12 Stage Performances to Watch Today, August 18
Park Avenue Armory and The National Black Theatre: 100 Years | 100 Women
At 2 p.m. ET, two iconic NYC arts institutions, the Park Avenue Armory and The National Black Theatre, join forces with other local orgs for 100 Years | 100 Women, an interrogation of the complex legacy of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. The lineup of 100 diverse creators includes iconic performance artist Karen Finley, spoken-word great Staceyann Chin, poet and trans activist Andrea Jenkins, singer-songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello, and Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver from the lesbian theatre collective Split Britches. Get a sneak peek at their projects at this virtual viewing party. Register to receive the free viewing link.
The New York Times: Finish the Fight: The Heroes of the Suffrage Movement
At 7 p.m. ET, The New York Times celebrates the centennial of the 19th Amendment with Finish the Fight, a new play by Ming Peiffer (Usual Girls) that pays tribute to the undersung heroes of the suffrage movement. The newspaper actually commissioned the piece, which is based on the book Finish the Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote, written by Veronica Chambers and Times staffers. Whitney White directs Harriett D. Foy as Mary McLeod Bethune, Zora Howard as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Q’orianka Kilcher as Zitkála-Šá, Leah Lewis as Mabel Ping-Hua Lee and Chelsea Rendon as Jovita Idár, all pioneering feminists who’ve been whitewashed from history. It’s time their stories took center stage. Watch for free on The Times‘ YouTube channel. Real-time captioning is available here.
The Metropolitan Opera: Francesca da Rimini
At 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera shares a gem from its vaults: Piero Faggioni’s sumptuous 1984 mounting of Francesca da Rimini, Zandonai’s rarely staged adaptation of a section of Dante’s Inferno, with Renata Scotto and Plácido Domingo as the passionate lovers Francesca and Paolo. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, Tosca, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Arizona Theatre Company: Alma
At 8 p.m. ET, Arizona Theatre Company presents a live reading of Alma, a new drama by Benjamin Benne about an Afro-Latinx single mother and her teenage daughter, whose promising future is suddenly upended. Watch for free on the theatre’s YouTube channel.
Latino Theater Co.: Premeditation
At 10 p.m. ET, Los Angeles’ Latino Theater Co. kicks off its new virtual season with a recording of the very dark comedy Premeditation, about two wives so ignored in their marriages they start contemplating murder. Written by Evelina Fernández and directed by José Luis Valenzuela, the 2014 production is described as a “Chicano-Noir” and looks like a bloody good time. Watch for free on the company’s YouTube channel.
Available to Watch All Day
Metropolitan Opera Stars Live in Concert: Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak
On Sunday, the Metropolitan Opera presented husband-and-wife duo Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak in a live recital, and you can watch a recording through Friday, August 28. The opera stars performed duets and solos from Madama Butterfly, La Fanciulla del West, Cavalleria Rusticana, The Merry Widow and other classics, accompanied by a string quintet on an outdoor terrace in Èze, France. Tickets are $20.
Play-PerView: The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity
Play-PerView presented a live reading of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity on Saturday and you can watch a recording through Thursday. Kristoffer Diaz‘s 2010 play centers on a middle-rank pro wrestler whose chance to become a star involves exploiting cultural stereotypes. The insightful dramedy was a hit for Second Stage Theater a decade ago, where it won Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards for best new play, and this event reunites four members from that production, Usman Ally, Terence Archie, Desmin Borges and Christian Litke, with new addition Justin Kirk. Tickets are $15 and benefit New Dramatists.
Manual Cinema: Frankenstein
Here’s a dazzling treat: Throughout August, the multimedia theatre collective Manual Cinema, which combines shadow puppetry and filmic elements, is sharing recordings of one eye-popping show each week. This week’s show is Frankenstein, which stitches together Mary Shelley’s memoir with her classic monster tale. Watch for free until Monday, August 24 at 1 p.m. ET on the company’s website.
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Top image: Alice Ripley.
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