: Arlekin Players Theatre
What: Live Zoom interactive theater art experiment
Where: Cherry Orchard Festival Zoom
When: Sunday, June 14, 21, 28, free with RSVP, 8:00
Why: The Cherry Orchard Festival, which has presented such shows as Chekhov’s Ivanov and such films as Elephants Can Play Football here in New York, will be staging a “live Zoom theater art experiment” on June 14, 21, and 28 at 8:00. Reconfiguring its tenth anniversary season, Boston’s Arlekin Players Theatre is going virtual with State vs. Natasha Banina, a new play specially conceived for Zoom, based on Yaroslava Pulinovich’s Natasha’s Dream, a solo work the company put on at the New Rep Theatre in February 2017. The interactive adaptation reunites actress Darya Denisova, director Igor Golyak, choreographer Viktor Plotnikov, and video artist Anton Iakhontov, along with composer Vadim Khrapatchev, as orphan Natasha Banina makes her plea for freedom via a Zoom courtroom where the audience serves as the jury. The show will be performed live on June 14, 21, and 28 at 8:00, followed by a discussion, and attendance is free with advance RSVP.

“In response to the Covid-19 emergency, we had to cancel all live performances scheduled for June 2020 as part of the annual Cherry Orchard Festival, but we still wanted to do something unique for our audiences during these challenging times,” festival executive producer Maria Shclover said in a statement. Golyak added, “During these uncertain times, being artistic and creative are essential, and we are excited about this new theatrical experience. We are creating a new art form to overcome social distancing, the pandemic, and ultimately unite people in one virtual space by merging theater, cinematography, and video games.” Donations will be accepted to support the Actors Fund’s Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund.