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With Thanksgiving coming up—and a retrospective on 2009 (and the whole decade?) just beyond—I'm giving thanks for the wild and wonderful work of the New York theater community. Here's my top ten list; what's on yours?
10. Liquor in theaters
This is nothing new—the great Bertolt Brecht noted that beer made theater better—but I'm definitely thankful that shows are encouraging consumption during the performance. This loosening of “proper” behavior takes drama off its artistic pedestal and encourages the audience to enjoy ourselves. It was artistically valid in Radiohole's anti-temperance experiment “Anger/Nation,” and it turned the audience into a community in “The Lily's Revenge.” It raises a little extra money for my favorite companies and it makes the show better!
9. Parabasis and Critic-O-Meter
A play may be live and local, but theater does exist online. Isaac Butler leads the conversation on his blog Parabasis, posing questions on the state of the stage and analyzing the politics of theater and politics-as-theater. Over at the Critic-O-Meter, Butler and a partner collate reviews after a show opens and come up with an average grade, also offering thumbnails of critics' reactions. These invaluable sites are the perfect way to stay current on New York's theater scene.
8. David Greenspan and Marin Ireland
Hollywood prefers sheer beauty, but I like actors to be individuals, like David Greenspan and Marin Ireland. Though both appear on Broadway this fall—Greenspan in MTC's “Royal Family” and Ireland in “After Miss Julie”—neither's a matinee idol. In fact, both seem a little dangerous. Greenspan, talking smooth but looking daggers, is the actor as con artist. And Ireland may look willowy and vulnerable, but she brings razor eyes and a steel will to the stage. If either of these electric talents are in the cast, I thank the mad god of theater.
7. Soho Rep
Under Sarah Benson, this company has clawed its way to the top of my list of favorite theaters. It's not just that they produced “Blasted,” the best show I saw last season. It's that, unlike way too many companies in NYC, they dare to create eye-popping, jaw-dropping drama that looks to the future, not the past. Even better, you can buy a copy of the script for five bucks at intermission, and on Sundays, tickets only cost a dollar. In 2010, they've got the coolest line-up in town, starting with Young Jean Lee's “Lear,” a radical take on Shakespeare.
6. Mike Daisey
Alone onstage with a legal pad, a glass of water, and his voice, Mike Daisey spins a free association of savage cultural analysis, poignant personal history, and well-researched fact. He soothes your ears one moment and cauterizes your brain the next. I can't wait for his next monologue—in which he describes his three weeks with a tribe on a South Pacific volcanic island and investigates the fallout of Wall Street's financial meltdown—at the Public Theater's cavernous Newman space in December.
5. St. Ann's Warehouse
I love the programming at St. Ann's—I've seen Shakespeare in Polish, a Eugene O'Neill play in techno-blackface, and space-age rock opera there. But even more, I love the space. Outside, it's just another grey block of urban landscape; inside, it's a maze of black curtains, moody lights, and the oaken smell of hot alcoholic cider, all cloaking a Frankenstein's Lab of a stage that brings experiments to life!
4. Les Freres Corbusier
An acid trip in theatrical form, Alex Timbers' merry troupe keeps topping itself with every show. First it was Henrik Ibsen performed by robots. Then they built a Hell House (a gory fundamentalist fantasia) for Halloween. I missed their festive Scientology pageant performed by children, but I loved the sci-fi tale of urban artistic anarchism inspired by the video game “Dance Dance Revolution.” In March, the Public remounts the Freres' rock opera about our first emo president, Indian killer Andrew Jackson.
3. Sheila Callaghan
It seems like every playwright that Adam Szymkowicz interviews on his blog (incidentally, a series I'm also thankful for!) mentions Sheila Callaghan in their list of favorites. Me too! Callaghan's plays are like a computer virus, rewriting your brain's programming with outlandish scenarios, obsidian-hard dialogue, and a tone that's both brilliant and insane. Spoiler: “That Pretty Pretty” will be #1 in my top ten theater list of 2009. And I'm counting the weeks till her “Lascivious Something” opens at the Women's Project this spring.
2. “Next to Normal” and “Our Town”
When friends ask what play they should see, this pair of shows have been my go-to recommendations, no matter who asks. “Next to Normal” is the Broadway show, a musical with hard rock music but also a thoughtful, moving family drama. “Our Town” is the Off-Broadway pick, the familiar revival that's executed in a tasteful, contemporary style. You can't go wrong with either one.
1. Closing Times Square to traffic
I've got issues with Mayor Bloomberg, who governs our city like a Venetian prince. But I tip my hat to him for banning cars along Broadway from 47th Street to 42nd Street. That clever stroke of urban engineering has made Times Square so much easier to navigate—especially at 7:55 p.m., when I'm hustling through the crowds to reach a Broadway theater before the curtain.
