Who: Ali Ahn, Frankie J. Alvarez, Kathleen Chalfant, Lilli Cooper, Edmund Donovan, William Jackson Harper, Louisa Jacobson, Peter Francis James, Charlayne Woodard
What: Tenth annual Short New Play Festival
Where: Red Bull Live
When: Monday, July 20, free (donations accepted), 7:30 (stream can be viewed for four days)
Why: Theaters are traditionally dark on Mondays, but Red Bull has turned that night into must-see virtual evenings, with high-quality live reunion readings (The Government Inspector, Coriolanus, The Witch of Edmonton) and RemarkaBULL Podversations, in which actors (Chukwudi Iwuji, Elizabeth Marvel, Stephen Spinella, Kate Burton, Michael Urie) recite famous Shakespeare soliloquies and then discuss them. Next up is the tenth annual Short New Play Festival, which is also going virtual as a benefit fundraiser. The theme this year is, appropriately enough, “Private Lives,” inspired by Noël Coward’s 1930 comedy of manners, since we are all living rather private lives these days during the pandemic lockdown. The festival will be livestreamed on July 20 at 7:30, featuring new commissions by established playwrights Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play, Daddy), who will premiere Fear and Misery of the Master Race (of the Brecht), and Theresa Rebeck (Seared, Seminar), who will present Something in the Ground, in addition to new work by emerging playwrights chosen through an open submission process: Ben Beckley’s Outside Time, without Extension, Avery Deutsch’s Old Beggar Women, Leah Maddrie’s Love — Adjacent, or Balcony Plays, Jessica Moss’s In the Attic, Matthew Park’s Plague Year, and Mallory Jane Weiss’s Evermore Unrest. As you can tell by the titles, the impact of the coronavirus crisis is likely to figure prominently. The outstanding cast consists of Ali Ahn, Frankie J. Alvarez, Kathleen Chalfant, Lilli Cooper, Edmund Donovan, William Jackson Harper, Louisa Jacobson, Peter Francis James, and Charlayne Woodard, with direction by Vivienne Benesch, Mêlisa Annis, and Em Weinstein.