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WHERE CIVILIANS ARE HUNTED, THEATER ENDURES: KHERSON HOSTS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL · Sep 13th
(Myroslava Makarevych’s article appeared in the Kyiv Post, 9/6/26; Photo: Destruction of the theater as a result of enemy shelling. (Credit via the M. Kulish Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater.) The 28th Melpomena Tavrii International Theatre Festival will take place Sept. 12–19 under its longstanding motto, #TheaterWhereWeAre. Despite Russia’s war, the festival will return to Kherson, with performances also staged in Mykolaiv and at participating theaters across Ukraine.
Founded in 1999, Melpomena Tavrii has presented 610 productions by around 230 theaters from more than 100 cities and more than 20 countries.
Kyiv Post spoke with festival president and artistic director of the Mykola Kulish Kherson Theatre Oleksandr Knyha about why the festival continues in one of Ukraine’s most dangerous cities, what theater means to Kherson residents today and why keeping the stage alive has become an act of resistance.
Oleksandr Knyha. (Photo via the M. Kulish Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater)
Kyiv Post: Melpomena Tavrii continues despite the war, and in extremely difficult conditions. Why is it so important to keep the festival in Kherson?
Oleksandr Knyha: In 2022, after we escaped occupied Kherson, I wrote on social media: “Melpomena will definitely take place in Ukrainian Kherson. Despite everything!”
As soon as the city was liberated, we returned and began restoring the theater. Our team was scattered across Ukraine and Europe, while some people remained in occupied Kherson. We created a format that allowed our friends to participate and, most importantly, helped us tell the world what was happening in our city.
The theater itself has been badly damaged. How do you work under these conditions?
We no longer work in our theater building because it is in a red zone. It has been heavily damaged and shelled, and we are trying to save it. Practically no windows remain. The roof is badly damaged.
On March 8, 2026, a rocket from a multiple-launch rocket system hit the theater roof. Had it landed about 10 centimeters higher, it would have hit the auditorium.
The team told me, “Let’s cancel the program. Nobody will come.”
I said, “No. We won’t cancel it. Even if one person comes, it will be therapy for that person.”
And the auditorium was full.
It turned out that even being destroyed, even having bombs falling around us, is not enough to stop us. We are needed.
People come to us like to a source – to drink healing water and keep going.
The play “D.I.M.” (Photo via the M. Kulish Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater)
So theater has become a form of psychological support?
Yes. I don’t want to use overly grand words, but it really is a mission. It is our duty and our responsibility to people.
VÁCLAV HAVEL: ‘UNVEILING’ IN NEW YORK AND CHICAGO · Sep 12th
(via Untitled Theater Company No. 61.)
Oct 1 to Oct 17
Unveiling in New York Tickets
October 1 – 17, Thu – Sat at 7pm, Sat at 3pm
at Torn Page
435 W. 22nd Street, New York, NY
(Only 25 seats/show, stairs, tickets by donation)
Mon October 5, 7pm
at Bohemian National Hall
321 E 73rd, New York, NY
Presented in cooperation with the Czech Center New York
Havel’s darkly comic critique of those who compromise their ethics for government favor, comes to the stage in a new production in honor of what would have been Havel’s 90th birthday. Havel’s signature character, Ferdinand Vaněk, visits the home of old friends who try to seduce him into making the same moral compromises they have made in exchange for small privileges. Havel’s wit and political undercurrents make Unveiling both hilariously uncomfortable and strikingly relevant—a farce that exposes the desperation of those who have lost their moral bearings.
Havel was both the former Czech President and the leader of the Velvet Revolution against Soviet rule in 1989. He is also one of the premiere absurdist playwrights of the 20th Century, as well as winner of multiple Obie Awards here in New York. This play was written in 1975 while his work was still banned in Czechoslovakia, and it was originally performed privately in living rooms.
The showing in Chicago is part of a Czech celebration, while the New York showings celebrate Havel’s 90th. The showing at Torn Page is in a similar theatrical condition to the original showings, in an intimate living room theater with less than 25 seats.
