(NO)REFUNDS

When I first moved to New York, I saw a lot of Off-Off-Broadway shows for $15. Back then, that was the going rate for independent theatre, generally performed under Equity Showcase contracts. Sometimes it was amazing. Sometimes it was mediocre. Sometimes I wanted a refund.

These days, I'm less likely to see a show on a whim. Since moving to the Bronx, it's become more of an ordeal to get into the theatre district and then back home again to get to bed at a reasonable hour. If I'm going out to see a show, I'm less willing to take chances than I was when I lived in Hell's Kitchen.

("Hmm... a show called Vampyres? Only $15? Playing right around the corner? Inspired by the theories of Antonin Artaud? How bad could it be?" Answer: very.)

Today, however, I had rehearsal in Midtown for a one-act play I'm directing. We had to be out of our rehearsal space before 6:30, which made it quite convenient to grab a slice and see a show. As I've complained recently, theatre in New York just hasn't been the same since covid, and there wasn't a lot I wanted to see that I could get a cheap ticket for at the last minute.

That's when I stumbled upon (NO)REFUNDS, a brilliant Off-Off-Broadway show playing now at TheatreLab. The piece is the brainchild of Katy Murphy, who appears onstage as Tiffany Gold, a buxom blond gameshow host who gives a "star player"--who has paid considerably more than $15--a chance to win back some of that money by playing a series of games before the live audience.

A show like this is going to be different every night, but the performance I saw was both hysterically funny and at moments deeply touching. In the midst of a play about artificiality, in which everything about the host, Tiffany Gold, appears to be fake, the audience comes to find moments of incredible sincerity.

So if you're looking to take a chance on a show playing beyond Broadway and Off-Broadway, I thoroughly recommend (NO)REFUNDS. It definitely isn't one of those shows where you'll want your money back.

Wrapping Up MLA

Today was the last day of the annual convention of the Modern Language Association. I was only able to attend virtually, but I enjoyed many of the thoughtful discussions online.

Thursday, I attended a session on Automation, AI, and the Future of Contingent Teaching. Predictably, there were numerous technical problems, and the chair was never able to get onto Zoom to lead the session.

Friday, I caught a session called Early Modern Women’s Violence. They didn't have any technical problems. (Perhaps the Zoom gremlins were afraid of all those violent early modern women.) I particularly enjoyed learning about Jeanne d'Albret, the mother of France's Henry IV, and a broad you didn't mess with... unless you wanted to find yourself on the wrong end of a broadsword.

There was also an interesting session on Saturday about Approaches to Teaching Arthurian Literature, but the real reason I was attending MLA this year was because I was chairing a session this morning on Shavian Family Resemblances. Unfortunately, Dibasi Roy couldn't join us, but Alice Clapié from Columbia University shared some interesting information on Bernard Shaw's review of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Dan Stuart of Texas Tech also delivered an excellent paper on the censorship of Mrs. Warren's Profession, including the tidbit that Shaw considered changing Mrs. Warren's titular profession from prostitution to pickpocketing in order to get around the censors.

In the afternoon, I attended a session on Global Encounters, Translations, and Transformations in the Comedia. The speakers shared a lot of information on relationships with the New World during the Spanish Golden Age of literature. Medardo Rosario from Florida International University spoke on Lope de Vega's play about Christopher Columbus (which I have read) and a Tirso de Molina play on the conquistador Francisco Pizarro (which I have not read, but now want to). In Todo es dar en una cosa, Tirso apparently focuses on Pizarro's rise from poverty to glory, but mostly ignores the indigenous people of Peru he conquered.

The other speakers on that panel were interesting as well. Jose Estrada of Carnegie Mellon University talked about a Nahuatl translation of Lope's La madre de la mejor, which tells the story of the parents of the Virgin Mary. Rebecca Smith from UCLA then discussed another religious play, Sacrificio de Isaac, which was adapted into Nahuatl and then translated back into Spanish.

