Two of my favorite festivals coincide this month: Ensemble Studio Theatre’s venerable Marathon of One-Act Plays and 59e59’s Brits Off-Broadway.
This season, EST is producing three Marathon programs– I’ll be seeing all in search of the newest playwrights, directors and actors. It’s the best smorgasbord of talent this side of the Atlantic (Edinburgh, on the other!)
Brits off-Broadway is already underway at 59e59. “Posting Letters To The Moon” promises to be a most romantic, nostalgic evening for any of you who can remember Celia Johnson (who could forget “Brief Encounter”?); “Handbagged” by Moira Bufini is the real winner here– buy tickets now for its June run. It was a huge hit in London!
I do hope you can get a ticket to “Passage” by multi-Award winning playwright, Christopher Chen. Here’s a review of his 2016 play, “Caught”, which was brilliantly convoluted and unforgettable.
I’ll be seeing “Something Clean”, part of Roundabout’s Underground series, with the wonderful Kathryn Erbe, in this three-hander about keeping a family together in the wake of a sex crime.
Do try “Nomad Motel” at Atlantic Theatre Stage Two by Carla Ching, another new female voice on our horizon.
Did you see Christopher Shinn’s “Dying City” in 2007? I missed it, although it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, so I’ll be seeing the new 2nd Stage production. Here’s a review from the earlier production.
Last of the Irish Rep’s Sean O’Casey trilogy, is “The Plough and The Stars”, reputedly his most complex play. Since I’ve never seen it, I won’t miss this opportunity, directed by The Irish Rep’s founder, Charlotte Moore.
Although I wrote about James Grahams’s “Ink” several months ago, I’m again urging you to grab tickets now that it has arrived– yes, it’s that special! You’ll remember the extraordinary staging and Bertie Carvel’s mesmerizing performance as Rupert Murdoch, long after the curtain comes down.
Many more next month– this month deserves some outdoor entertainments, too. Hope to see you– if not in the park, then in the theatre!
Carol Tambor publishes a monthly newsletter, which announces worthy shows coming to New York, along with occasional information about London theatre and, of course, the Edinburgh Fringe.