Go See a Show‪!‬ Robert A. K. Gonyo

Listen in as Retro Productions Artistic Director Heather E. Cunningham, who also plays Fanny in the cast, along with director Sara Thigpen, discuss looking at the past through the lens of theatre and theatre through the lens of history, enthusiasm to jump in and play, suggestions vs. specificity, getting back to the live space post-COVID, and how it seems like everything comes back around again, in their production of Eric Overmyer’s On the Verge.

“…I love what it says about America, what it says about our history. The language is beautiful…”



Retro Productions presents

On the Verge

written by Eric Overmyer

directed by Sara Thigpen

thru September 24, 2022

The Gene Frankel Theater

24 Bond Street

Manhattan

tickets: $25 ($22 students/seniors), available via OvationTix







photos by Kyle Connolly, Connolly Photo NYC

Listen in as White on White co-directors Alec Duffy & Lori Elizabeth Parquet discuss the Hoi Polloi process, developing and discovering a play with the playwright, avoiding spoilers, how to examine whiteness in a theatrical context, troubling the waters, taking theatre to an extreme place, and asking questions that we’re all “answering for ourselves, all the time.”

“…this is difficult stuff to talk about intellectually, let alone theatrically…to really tell the truth about what whiteness is. Because I feel like one of the tools of whiteness is to be vague about it, to be obscure about it, to not be straightforward about it…so that it can continue to exist…”



Hoi Polloi presents

White on White

written by Robert Quillen Camp

directed by Alec Duffy & Lori Elizabeth Parquet

thru July 16, 2022

JACK

20 Putnam Ave

Brooklyn

tickets: SOLD OUT; wait list begins at 7pm each night

photos by David Gonsier

Listen in as Blake Habermann & Jae Woo, performers in Broken Box Mime Theater‘s newest show Take Shape, discuss being prepared, music for mime, outbursts from toddlers, the benefits and difficulties of being a mime when masked, making some last-minute adjustments pre-show, breaking through language barriers, and making theatre accessible to as many people as possible.

“…we’ve been working on accessibility as part of our approach for all of our productions…being more inviting to different kinds of populations, people with different kinds of needs to come into the theater…”



Broken Box Mime Theater presents

Take Shape

performed and created by Nick Abeel, Becky Baumwoll, Ismael Castillo, Julia Cavagna, Géraldine Dulex, Blake Habermann, David Jenkins, Marissa Molnar, Kristin McCarthy Parker, Tasha Milkman, Regan Sims, Jae Woo, & Josh Wynter

thru May 1, 2022

Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre

A.R.T./NY Theatres

502 West 53rd St.

Manhattan

tickets: $25, available via BrownPaperTickets

photos by Bjorn Bolinder

Listen in as Garbageman performers Kirk Gostkowski and Deven Anderson discuss seeing the familiar onstage, truth in absurdity, the benefits of repartee, how the audience interacts with juxtaposed seriousness and silliness, how a difficult piece morphs and changes over time, and searching for the American dream.

“…the bottom line with this piece is, I feel like this topic needs to be discussed. And people are afraid to discuss it. Because what does it mean? What does it mean about our humanity, what does it mean about our families, and our neighbors, and people that we know in our society…and we can’t just sweep it under the rug. The only way things gets better is if we discuss it…It’s about humanity, ultimately…”



The Chain Theatre presents

Garbageman

written by Keith Huff

directed by Greg Cicchino

thru April 16, 2022

The Chain

312 W. 36th Street, 4th Floor

Manhattan

tickets: $25, available via Eventive



photos by David Zayas, Jr.

Listen in as Ectoplasm playwright & director Sara Fellini, along with cast members Jillian Cicalese and Caitlin Dullahan-Bates, discuss “life and death and lust and love,” the stories we tell ourselves as we try to determine the truth, navigating society’s return to live in-person theatre while COVID is still a thing, layers of artifice and reality, and what it means to be making work together again.

“Right now, we don’t need tv. We don’t need movies. We have SO MANY SCREENS…you need a human being in front of you, who might make a mistake…who might do something brilliant and amazing that you would never see, you’d never feel the energy in the room…”



Spit & Vigor presents

Ectoplasm

written & directed by Sara Fellini

thru February 6, 2022

The Players Theatre

115 MacDougal Street

Manhattan

tickets available via OvationTix



photos by Caitlin Ochs

Listen in as longtime Bread & Puppet Theater collaborator John Bell discusses the history and activism of the company, bringing together collaborators from disparate locations, an “accessible and unpretentious” style of theater,” the use and meaning of different kinds of chairs, survival & mutual support, and the magical precarity of live performance.

“…it’s a different type of theater work than what I think of as ‘straight theater’…it’s different, it’s looking around and making due with what’s there…creating from your own experience, using what you’ve got, not being hampered or set back by the challenges, but just sort of making it happen with whatever you have with you…”



Bread & Puppet Theater presents

The Persians

written by Aeschylus

directed by Peter Schumann

and

Our Domestic Resurrection Circus

directed by Peter Schumann

thru December 19, 2021

Theater for the New City

155 First Avenue

Manhattan

tickets: $18, or $12 for students, seniors, and children

photo by Joseph Gresser