Tue September 22, 6:30pm
at the Chopin Theatre
1543 W Division St, Chicago
Presented in cooperation with the the Consulate General of The Czech Republic in Chicago
by Václav Havel
Translated by Jan Novak
Directed by Edward Einhorn
With: Craig Anderson, Bob Brader, Yvonne Roen
Costumes: Ramona Ponce
Stage Manager: Berit Johnson
Havel’s darkly comic critique of those who compromise their ethics for government favor, comes to the stage in a new production in honor of what would have been Havel’s 90th birthday. Havel’s signature character, Ferdinand Vaněk, visits the home of old friends who try to seduce him into making the same moral compromises they have made in exchange for small privileges. Havel’s wit and political undercurrents make Unveiling both hilariously uncomfortable and strikingly relevant—a farce that exposes the desperation of those who have lost their moral bearings.
Havel was both the former Czech President and the leader of the Velvet Revolution against Soviet rule in 1989. He is also one of the premiere absurdist playwrights of the 20th Century, as well as winner of multiple Obie Awards here in New York. This play was written in 1975 while his work was still banned in Czechoslovakia, and it was originally performed privately in living rooms.
IN SUPPORT OF THE FOURTH WALL: PROSCENIUM ARCH THEATRE’S SURPRISINGLY RADICAL HISTORY · Sep 11th
(Michael Billington’s article appeared in the Guardian, 9/11/2026. Vaulted ambition … the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London. Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images.)
Dominic Dromgoole’s new book, Time Frames, shows how this format’s stuffy reputation belies the room it has made for daring experiments from Chekhov to Brecht and beyond
How do you make theatre history come alive? One way is through creating lists backed up by quirky essays. I tried that myself in The 101 Greatest Plays, which is one reason why I’m in awe of Dominic Dromgoole who, in Time Frames extends the possibilities of the format and comes up with a book that is passionate, personal, informative and argumentative. It just seems unfair that a director should outperform most of us critics.
He starts with the advantage of a strong framework. His book covers the years from 1865 to 1965, when the proscenium theatre was dominant, and deals with more than 70 playwrights. Today we celebrate the limitless possibilities of theatre with open, apron, traverse and circular stages but Dromgoole enthuses over a time when plays were mainly enclosed behind a proscenium arch. He describes the form as “liberatingly restrictive” like the 14-line sonnet or the 12-bar blues and he has a point.
We associate the proscenium with the good-mannered, well-made play but it also gave birth to Chekhov’s work for the Moscow Art theatre, Brecht’s revolutionary ideas in East Berlin and, closer to home, Joan Littlewood’s radical populism at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and the explosion of energy at the Royal Court. Seizing on the closely crafted, socially critical plays of John Galsworthy, Dromgoole says they are perfect examples of the proscenium paradox: “entertainment encasing dysfunction”.
While charting the proscenium century Dromgoole also forces us to question existing assumptions. One of his great discoveries, initially unearthed in a book by Maggie Gale, is that between the wars 21% of West End plays were written by women: a considerably better ratio than later times. This leads Dromgoole to examine a whole host of neglected female writers. He shows how Clemence Dane’s A Bill of Divorcement dealt seriously with the problem of men returning from war still saturated in violence. He makes a strong case for Dodie Smith whose Dear Octopus was recently revived at the National but whose Call It a Day, with its “shamelessness about unbridled female desire”, sounds even more fascinating. He suggests that sex was also at the heart of Daphne du Maurier’s achievement in rarely seen plays such as September Tide and The Years Between. He also rediscovers Alice Childress, an American playwright who was a big influence on Lorraine Hansberry and whose 1955 play, Trouble in Mind, dealt with the tension between a black female actor and a white male director.
“ANTI-GONE” BY NEEDS MORE WORK PRODUCTIONS IS GOING ON A REGIONAL TOUR · Sep 10th
(Via Sivan Raz; Photo: L to R: Erin Arnold as Creon, Sivan Raz as Antigone. Photo by Shir Ringer.)
