This autumn, one of the clearest Off-Broadway trends is youth. With theater costs going up and audiences aging rather than renewing, the folks who program seasons tend to prefer established names over budding talent. Sure, it'll be a pleasure to see “A Body of Water,” an absurdist marital drama by Lee Blessing (born 1949), or “Romantic Poetry,” a dreamlike musical by John Patrick Shanley (born 1950), or a revival of “Streamers,” the Vietnam-era classic by theater and army veteran David Rabe (born 1940). And musical fans won't pass up Stephen Sondheim's latest musical, “Road Show,” at the Public.
But older playwrights have had their days. What was once fresh and exciting, now seems rote and conventional. A new generation is needed to put onstage the new technologies, the new conflicts and the new modes of looking at the world. It's the young playwrights who write the passionate works that set new trends and set your imagination afire for days afterward. Not to mention, impressing your theater date.
One playwright sure to mesmerize is the sultan of Off-Broadway, Adam Rapp, who's raiding another playhouse this autumn. “Kindness” sees a Midwest mother and son pick up the pieces of their crumbling family with a trip to New York. Rapp's unflinching depiction of pathetic American lives isn't to all tastes, but he has the sentimental streak that he hides under the ugliness.
Politico-turned-playwright Beau Willimon catches an echo of the autumn's biggest show—the 2008 election—on the Atlantic's second stage in “Farragut North.” His campaign experience with Shumer, Clinton and Dean provides background for this story of a youthful press secretary who indulges his lust for power and sex while running a presidential campaign.
Just out of grad school, Tarell Alvin McCraney has already garnered applause for his work's fierce emotion and lush language. His “Wig Out!” stages a competition between two “houses” of drag queens. Fellow twentysomethings Noah Haidle and Itamar Moses also weigh in with “Saturn Returns” and “Back Back Back.” The former offers new perspectives on romance, with different actors playing the same man at age 30, 60 and 90; the latter peeks into the dugout to find what drives ballplayers to use steroids.
The patron saint of troubled youth, the late Sarah Kane, gets a rare Gotham staging with “Blasted.” This landmark show, one of the most scandalous in British theater history, tore through London 15 years ago, dividing critics and audiences with its violence and depravity. A provocative, cryptic play involving journalists, soldiers, rape and cannibalism, this one isn't for the faint of heart.
For something that may be more palatable but no less experimental, look to some of the young ensembles. Visiting from Philadelphia, Pig Iron deserves an award for weirdest title with “Chekhov Lizardbrain,” a mash-up of surrealism, neuroscience and Russia's favorite playwright. Brooklyn's own Radiohole presents their latest, “Anger/Nation,” a funky exploration of America's twin impulses of puritanism and hedonism. And the LES plays host to another installment of “The Pumpkin Pie Show,” a strange evening of storytelling with a cultish following.
The oldest playwright we've mentioned just turned 40—a great sign that theater is renewing itself. To hammer the point home, we'll mention with few more playwrights whose fresh voices will grace Gotham stages: Steven Levenson (“The Language of Trees”), Ronan Noone (“The Atheist”) and Stephen Belber (“Fault Lines”). Their plays cover the War, the Mainstream Media and that perennial subject, the Battle of the Sexes. As long as you're not looking for moldy drama, you'll find something worthwhile Off-Broadway this fall.
