After leaving the New York Theater Workshop, where he was artistic director for many years, the first off-Broadway season will feature an intergenerational tale centered around a black family in Illinois, a lesbian story set on a naval base. He plans to produce a farce, a story about a mysterious album, and more. It combines Nazi-era photography with the rare star of Microsoft’s text-to-speech tool.
The series of shows, announced Friday, was overseen by Patricia McGregor, who replaced James C. Nicola as artistic director last year. The organization has produced influential productions, including the biggest hit, “Rent,” as well as notable productions such as “Hadestown,” “Once,” “Slave Play,” and “What the Constitution Means to Me.” We have a proven track record.
2023-24 season includes 3 world premieres and 1 premiere last year, prefers fresh to well-known works. (The most recent season featured the Broadway-bound “Merryly We Roll Along,” starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendes.) McGregor says the New York Theater Workshop certainly has its There is room for seed-fixed works, she said. The first season focuses on embracing risk and supporting artists whose work may be lost in the theatrical world’s efforts to ensure visibility, a trusted format and commercial success.
“We are more a laboratory than a factory,” McGregor says. “Part of what the workshop aims to be is a testing ground.”
This fall, McGregor will direct Nathan Allan Davies’ The Refuge Plays, and his play Nat Turner in Jerusalem premiered at the New York Theater Workshop in 2016. . Produced and staged with the Roundabout Theater Company, this production tells the story of four generations. A black family lives in a house they built in the woods. An early version of the production was scheduled to begin rehearsals in 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
Later this year, the non-profit organization will stage a new play, “Merry Me,” by Korean playwright and director Hansol Jeong (“Wolf Play”). In “Merry Me,” directed by Lee Silverman (who directed last year’s suffrage musical, “Suffus”), a restless lieutenant leads the other women on the base (including the general’s wife) during a blackout. try to entertain
Set to release in winter 2024, I Love You To Death, directed by Lucas Hunart, uses Microsoft’s text-to-speech product for the inter-song monologues performed by playwright Mona Pirnot. (McGregor says the Microsoft-influenced actor is funny and weird, but also surprisingly human.)
Next spring, the company will produce a tectonic theater project, “Here There Are Blueberries,” based on a collection of Nazi-era photographs delivered to the desk of an archivist at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. A play by Kaufman and Amanda Gronich. It made the news and set the German businessman on a journey of discovery about his family. Kaufman, who was behind The Laramie Project, will also direct the play, which premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in California and is currently running. on stage At the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington DC