Greek tragedy, reimagined. What would you have done?
“Best Tragedy” winner at the NYC Fringe Festival.
Extension Award to FRIGID NY’s “Little Shakespeare Festival”
Anti-Gone is a bold new adaptation of the beloved classic. Audiences take an active part in determining the results of the political drama, utilizing perhaps the most popular invention of Ancient Greece- the democratic vote. Anti-Gone is an immersive, choose-your-own-ending adaptation of Antigone by Sophocles, utilizing techniques from Augusto Boal’s Theater Of The Oppressed. A modern acting troupe battles with the strict societal values presented in Antigone. The only way to solve the puzzle is through a complete dismantling of the theatrical form and an honest discussion with you – the audience. Is a happy ending for Antigone’s story possible? Will we be able to find that which has not been found in the 2,500 years since the play’s premiere- a solution?
This show has received critical acclaim, described by the press as a “tight, energetic production—brimming with educational potential” and “not a simple retelling but a provocation”. Its original songs were recently seen on the Tony Award-winning stage of 54 Below. Anti-Gone is suitable for all ages.
Photo: L to R: Sivan Raz as Antigone, Camille van Putten, Olivia Hight, Shir Ringer, Alexa Adler as the Greek Chorus. Photo by Erin Arnold.
Anti-Gone was the most-awarded show of the 2025 NYC Fringe Festival, with 4 wins including Best Tragedy, a Sell-Out Award and an Extension Award to FRIGID NY’s “Little Shakespeare Festival”. This is Anti-Gone’s regional premiere.
Performance details:
1st leg of the tour: Preview performance at The RAT NYC, September 13th, 2026, 2:00PM. 68 Jay St Storefront, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Tickets are $25 at the following link: https://anti-gone-nyc.eventbrite.com
2nd leg of the tour: Performances at the ESL Rochester Fringe Festival, September 17th-20th, 2026, 5:00PM daily. The Biltmore Bar & Lounge, 47 State St, Rochester, NY, 14614. Tickets are $25 at the following link: https://rochesterfringe.com/tickets-and-shows/anti-gone.
3rd leg of the tour: Performances at the Scranton Fringe Festival, October 9th, 2026, 7:30PM & October 10th, 2026, 1:00PM and 5:30PM. Electric City Trolley Museum, 300 Cliff St, Scranton, PA, 18503. Tickets are $15 at the following link: https://scrantonfringe.org/events/anti-gone/
Cast & Crew:
Producing Organization – Needs More Work Productions.
Director, Producer, Composer, Antigone – Sivan Raz (Founding Artistic Director of Needs More Work Productions).
Choreographer – Gianna Vasquez Bartolini.
Arranger – Joni Griffith.
Music Director, Chorus Leader – Alexa Adler.
Dance Captain, Ismene – Camille van Putten.
Haemon – Olivia Hight.
Creon – Erin Arnold.
Teiresias, The Guard – Shir Ringer.
Translator – Ian Johnston.
Equity & Inclusion: The cast and crew of Anti-Gone is fully composed of women and non-binary/trans creatives. Within it, we are proud to present the stories of individuals of BIPOC and immigrant heritage and from the Disabled community. It has been one of our top goals throughout this process to interpret this classical play through the lens of communities who rarely get to present their own take on such tales, and we are thrilled to have a diverse cast of extremely talented creators. We are also able to offer a script perusal or audio introduction for Deaf/Hard Of Hearing & Blind/Low Vision patrons, email needsmoreworkproductions@gmail.com to inquire.
Needs More Work Productions creates spicy, bold, and colorful theater for a better tomorrow. Specializing in site-specific and immersive shows, they perform unique adaptations of beloved classics in the urban spaces of New York City. Needs More Work Productions’ shows center themes of social activism, creating thought-provoking conversations directly between audience members and performers. Said to “raise the bar for indie theater”, their philosophy of hopeful action is a standout in the NYC independent theater scene. The company is led by visionary Artistic Director, Sivan Raz.
