15+ Stage Performances to Watch Online This Weekend November 19-21
In-person theatre is back in NYC, both and beyond. But there are still wonderful shows to stream at home. Below are performances you can watch online this weekend, Friday, November 19 to Sunday, November 21, for free or at low cost.
Saturday, November 20
Third Rail Projects: Return the Moon
On Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, endlessly inventive immersive theatre company Third Rail Projects (Then She Fell, The Grand Paradise) presents Return the Moon, a live, interactive, created-for-Zoom theatrical experience that uses a fairy tale about the moon as a way to conjure art and community. Conceived and directed by Zach Morris, the 75-minute piece is performed for a small audience who participate in the evening’s outcome and even receive a post-performance gift in the mail. Log on ready to share. Tickets start at $15.
Sunday, November 21
St. Ann’s Warehouse: Medicine
On Sunday at 5 p.m. ET, Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse is currently presenting the in-person NYC premiere of Medicine, but tonight’s performance will also be live-streamed to at-home audiences. Written and directed by Tony winner Enda Walsh (Once), this absurdly comic tale centers on a man desperately trying to make sense of his childhood memories through drama therapy—but those assigned to help him seem more interested in putting on a show. This critically acclaimed UK transfer stars Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars, Ex Machina) as the pitiful patient, with Clare Barrett and Aoife Duffin as his kooky therapists. Tickets are $31.
All Weekend
New Victory Theater: Generation Rise
NYC’s premier theatre for young audiences, the New Victory, reopened its doors earlier this month with Generation Rise, a play for teens by teens about what it was like graduating high school during the pandemic. A half dozen NYC adolescents share their real-life stories of surviving 2020, although due to vaccination mandates, a few are played by actors. I saw this in person on stage last weekend with my teen, and it’s a powerful and relatable debrief on what high schoolers went through, from remote learning to calls for racial justice to tremendous personal loss. Tickets are $25 and the recording is viewable until Sunday, November 28.
New York Theatre Workshop: Sanctuary City
Ends this weekend! On Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, if you weren’t able to see this eye-opening drama by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok (Cost of Living, queens, Ironbound) during its , you can now stream Sanctuary City at home. Like many of Majok’s previous plays, Sanctuary City focuses on the struggles of undocumented immigrants as two teenage friends try to figure out how to forge a future in an unforgiving country. Olivier Award winner Rebecca Frecknall directs Jasai Chase-Owens, Sharlene Cruz and Austin Smith in this piercing piece, which unfolds in an unexpected, nonlinear way. Tickets start at $30.
Arena Stage: Celia and Fidel
Ends this weekend! On Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. ET, Washington, DC’s acclaimed Arena Stage presents Celia and Fidel, Eduardo Machado‘s history-inspired drama about the complex relationship between Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his political partner Celia Sánchez. Molly Smith directs the production, which is being performed live on stage and also streamed to at-home audiences. Tickets are $50.
Vineyard Theatre: On the Beauty of Loss
Ends this weekend! On Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m. ET, during the shutdown, the Vineyard Theatre commissioned five artists to create new boundary-breaking theatre. The resulting works will debut throughout the fall and this weekend you can catch On the Beauty of Loss, a multimedia meditation on mortality by acclaimed virtual theatre-maker Jared Mezzocchi. Performed live on Zoom, Mezzocchi explores how technology has changed the way we connect, make memories and share grief as he contemplates the loss of two loved ones: a father, who passed before the advent of smartphones, and a grandfather, who’s dying during the pandemic. Tickets start at $18.50 but if you’re a TDF member, log in to your account to purchase them at a discount.
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater: In the Southern Breeze
On Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, NYC’s acclaimed Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is presenting a hybrid season, with its productions performed in person but also streamed to at-home audiences. The company’s current show is Mansa Ra‘s poetic premiere In the Southern Breeze, about a Black man whose existential crisis magically catapults him back through centuries of racially charged history to reveal the struggles he continues to face today. Christopher D. Betts directs the play, which is billed as “an autobiographical fever dream.” Tickets are $40 for both streamed and in-person performances.
Lantern Theater Company: The Plague
Ends this weekend! Philadelphia’s Lantern Theater Company presents The Plague, Neil Bartlett‘s adaptation of Albert Camus’ existentialist classic La Peste about a disease upending a city. Talk about timely! Charles McMahon directs this production, which was filmed live on stage this past summer. Tickets are $20 and the recording is viewable until Sunday.
Donmar Warehouse: Constellations
London’s acclaimed Donmar Warehouse presents Nick Payne‘s Constellations, a time-bending two-hander that explores the notion of the multiverse by replaying key moments in one couple’s romance. Michael Longhurst, who , directed this production, which was filmed on stage with four different casts alternating in this trippy tale. The pairings are Sheila Atim and Ivanno Jeremiah; Peter Capaldi and Zoë Wanamaker; Omari Douglas and Russell Tovey; and Anna Maxwell Martin and Chris O’Dowd. Tickets are £15 for each cast, approximately $21. Or you can watch all four for £40, approximately $55. The recording is viewable until Monday, November 29, and captions and audio description are available. You must create a Donmar Warehouse account to watch.
HERE Arts Center: 9000 Paper Balloons
HERE Arts Center presents 9000 Paper Balloons, a stunning new multimedia piece inspired by the hard-to-believe secret weapons used by Japan against the US during World War II. Created by Japanese artist Maiko Kikuchi and American puppeteer Spencer Lott, the surreal performance weaves puppetry, animation and masks into a historical tale that also encompasses their own family stories. Tickets start at $10 and the recording is viewable until Friday, December 31.
All Arts: 20 Years of Asian American Playwriting
All Arts presents the new documentary 20 Years of Asian American Playwriting featuring interviews with some of the most exciting dramatists working today, including M. Butterfly Tony winner David Henry Hwang, Young Jean Lee, Mike Lew, Lauren Yee and Qui Nguyen. Ralph B. Peña, the artistic director of Ma-Yi Theater Company, created this must-watch chronicle. Watch for free on All Arts’ website. Captions and audio description are available.
Theater Three Collaborative: Blue Valiant
After a successful Zoom reading during the pandemic, Theater Three Collaborative decided to stage Karen Malpede‘s moving drama Blue Valiant at Pennsylvania’s outdoor Farm Arts Collective starring the invaluable Kathleen Chalfant. Filmed live on that alfresco stage, this story of trauma and healing centers on a lonely woman, a wild horse and a refugee child thrown together by circumstance and the unexpected bonds they forge. Watch for free until Sunday, November 28 on Theater Three Collaborative’s YouTube channel though donations are encouraged.
Center Theatre Group: Chavez Ravine: In 9 Innings
Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group presents Chavez Ravine: In 9 Innings, a virtual reimagining of a 2003 play about the small, tight-knit LA neighborhood that was razed so Dodger Stadium could rise. Devised by the collective Culture Clash, this digital production features scenes from the original script filmed at LA’s Kirk Douglas Theatre and on location around the city, incorporating music, archival videos and photos, and new interviews. Tickets are $20 and the recording is viewable until Monday, December 6.
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Top image: Domhnall Gleeson in Medicine, which is live-streaming from Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse on Sunday. Photo by Jess Shurte.
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