12 Stage Performances to Watch Today, September 22
The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Musicals
At 6 p.m. ET, this week’s edition of The 24 Hour Plays‘ signature pandemic series trades monologues for mini-musicals! Every 15 minutes from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m.-ish, well-known actors—including Christopher Fitzgerald, Noah Galvin, Lora Lee Gayer, L Morgan Lee and Kate Rockwell—will perform tailor-made numbers about how we’re living today, all created and filmed within the last 24 hours. The songs were created by a stellar list of musical theatre-makers, including Eli Bolin, Kristoffer Diaz, Gordon Greenberg, Tasha Gordon-Solmon, christopher oscar peña, Jonathan Marc Sherman, William Finn, Aimee Mann & Jonathan Coulton, plus James Lapine and Kirsten Childs, two mentors from TDF’s educational program the Wendy Wasserstein Project, which is the recipient of all money raised tonight. Watch for free on The 24 Hour Plays’ Instagram though donations are encouraged.
New York Theatre Workshop: What the Hell Is a Republic, Anyway?
At 7 p.m. ET, New York Theatre Workshop kicks off an innovative fall season with What the Hell Is a Republic, Anyway?, a four-part interactive online experience from Tony winner Denis O’Hare and director-writer Lisa Peterson. The duo previously mounted the Obie-winning An Iliad at NYTW. Now they’re inviting audiences into their creative process as they deconstruct democracy in real time by parsing the rise and fall of the Roman Republic and the challenges of successfully collaborating on anything, be it a play or politics. This first episode is titled “Rome & America: Joined at Birth,” and Roberta Stewart from Dartmouth’s Department of Classics will make a guest appearance. Log on ready to participate! Tickets are $10.
The Metropolitan Opera: La Fanciulla del West
At 7:30 p.m. ET, the Metropolitan Opera‘s week of Puccini favorites continues with La Fanciulla del West, a rootin’-tootin’ romance set during the California Gold Rush, as a charming outlaw wins the heart of a gun-toting saloon owner. Deborah Voigt and Marcello Giordani headline this 2011 mounting. Watch for free for 23 hours after the start time on the Metropolitan Opera’s website. You can still stream yesterday’s opera, La Rondine, until 6:30 p.m. ET today.
Stars in the House: Stars for the Arts
At 8 p.m. ET, Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley welcome a stellar lineup of celebs in support of Americans for the Arts, a venerable nonprofit whose mission is to support this essential sector of our country’s workforce. Tonight’s guest list includes Annette Bening, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ariana DeBose, Ben Folds, Todrick Hall, Javier Muñoz, Bebe Neuwirth, Storm Reid, Alfre Woodard and Nina Ozlu Tunceli, the org’s executive director. Watch for free on YouTube though donations are encouraged.
Expand the Canon: Bold Stroke for a Husband
At 8 p.m. ET, every year, Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre comes up with a curated list of classic, underproduced plays by women and underrepresented genders. The 2020 roundup of nine works (developed in partnership with Ma-Yi Theater Company, American Players Theatre and the Classical Theatre of Harlem) dropped on Monday night, and Hedgepig will be presenting virtual readings of four of them over the next few weeks, starting tonight with Bold Stroke for a Husband. Written by Susanna Centilivre in 1718, this restoration comedy pokes fun at the patriarchy as a master of disguise is forced to win over four eccentric male guardians in order to win the hand of his lady love. Centilivre’s oeuvre was produced as frequently as Shakespeare’s until the 20th century. With tonight’s reading, Hedgepig hopes to start turning that around. Register to receive the free viewing link though a $15 donation is suggested.
Latino Theater Co.: Home
At 10 p.m. ET, Los Angeles’ Latino Theater Co. presents a recording of Home, playwright-performer Nancy Ma‘s moving coming-of-age tale about a young woman torn between two cultures, who leaves NYC’s Chinatown in search of herself. Geoffrey Rivas directed this one-act, which was recorded at the theatre last season. Watch for free on the company’s YouTube channel.
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Actors Theatre of Louisville: COVID-Classics: One-Act Plays for the Age of Quarantine
One of the most acclaimed regional theatres in the country, the Actors Theatre of Louisville, presents five classic shorts by Guillaume Apollinaire, Anton Chekhov, Luigi Pirandello, August Strindberg and Thucydides, reimagined for our plagued times. Robert Barry Fleming directs this poignant 45-minute program. Tickets are available to purchase from the theatre but TDF members get a discount.
Play-PerView: Sugar in Our Wounds
On Saturday, Play-PerView presented a live reading of Sugar in Our Wounds and you can watch a recording through Wednesday. Donja R. Love‘s lyrical queer romance between two slaves is set during the Civil War, and this event reunites the cast of the play’s Manhattan Theatre Club world premiere: Stephanie Berry, Sheldon Best, Fern Cozine, Tiffany Rachelle Stewart and Chinaza Uche. Malika Oyetimein directs. Tickets start at $15 and benefit HIV/AIDS nonprofit Bebashi.
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Top image: Carly Bawden and Marc Antolin in Romantics Anonymous at the Bristol Old Vic. Photo by Steve Tanner.
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