Content Warnings: The show includes discussion of death, burial, execution, grief, arguments, police/army, war, suicide, religion based politics, sexism. No violence is presented onstage. Email needsmoreworkproductions@gmail.com for more information.
CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (174) · Sep 9th
The words and wisdom of Constantin Stanislavski:
(To the actor: ) You must not think (your roles) out ‘somehow,’ or ‘in general,’ or ‘approximately,’ because all those terms do not hold in art. You must do it with all the details proper to such a large undertaking. Always remain in close contact with logic and coherence. This will help you to hold unsubstantial and slippery dreams close to steady solid facts. (AP)
“EPSTEIN ORATORIO”–JEFFREY EPSTEIN FILES INSPIRE NEW PLAY (THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 AND FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 AT 7PM AT LA MAMA ) · Sep 8th
(via Don Summa, Richard Kornberg & Associates.)
LA MAMA ETC
PRESENTS TWO-NIGHT-ONLY READING OF
EPSTEIN ORATORIO
BY KAREN MALPEDE
STARRING KATHLEEN CHALFANT
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 AND FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2
LANGUAGE OF THE EPSTEIN FILES
UNFOLDS AGAINST THE VIVID
STORYTELLING OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY
EVENT BENEFITS THE PUBLIC INTEGRITY PROJECT
ORGANIZATION SUING FOR RELEASE OF EPSTEIN FILES
La MaMa ETC announces that its two-night-only benefit reading of Karen Malpede’s Epstein Oratorio, directed by Alex Keegan, will take place on Thursday, October 1 and Friday, October 2 at 7pm at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4 Street. The reading stars Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Kathleen Chalfant.
The event, which has been organized by Evangeline Morphos, Michal Gamily, and Julianne Hoffenberg, will benefit the Public Integrity Project, which is currently suing the U.S. Attorney General for the release of the Epstein Files (https://
Poetic and darkly comic, Epstein Oratorio, an exposé of the ‘Jeffrey Epstein class,’ unfolds against the myth of Demeter and Persephone. Hades presides over both the modern and mythic worlds while a male chorus speaks in language drawn directly from the Epstein files and mainstream media coverage. The victims’ stories are based on real accounts. By weaving fiction and myth, the play confronts the trauma of sexual violence and imagines the possibility of change.
The readings of Epstein Oratorio will be followed by brief talkbacks with Substack journalists Wajahat Ali and Ellie Leonard, who have done extensive research and written commentary on the Epstein files. The play, published by Tough Poets Review, will be available for sale at the event.
Karen Malpede is the author of 22 produced and published plays, and co-founder with her late husband, actor/producer George Bartenieff, of Theater Three Collaborative, an Obie Award winner for its I Will Bear Witness, the diaries of Victor Klemperer. She is the author of the new memoir, Last Radiance: Radical Lives, Bright Deaths. Epstein Oratorio is Malpede’s fourth major collaboration with Kathleen Chalfant.
For over 30 years Kathleen Chalfant has been one of the most respected actresses on the New York stage. She is the recipient of Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, Obie, Lucille Lortel, and Drama League Awards for her groundbreaking performance in off-Broadway’s Wit, and of a Tony nomination for her work in the landmark play Angels in America. In 2025 she received Best Actress honors from the National Society of Film Critics for her performance in the film Familiar Touch.
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. La MaMa’s 65th Season, ONENESS, focuses on creating solidarity and community, exploring ways to build connections for cross-sector coalition and inviting artists, activists, organizers and community members into the creative process. We build audiences that are integral to the creative process. Our local and global community members who gather in our physical, digital, and hybrid spaces to see new work are often the first audience for that work. La MaMa believes art is a force for change.
