Theater Outings Fall 25′
THE MAENADS
Five modern-day men climb a mountain to roleplay as Dionysus-worshipping women and break free of the prison of masculinity.
When Stewart, an emotionally hidden academic, puts his divorced uncle, a sensitive colleague, that colleague’s fratty friend, and a strange pickleball partner through the paces of choral chant, invocations, and mock dismemberments, at first nothing but the wine seems to have much effect. But when a role-play pushes the men to absurd lengths, they soon discover they have no idea how to get off the mountain.
Desperate to survive but equally desperate not to leave the mountain unchanged, they are forced to confront the lies and fears that drove them to this performance of ecstatic femininity in the first place.
QUEENS
From Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok (Cost of Living, Sanctuary City) comes an epic drama about hunting for the American Dream, finding family, and facing the ghosts you left behind. In an illegal basement apartment in Queens, multiple generations of immigrant women fight to launch a new life. But when a young Ukrainian woman comes searching for the mother who abandoned her years ago, she forces a reckoning with the impossible choices the women made to survive. Directed by Trip Cullman (We Had A World, Choir Boy), Queens chronicles the strivers who sacrificed whole worlds for the chance at something remarkable.
ORATORIO FOR LIVING THINGS
In this “PROFOUNDLY STRANGE AND OVERWHELMINGLY BEAUTIFUL” (New York Times) music-theater piece, creator Heather Christian infuses a classical oratorio with a captivating blend of blues, gospel, jazz, and soul. Both otherworldly and achingly intimate, this immersive event delves into the intricacies of human memory alongside the powerful forces that shape the universe. Deemed “GORGEOUS – A MUST SEE!” (TimeOut New York), Christian’s utterly singular work explores the origins of existence and our place within it.
Staged by Obie Award-winning director Lee Sunday Evans and featuring a virtuosic company of singers and instrumentalists, the critically heralded ORATORIO FOR LIVING THINGS makes its highly anticipated return, celebrating our curiosity, wonder, and all we’re capable of becoming when in communion with each other.
Reading:
Elinor Fuchs: Visit to a Small Planet: Questions to ask a Play (PDF)