If you missed these talks but are an MLA member registered for the conference, they were all recorded and should be available to view for a limited time.

Coming in January

January is one of those months that seems to always feel longer than it really is, though this January I have so many things going on that I'm afraid it will fly by this year.

First up is the annual convention of the Modern Language Association, which begins tomorrow. I will not be traveling to Toronto this year, but I will be chairing an online panel on Shavian Family Resemblances.

The online session will apply the MLA Presidential Theme of Family Resemblances to the plays and critical writings of the dramatist Bernard Shaw. It will examine the fictional families in Shaw’s plays as well as the larger Anglo-Irish literary family of writers Shaw belonged to and resembled, even as he clashed with them.

In “‘People with unimproved minds’: Shavian Fathers and Resistance to the Ideal Paterfamilias,” Dibasi Roy will look at the early comedies of Shaw to examine the discursive construction of Late Victorian fatherhood, including how multidimensional aspects of masculinities intersect in varied and complex ways. 

Alice Clapie will examine resemblances among Shaw’s family of Irish writers in “Eugenic Laughter, Universal Laughter: Shaw’s Physiological Dramaturgy.” The paper will explore the uncomfortable notion of “eugenic laughter” in Shaw’s physiological dramaturgy, acknowledging the popularity of eugenics for social progress at the turn of the 20th century, when it was an important crux in the discussion of familial issues.

In the third paper, Dan Stuart will analyze the controversies behind Shaw’s most infamous family drama in “Reconsidering the Unpleasant: Victorian Morality and the Censorship of Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” The play, among Shaw’s most socially significant works, dealt with the then-controversial subject of prostitution, foregrounding the mitigating factors underlying the trade’s proliferation while exploring conflicting attitudes about gender roles and social mobility in Late Victorian society.

Later this month, American Renaissance Theater Company will be presenting Two by Four, two presentations of one-act plays at 124 Bank Street Theater. (If you're looking for the address of 124 Bank Street Theater, it is, in fact, 124 Bank Street.) Presentation A will include Mutual Bond by Mark Levine, Choose! by Bara Swain, Gators by Linda Kampley, and My Handiwork by Robert Kerr. Presentation B will include My Girl by Terri Campion, Eye of the Beholder by Kathryn Grant, The New Pasteur by Michael McGoldrick, and Into the Light by Marc Castle.

I'm directing Into the Light, which stars the author, Marc Castle, as a dead man who meets other departed souls in the afterlife, but not the ones he expected to find. It also features Terri Campion, Jeannie Dalton, and Ralph Pachoda. Today, I had a chance to check out the theater, which is run by HB Studio. It's a great space, and I look forward to having my directorial work there.

Presentation B will be going up January 23rd at 7pm, January 24th at 7pm, January 25th at 3pm, and January 27th at 7pm. Tickets are $25 for general admission. I hope you can come!

Top Shows of 2025

Anyone who remembers the New York theatre scene from before the dreaded covid shutdown knows that this city has yet to fully recover. Theatre today is simply less ambitious, less imaginative, and less interesting than it was before 2020.

Still, there are some exceptions. Last year, there were a few remarkable shows that made my annual top-ten list, including Broadway's re-imagining of The Great Gatsby and a new production of the Giuseppi Verdi classic La Forza del Destino at the Metropolitan Opera.

This year, I have a new list of the best shows I saw in New York City that opened since January 1st. That doesn't include some of the excellent productions I saw outside of New York, including Sunday in the Park with George in Pittsburgh or Dear Liar in Niagara-on-the-Lake, not to mention my own workshop of After an Earlier Incident at Theatre of Western Springs.

10. Nongod - This trio of one-act plays by Leon Lone was a pleasant surprise. Seeing ancient deities from Egypt, Russia, and Mexico come to life on stage turned out to be both funny and emotionally engaging.