La MaMa has been honored with 30+ Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie Awards, Villager Awards, the 2018 Regional Theatre Tony Award, and most recently a 2023 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Special Citation. We are a creative home to artists and resident companies from around the world, many of whom have made lasting contributions to the arts, including Blue Man Group, Bette Midler, Ping Chong, Jackie Curtis, Robert De Niro, André De Shields, Adrienne Kennedy, Cole Escola, Bridget Everett, Harvey Fierstein, Diane Lane, Charlotte Brathwaite, Charles Ludlam, Haruna Lee, Tom Eyen, Spiderwoman Theater, Tadeusz Kantor, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Meredith Monk, David and Amy Sedaris, Stephanie Hsu, Julie Taymor, Kazuo Ohno, Tom O’Horgan, Heather Christian, Andrei Serban, Liz Swados, and Andy Warhol. La MaMa’s vision of nurturing new artists and new work from all nations, cultures, races and identities remains as strong today as it was when Ellen Stewart first opened the doors in 1961. For more information, visit: lamama.org.
Epstein Oratorio plays for two nights only—Thursday, October 1 and Friday, October 2 at 7:00pm at La Mama’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4 Street. The running time is 45 minutes. Tickets are $40 general admission and $25 for students and seniors. Tickets and additional information are available by visiting https://lamama.org/
***** KING LEAR REVIEW – IAN MCDIARMID IS A TITANIC, HEARTBREAKING WONDER · Sep 7th
(Mark Lawson’s article appeared in the Guardian; From emperor to king … Ian McDiarmid as Lear at the Crucible theatre. Photograph: Johan Persson)
Crucible theatre, Sheffield
The 82-year-old actor gives a performance of absolute authenticity and clarity as the erratic demagogue in a uniformly impressive production
The word “nothing” is spoken four times in four lines in the opening scene of King Lear, among 30 uses across the play. This feels the key to Titus Halder’s Sheffield Crucible staging, which really makes something of nothingness, crowned by an unusually age-appropriate performer as the “fourscore and upward” English king: 82-year-old Ian McDiarmid.
The dark pit of Richard Kent’s design might be a nuclear after-blast. Like Peter Brook’s mid 20th-century stage and film versions, in a previous era of existentialist international tension, the interpretation radiates terminal uncertainty. Characters address pleas and prayers to “the gods” in the direction identified with heaven but with a growing knowing that nothing is there.
It is also clear that the kingdom Lear ruinously tries to divide between his three daughters is already past its rule-by date, probably due to his eccentric leadership. In a moment of apparent clarity during his mental decline, Lear says, “I will be jovial”, and this often unremarked line seems the base note to McDiarmid’s titanic performance.
Fode Simbo as Edmund and Katie Wimpenny as Goneril. Photograph: Johan Persson
Giggling dirtily when speculating about his daughters having “issue”, he grins manically out of sync with situations. His threat to inflict “terrors” on the world even though he “does not know yet” what they are is not, as often, the forgetfulness of dementia but political bullshitting that wins a knowing laugh from the audience. Leaving his court unsure what he will say or do next, the erratic head of state is also transactional, giving real chill to the dismissal of the banished Cordelia: “Her price has fallen.”
But, while it might be no surprise if this Lear suddenly imposed tariffs on France, the portrait of power is much broader: this demagogue, unfashionably, admits fault and reaches forgiveness.
The acting paradox of Lear is that the textual extreme physical frailty must co-exist with the ability to carry Cordelia’s corpse and the vocal depth to serve the dense poetry. Because of this, middle-aged actors are often cast.
birth-date realism raises obvious risks, McDiarmid perfectly combines bodily authenticity (the problem of transporting the dead daughter cleverly sidestepped) with absolute verbal clarity on the required range from explosion to self-reflective emotion. When Lear’s heart broke, so did mine.
‘QUEENSBRIDGE’ BY MARLIN THOMAS (REVIEW FROM NEW YORK) · Sep 1st
By Bob Shuman
Queensbridge, by Marlin Thomas (now playing at Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival, until 9/13–schedule below), is a history of disenfranchisement, an embrace of the rejected: evictions, robberies, murders, exhaustion—a pileup of the disremembered. What unites the characters—for they are real people, in real life, across generations–is their government housing complex, Queensbridge, just a ride away on the F train in NYC, to Queens—actually, the largest group of residential housing in North America, with 7,000 tenants: missing fathers, broken families, discrimination, unemployment, unpaid rent, dislocations, and soul abandonment, drugs. Urban planning on steroids.
