I have seen a batch of shows and very good theatre recently......and much of it not in my town of Manhattan. Okay, two of the productions are just over the bridge in Brookyn, but the others were in Princeton, Washington and even Los Angeles. Yet another reminder that live dramatic performance is thriving and, beginning next year, you won't even have to come here to see Hamilton.
Let's start in Brooklyn....and why not? It has become the go-to borough for food, cool housing, space, and even a great new arena. We are familiar with its venues like St Ann's Warehouse and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. But on that list must also go Theatre For a New Audience, conveniently located right across the street from BAM. TFANA lives inside the Polonsky Shakespeare Center, in a handsome and comfortable 299 seat stage, and offers re-imagined classical fare. I am already looking forward to next June...yes, next June...when Oscar Isaac will star in Hamlet. Right now, it is presenting two chestnuts in repertory...meaning the same actors taking on dual challenging roles---Ibsen's A Doll House and Strindberg's The Father.
We know that Chicago is the OTHER important theatre hub of note, but I would nominate Washington D.C. as the most improved. (As I would for its restaurants, by the way.) I happened to be there last week when the Helen Hayes awards--the city's big event---were happening, and I could not believe the extensive list of venues and productions. One of the most life-affirming awards was for Outstanding Emerging Theatre, given to a start-up called The Welders. In 2013, five playwrights, tired of waiting for others to tell them if their work was production-worthy, merged into a collective. The idea was that each Welder would have the opportunity to develop a play, and several have been produced. The slogan of the Welders is, "Three years, five plays, pass it on," meaning after their "term limits" are up, the former class bows out and selects the next. "When we started, we were all in our forties," says founding member Renee Calarco. "The newest group is much younger and we were thrilled to see how many applicants there were."
The other most exciting theatrical entity in our nation's capital is the Mosaic Theatre Company, started by local hero Ari Roth. He had spent 18 years running the highly respected Theatre J at the Jewish Community Center, until he was pushed out by a board of directors that thought he was leaning too far left in his choice of material. (As in the Palestinians might have something to say too) In the past year and a half, Roth has managed to complete a diversified first season, including its own productions as well as multiple talkbacks on the issues behind them. Its final show of the season, When January Feels Like Summer, has received strong reviews and deals with a South Asian immigrant, a transgender woman, and two African Americans. You can see why the name Mosaic was chosen.
Roth is clearly still emotional about the "bittersweet divorce," as he calls the publicized break from Theatre J, "It was a jagged, fractious one, "he says, "an ordeal for a lot of us, broken bonds that can take a long time to repair." Offices were found inside the Atlas Performing Arts Center, a staff hired, and initial money ($.1.5 million budget) raised. But Roth is still working on bringing over more of the loyal Theatre J financial supporters.
In fact, Mosaic much more accurately represents the diversity of the city in which it is housed. Its board, events, and productions cover every religion and ethnicity. "We are a secular, global, social justice theatre, dealing with hot-button interfaith issues and speaking to a fusion community," says Roth.
Even though more and more cities are doing good, and in many cases, original theatrical work, the quiet quest remains to end up on or off Broadway stages. "There are so many trajectories now for a new play," says Roth, "but the dream is always to have a pipeline to New York." One theatre that has found a way into that pipeline is the McCarter, which sits on the edge of the gorgeous campus of Princeton University.. This is the place from which Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike came in 2012 before making it to Broadway and winning the Tony for best play a year later.
Emily Mann has been the McCarter's Artistic Director for 25 years and is a prime reason for its highly diverse selection of plays, many penned by women. "I can't separate who I am from what I choose to do," says Mann, who is also a writer and director "You work from your gut and your life experience, so of course I am very drawn to plays about women and people of color."
Meanwhile, back here in New York City, this year's Tony nominations, as usual, are top heavy with men in the behind- the- curtain categories. The truth is, theatre outside New York is not only getting more and more interesting, but better reflects the current and, one hopes, future audiences.
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