9. The Wild Duck - Ibsen classics other than A Doll House or Hedda Gabler are few and far between in the U.S., so I was delighted that Theatre for a New Audience announced they would reviving The Wild Duck. Maaike Laanstra-Corn gave a striking portrayal of Hedwig.

8. The Lady From the Sea - What was I saying about Ibsen classics? Even better was Susane Lee's adaptation of The Lady From the Sea, performed appropriately right on the Hudson River. Lee reset the play in Canada, but kept its spirit, and the outdoor venue was delightful.

7. Pygmalion - Gingold Theatrical Group always does a good job with their shows, and this year's production of Bernard Shaw's most famous comedy was no exception. Synnøve Karlsen, now famous as young Cassie from television's Miss Austen, made her New York debut as the irrepressible Eliza Doolittle.

6. Kowalski - Gregg Ostrin's play about an imagined meeting between Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando was a hit Off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street. There have been plans to move it to Broadway. If that happens, you'll want to see it. In addition to probing into the creation of the American classic A Streetcar Named Desire, it's a great vehicle for two fine actors.

5. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - While it's true that the second act wasn't as good as the first, this new opera based on the Michael Chabon novel of the same name still wowed audiences, in part due to sets and projections by 59 Studio. Fortunately, it's coming back this spring, so if you missed it in the fall, you can still catch it at the Met beginning February 17.

4. Wine in the Wilderness - Classic Stage Company had been planning this revival of the classic Alice Childress drama for quite some time. With direction by LaChanze, it hit all the right notes. The set designed by Arnulfo Maldonado wrapped the audience around the action, making the riot outside feel shockingly close, and Grantham Coleman once again gave an amazing performance.

3. The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse - Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley's new musical perfectly channels pop music from earlier in the century while telling a story of the Internet stardom (and helldom) of today. The New Group deserves kudos for bringing it to Off-Broadway audiences, and for featuring some incredibly gifted young performers, including Patrick Nathan Falk, Keri René Fuller, Luke Islam, and Milly Shapiro.

2. Dead Outlaw - An even better new musical that premiered this year on Broadway (transferring from an Off-Broadway run last year) was Dead Outlaw, which tells the fascinating real-life story of Elmer McCurdy, who literally couldn't pull off a crime to save his life. Itamar Moses, David Yazbek, and Erik Della Penna were able to hilariously tell the tale while at the same time evoking scenes of sheer pathos. Like Yazbek's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, this show deserves a long afterlife with regional and community theatres.

1. Moby-Dick - The best show I saw this year, though, has to be Jake Heggie's opera Moby-Dick, which made its Met premiere earlier this year. Though the piece first premiered at the Dallas Opera 15 years ago, this was the first time New York audiences were able to see and hear it live. Having written my own stage adaptation of the Herman Melville novel, I have lots of opinions on how to best stage the story, but the union of sets and projections seemed flawless in this staging, and the music is some of Heggie's best. The tenor Brandon Jovanovich also made a profound Captain Ahab.

That's the list. I know! Two operas and only a single work from the Broadway stage, and that one which premiered Off-Broadway first. The dynamics of New York theatre are certainly changing.

A Christmas Tale

This morning, I finished reading Zapolya: A Christmas Tale, S.T. Coleridge's holiday story of love, usurpation, and alleged lycanthropy.

After the success of his tragedy Remorse, Coleridge wanted to provide a Christmas entertainment for the Theatre Royal at Drury Lane. (Werewolves are traditional for Christmas, right?) Drury Lane passed, but the play ended up being performed at the Surrey Theatre (also known as the Royal Circus) in 1818.

Playbills for the Surrey gave the play the subtitle "The War Wolf" since its plot involves a mysterious cave supposed to be haunted by a supernatural creature of that name. In reality, there is no such creature in the play. Instead, the cave is inhabited by an Illyrian chieftain named Raab Kiuprili. (Like Twelfth Night, another Christmas entertainment, the play is set in Illyria.)