The play is a gauge of acceptance and shame; its set, in the TNC lower-level Cabaret theater, is only six second-hand chairs—but its lackluster washed-out setting is a microcosm of seating for multitudes. A table. A laptop. A projection of the greenery at the entrance to the apartments, where a jazz bass is playing. DeMone Seaphin has directed the ensemble for choreographic, double-fisted acting (theater students might want to become aware of the scenes and monologues, in Queensbridge, for auditions). American pain. The narrator, Pharaoh (Lionel Russell) looks directly at us, yet the impression is not one of discomfort or intimidation, from the audience’s point of view, but rather, of witnessing. His wingman is Jeremy (Jamil Denard Jr.): he’s a big young man (a very big young man)—wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alley. But, to his credit, he does love his Mama.
Thomas is embracing everything society wants to reject—the people we move away from on mass transit, the errant, from New York public schools—where little more than half of students, from grades 3-8 are proficient in English or math (and the cost per student is the highest in the country: $35, 796 per pupil in 2024). Wait till they have to do paperwork. The temptation is to see Queensbridge in terms of the past—through the genius of James Baldwin or Claude Brown. Even Thomas might be called by the faraway designation of neorealist, a documentary investigator, examining the intersection of poverty and social reality. The uncomfortable truth, which doesn’t seem to have a genre yet, is the unappealing recognition, that people belong to machines, are tuned out, long gone. Right now: compliant, distracted, or listless—some sociologist’s success story somewhere must have been to keep the subways quiet and, possibly, safer.
Devices; muscle shirts; rings; necklaces; sunglasses in the collar openings; small earphones, not buds; flowers, a florist balloon; in a row, under the grab rails: brand-new running and walking shoes; sandals; shorts; jeans; baseball hats; t-shirts; a man kisses his son on the head; acne scars on a wide face. The first sight of a tattoo is at 42nd Street; green hair at 8th Street. How can all that life be so humbled?
Maybe Thomas knows all that. He’s talking to me, in the theater lobby: “If you want to shout or make noise, during the performance, go ahead.” A woman keeps saying, “O.K.” (near the box office). Thomas has actually lived at Queensbridge, this monstrosity, most of his life. He writes about the honor a young person can try to have, even when there is nothing. He also writes about the luxury of honor. A “wonderful” call comes in: “A lady saw Queensbridge last night: Just wanted to tell you how she loved the performance.” Yet the characters may be the people we must move away from on mass transit (Deric Gochenauer’s enactment of motor stereotypy, or the like), similar to the co-dependent women in Tennessee Williams’s visceral play The Mutilated (that feeling of stale booze and sweat, you want to take a shower after seeing). Queensbridge, is comparable, also, to Grenfell, the story of the tower apartments fire, which ripped through low-income housing, in London, in 2017, the basis of Gillian Slovo’s 2023 verbatim play. Queensbridge, however, is smaller, more pent up.
Ashley Victoria Scott, is the quilter, Mrs. Treadway, in the drama, a poignant role: “No one’s telling my story but me”; “white people writing about black people don’t seem right.” The petty thieves, thugs of the Manfredos (played by Gochenauer and Levi Buckmaster, as Tony—he’s carrying a baseball bat). Mr. Rosenberg (Sheldon Young) sees money can be made, hauling goods floor to floor. The bureaucrat (Wayne Miller): the Voice of NYCHA. A young woman of today, the Interviewer, getting an A for her academic project on the development complex, the projects, the low-income housing (Sherell Williams). What’s stable for a kid in the world of public housing? Not the Bungalow ice cream truck, which stopped coming. Not the fire hydrants, on a hot summer like this, which you can’t break into and turn on yourself anymore. Only the cops will come consistently, when a fire alarm is pulled.
O.K.
I am talking to a public librarian now, in the Bronx, who is agreeing with my choice of a two-year lease renewal—he did the same recently, a time-saver. He thinks it’s less of a hassle with the landlord. Summer is the busiest rental and moving season in the city, but nothing is changing in Queensbridge.
