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Last week, we gazed at the stars who'll twinkle down on Broadway this fall. But real New Yorkers never see the stars—we're too busy looking for the next hot party, hip bar, fine restaurant or (in our case) the next incredible under-the-radar show. For that, we go downtown to venues like the Public, the Rattlestick, and MCC—or to the Wild Project, a new(ish) eco-friendly space in the East Village.
If you want to catch the next generation of theater today, make the Wild Project your first visit. This fall, they host the premiere of “The Bereaved”, by the inflammatory Thomas Bradshaw. This young agitator enjoys a rep among theatergoers who're tired of boring domestic dramas. His timely new play sees a lawyer, her family's sole earner, try to insure her family's future when she learns she's got a fatal illness. Anarchy results.
We always check out what the Rattlestick puts onstage. This season they offer another taut thriller: Lucy Thurber's “Killers and Other Family”. With most playwrights, you'd take that title ironically. But in Thurber's play, Samantha Soule opens her apartment to her criminal brother, kicking off a waking nightmare. As with many Rattlestick prods, there's nudity onstage—always a bonus. Always.
Another young company, the Epic Theater Ensemble, dives into politics with “Mahida's Extra Key to Heaven” (which, incidentally, wins our award for Best Title). It's a haunting tale about a female Iranian college student in exile, which questions how much we can understand another culture. Provocative in the best way, it's a brave selection by the Epic Theater.
But with all that action, sometimes we like the candlelight illumination of an introverted soul. MCC fills that need with “Still Life”, whose cast is one class act after another: Dominic Chianese (“The Sopranos”), Adriene Lenox (“Doubt”), Sarah Paulson (“Crimes of the Heart”), and Frederick Weller (“Take Me Out”). The show, directed by Will Frears (“Rainbow Kiss”), follows a neurotic romance between Paulson's photographer and Weller's trend analyst (whatever that is!).
If there's one theater we'd buy a season ticket for, it would be the Public Theater. Last week we mentioned an Off-Broadway production of “Othello” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman; it's partly produced by this most awesome of institutions. This season, the Public will also bring “Fela!” to Broadway, only blocks from their hit “Hair”. At their home on Lafayette, Willem Dafoe stars in avant-garde master Richard Foreman's world premiere, “Idiot Savant”; we guarantee (or maybe we warn you) Foreman's work will blow your mind. We're already on record as fans of Tarrell McCraney, so we can't wait to see “The Brother/Sister Plays”. You can see these three intertwining plays over two nights or catch a marathon double-feature on a weekend day.
Finally, the Public brings our favorite monologuist Mike Daisey back for another engagement. We never miss one of Daisey's uproarious and awesome shows. This time around, he'll discuss belief and the power of American culture; for research, Daisey spent a month with a cargo cult in the South Pacific.
Those are the stage plays that we can't wait to see this autumn. But we must add the Foundry Theater to the list, even though they don't have a theater. Instead, “The Provenance of Beauty” turns the entire borough of the Bronx into their stage: The show consists of a poetic monologue delivered aboard a bus that winds across the Willis Avenue Bridge to show us a microcosm of New York City. It's an utterly unique piece of theater—but then, so's every night in Gotham!
