10,000+ nights

I just got back from a book event at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center for a book event celebrating the launch of 10,000+ nights: Theatre Before the Plague by Marvin Carlson.

The book is a sequel to a previous book Carlson wrote recounting 50 years of theatre going and ending in 2010. This noticeably slimmer volume covers 2010 through 2019, with discussions of Sleep No More, Blood Knot, Mr. Burns, An Octoroon, Hamilton, and Great Comet among other plays.

During his talk, Carlson suggested that the movement toward immersive theatre was one of the big trends in New York prior to the shutdown related to Covid. Sadly, there hasn't been as much immersive theatre since, though I did enjoy the immersive Great Gatsby last year. I was surprised at how optimistic Carlson was about the future, predicting that all the social distancing would remind us of the indispensability of live performance.

Tomorrow night, I'll be enjoying a live performance of David Willinger's new play Bring Them Back at Theater for the New City. Then on Saturday I have the first rehearsal for a staged reading of Snip o' the Shears, which will be presented at the Hamilton Grange Library on June 1st at 1:00 pm. I hope you can make it!