I should say that I recommend the show; it is the kind of work, with a social vision, which I find important.
I am also writing to Ms. LaSalle, at the New York Department of Finance, to renew a Rent Freeze: “I hope you are well. I am sending you my new lease (a two year lease), effective 11/1, 2026 through 10/31, 2028, so that my Rent Freeze records can be updated . . .
I have decided to stay, in my current apartment, two more years.”
(c) 2026 by Bob Shuman. All rights reserved.
Visit Theater for the New City.
“Queensbridge” by Marlin Thomas, directed by DeMone Seraphin
World Premiere, 75 min.
Cabaret Theater, $15
8/29@ 8:00 PM, 8/30 @ 2:00 PM, 8/30 5:00 PM, 9/5 @ 5:00 PM, 9/8 @ 9:00 PM, 9/10 @ 6:30 PM, 9/11 @ 9:00 PM, 9/12 5:00 PM, 9/13 @ 2:00 PM
Queensbridge is the largest public housing project in North America.This production renders it through an oral history project that became a play.
During an oral history interview, a decades-long resident of the nation’s largest housing project recounts the trauma of living there, his complicity in it, and his attempt at redemption. A man called Pharaoh holds court for an interviewer recording the history of his home. Around him, the neighbors of six decades return. Each interview is a record of how a person arrives in a place like this and what the place makes of them. The play is political but not partisan. Threaded through every memory is the Voice of NYCHA — the smooth, official account of the development, contradicted line-by-line by the people who actually lived there. https://QueensbridgeStagePlay.US
THE DOWNFALL OF SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK · Aug 29th
(Annie Levin’s article appeared in the Compact, 8/27; Photo: Joan Marcus/ The Public Theater.)
For decades, the free outdoor summer performances put on by Manhattan’s Public Theater have been a pillar of New York City’s cultural scene. The New York Shakespeare Festival, now called Free Shakespeare in the Park, launched the careers of Meryl Streep, James Earl Jones, and George C. Scott; many other notable figures of the stage and the screen have appeared in its acclaimed performances since it was launched in 1954 by the theater artist Joseph Papp. Born to Russian Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn in 1921, Papp believed that live theater should be as accessible as the public library. With a thirty-five-foot trailer attached to a decommissioned sanitation truck, he and his company brought Shakespeare to the people for free.
When he first rolled his trailer to Central Park’s Turtle Pond, Papp could hardly have imagined what the festival would become in 2026: the Blade helicopters droning past as the festival’s director of fundraising thanks Citizens Bank and other corporate sponsors for their generous contributions; productions like last summer’s star-studded Twelfth Night, which recast the beloved comedy as a cartoonish spectacle, part Shen Yun Circus and part Spongebob musical.
The first production in this summer’s season was a bilingual Romeo and Juliet set at the US-Mexico border wall. No English supertitles were provided for non-Spanish-speaking audience members, nor Spanish supertitles for the non-English-speakers in the crowd. The star-crossed lovers code-switched in and out of Spanish, as in: “For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch / And palm to palm the palmer les da un beso.” The laugh lines in Spanish elicited obligatory titters from perhaps a fifth of the audience. The rest maintained a guilty, awkward silence.
Juliet’s balcony scene was staged on a guard tower on the border wall. The Montagues, a Spanish-speaking family of indigenous activists from the wrong side of the wall, staged a campus-style “Abolish ICE” banner drop; the Capulets were border guards, dressed like goose-stepping blackshirts. Transposing contemporary politics onto Shakespeare can, in theory, offer a fruitful way of reimagining the play, but the politics here were slapped on and made little sense. The Montagues and Capulets are “two families, both alike in dignity” battling over ancient grudges; the tragic deaths of the young protagonists prompt them to recognize the meaninglessness of the rivalry and reconcile. The new production’s desperate bid for relevance generated an incoherent statement with little relation to the text, turning a tragic love story about fate, love, and destructive enmity into a black and white morality tale.