In a note in the published text, Coleridge stated: "For the best account of the War-wolf or Lycanthropus, see Drayton's Mooncalf, Chalmers' English Poets, Vol. IV, p. 133." According to the Jacobean poet Michael Drayton's The Mooncalf, a sorcerer used "an herb of such a wond'rous pow'r" and "thrice saying a strange magic spell" turned himself into "a war-wolf instantly" who would rob anyone who passed through a certain forest. He also "ravish'd" women, in some cases actually eating their flesh as well.

In Drayton's version of lycanthropy, the werewolf also steals children from a nearby town and carries off the fattest sheep of local shepherds. Eventually, the villagers decide to hunt the beast, but the werewolf (or "war-wolf" in Drayton's spelling) turns back into a man and pretends to join them on their hunt. At last, the werewolf is exposed and torn to pieces by the locals.

This depiction of lycanthropy is quite different from what's shown in the Hollywood film The Wolf Man, for which screenwriter Curt Siodmak created his own mythology. It's perhaps more similar to the werewolves in Boccaccio's Decameron or Le Morte d'Arthur of Sir Thomas Malory.

An even closer parallel to Coleridge's drama might be found in The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster. In that play, the character of Ferdinand believes himself to be a wolf, though he is not. Ferdinand's case is one of mental illness, though, not a mistake of those around him.

Far from being a werewolf, Kiuprili is a patriot and a hero who preserves the life of the true king and helps bring about the fall of a usurper. Even if Christmas werewolves aren't our thing today, we can still support the downfall of tyrants, I think.

Coming Next Month

In January, I'll be directing a wonderful one-act play by Marc Castle called Into the Light for American Renaissance Theater Company.

The play is being presented as part of two bills of one-act plays, with each bill consisting of four short plays. Hence, the festival is called Two by Four.

Into the Light stars Marc Castle (the author himself) as a recently departed soul who arrives in the afterlife only to discover it's not exactly what he thought it would be.

The play also features Terri Campion, Jeannie Dalton, and Ralph Pochoda. Harriet Carr is stage managing. It will be going up with the plays My Girl by Terri Campion, Eye of the Beholder by Kathryn Grant, and The New Pasteur by Michael McGoldrick.

The Two by Four festival runs January 22nd through 27th at HB Studio's 124 Bank Street Theater. You can see Into the Light on the 23rd and 24th at 7pm, the 25th at 3pm, and the 27th at 7pm. Tickets are $25.

A Later Incident

As I previously wrote, my play After an Earlier Incident has been getting a lot of attention lately. It was supposed to have a reading this Saturday in Brooklyn and then another reading on Monday at Theatre for the New City. Well, the Brooklyn reading has been postponed until sometime in the new year, but the Monday reading is still on -- so please come!

The piece stars Caryn Osofsky and Nick Walther as two New Yorkers trying to connect after both having undergone some horrific experiences. It's a comedy about terrible things and second chances. The opening scene previously had a workshop outside of Chicago at the Theatre of Western Springs, but this will be the first public reading of the full script, which runs about 90 minutes.

Caryn Osofsky previously appeared off-Broadway in Highest Standard of Living and The Fantasticks, in which she played Luisa. She also is a long-time member of the American Renaissance Theater Company. She performed in the site-specific production of Fast Food Voices for ARTC, and has appeared on film in Song Sung Blue, Definitely Maybe, and Rolling. She also wrote and directed the short film Pric-ture This!

Nick Walther has performed off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway, and beyond, at venues including Theatre Row, MoMA PS1, Chain Theatre, Brick Theater, and Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research, among others. He is a member of American Renaissance Theater Company and Theatre Breaking Through Barriers. His audiobook narration work can be found on Audible and wherever audiobooks are sold. 

Both are wonderful, which you can see for yourself on Monday, December 15th, at 7pm at Theatre for the New City. Full information on the reading is available here:

Theatre for the New City - After an Earlier Incident

Reservations can be made by email at tncdreamup@gmail.com.