On Monday, September 22, the cast of the ’90s teen-drama series Dawson’s Creek reunited—with one notable exception. James Van Der Beek, who starred as the titular Dawson Leery and was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in the summer of 2023, had to drop out of the event due to “two stomach viruses,” as he wrote in an Instagram post. “Despite every effort…I won’t get to be there,” he wrote. “I won’t get to stand on that stage and thank every soul in the theater for showing up for me, and against cancer, when I needed it most.”
The reunion saw Lin-Manuel Miranda step in for Van Der Beek, reading the pilot for the series with series stars Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, and Busy Phillips. The event was held at the Richard Rodgers Theatre—home of Hamilton—as a one-night only charity event in partnership with F Cancer. (Williams is also married to Tony winner Thomas Kail, who directed Hamilton.)
Although he wasn’t able to attend in person, Van Der Beek did make a surprise virtual appearance. Wearing a newsboy cap, white T-shirt, and brown jacket, a visibly thinner Van Der Beek addressed the audience in a prerecorded message. “I’ve been looking forward to this night for months and months ever since my angel Michelle Williams said she was putting it together,” began Van Der Beek. “I can’t believe I’m not there. I can’t believe I don’t get to hug my castmates, my beautiful cast in person.”
Dawson’s alum Jason Moore directed the event, which was produced by Williams, Kail, Moore, Carl Ogawa, Maggie Brohn, Kevin Williamson, and Greg Berlanti.
“I wanted to stand on that stage and thank every single person in this theater for being here tonight,” Van Der Beek continued. “From the cast to the crew to everybody who’s donated time and been so generous, and especially every single last one of you—you are the best fans in the world.”
NEW YORK — When Lear deBessonet, the incoming artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater, was thinking about what should be her first show as its new leader, she landed on something sweeping, very American — and some unfinished business.
She had just directed an off-Broadway concert version of “Ragtime” — a big, soaring musical celebrating early 20th-century America — that had wowed critics despite being a bare-boned production with some actors reading from their scripts. Might it fit the bill if she filled it out?
“What you’re hoping is to make work that’s going to be meaningful in people’s lives, and I really felt that it was. And that it was in a way that wasn’t finished,” the Tony Award-nominated director says. “It really warranted the full flourishing of the idea.”
She gets her wish this fall as 33 actors buoyed by an 28-piece orchestra announce her arrival with a full-throated Broadway revival of the stage version of E.L. Doctorow’s bestselling novel. Previews begin Friday; opening night is Oct. 16.
“Ragtime” is the story of three distinct groups of characters navigating their way through the turbulent racial and economic times of 1906 in New York City — a Jewish immigrant with his young daughter, a well-to-do white family and a Black piano player.
“Because ‘Ragtime’ has, in fact, so many stories with multiple protagonists, there is an opportunity for people to connect with it in many different ways that reflect their own history, their own family’s history, their own experience,” she says.
Tony Award-nominee Joshua Henry leads the cast and views it as the perfect musical for this moment. “How we see each other, how we hear each other is right now at the forefront,” he says.
“I think ‘Ragtime’ puts the spotlight on how we have been successful and not successful doing that in the past, and I feel that’s going to help us move forward.”
The revival is part of a slate of shows that deBessonet is crafting for the multi-Tony Award-winning, three-theater complex on the Lincoln Center campus, one that has built a reputation for new plays and sumptuous revivals of great musicals.
“The work we make here I want it to be something that anyone of any background — whether they are visiting New York City or were born here — could come in and feel restored to humanity, feel connected to other people,” she says. “Part of why I’m such a passionate advocate for the theater as an art form is, I really believe, it’s a place where we can gather across difference.”
DeBessonet this season is also bringing over the London hit “Kyoto,” a political thriller about the climate accords, and a revival of “The Whoopi Monologues” with Kerry Washington and Kara Young. There also will be a family holiday opera and a comedy series in its rooftop off-Broadway venue.
“I feel like always as an artist there’s a natural humility. I’m making an offering. I am cooking dinner for somebody. I’m going to invite them to come and eat dinner at my house and I really hope they enjoy this food. I hope they find it delicious and nourishing,” she said.
Henry has watched deBessonet cook — both leading an arts organization and directing a massive musical. He’s talked to carpenters and electricians and people in the organization and says the mood is buoyant.
“There are some people who have been there for decades and are now talking about just the breath of fresh air that her leadership is bringing,” he says. “If this is any indication of what she’s capable of, Lincoln Center is in phenomenal hands for years to come.”
These are turbulent times for cultural institutions, with President Donald Trump putting pressure on the Smithsonian and Kennedy Center to be more in line with his vision. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been defunded, accused of woke programing.
DeBessonet, whose roots are in Louisiana, calls Lincoln Center Theater “one of the most magical temples of the theater” and that her mission is to “find stories that have deep resonance for our time.”
“We are an organization that supports great artists making great, complex, meaningful, thought-provoking works of art,” she says. “There will be many different viewpoints that are expressed in the art.”
Before coming to her new perch, deBessonet directed productions of “Into the Woods” and “Once Upon a Mattress” that went on Broadway as artistic director of the Encores! program at New York City Center. Now with “Ragtime” she’s taking a third musical to Broadway.
“It’s a story that really invites us to engage our complex, deep feelings about where we are now and where we have come from,” deBessonet says. “It’s exactly the type of work that I think belongs at Lincoln Center Theater.”
Spider-Man and a Hollywood tour guide were having it out.
They stood right outside Jimmy Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard, arguing about whether ABC was right to yank the host’s TV show off the air last week after he commented on the political response to right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s killing.
“I like Kimmel!” said the Spider-Man impersonator, who wore pink Nike sneakers and leaned in close so he could hear through his thin, face-covering costume. “What he said is free speech.”
A tour bus drives past what was Jimmy Kimmel’s studio on Hollywood Boulevard on Sept. 18, 2025.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Todd Doten, a tour agent for Beverly Hills Tours of Hollywood, pushed back. He said he believed broadcasters are held to a different standard than private citizens, and that the Federal Communications Commission — which pushed to get Kimmel’s show canceled — “has somewhat of a point.”
The men verbally sparred beside singer Little Richard’s cracked star on the Walk of Fame. Then Doten patted the selfie-hawking superhero on the back and they parted ways amicably.
The scene on Friday afternoon captured the Hollywood that Kimmel embraced and aggressively promoted: Weird, gritty and surprisingly poignant.
Ever since he began filming at the El Capitan Entertainment Centre in 2003, Kimmel has been one of the famed neighborhood’s biggest ambassadors. He drew tourists to the storied Hollywood Boulevard, which — despite being home to the Academy Awards, TCL Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame — has long struggled with crime, homelessness and blight. He used his celebrity to help homeless youth and opened a donation center on his show’s backlot for victims of the January wildfires.
And he filmed many a sketch with Hollywood itself as the bizarro backdrop — including one returning bit called “Who’s High?” in which he tried to guess which of three pedestrians was stoned.
Protesters in front of Jimmy Kimmel’s theater a day after ABC pulled the late-night host off air indefinitely over comments he made about the response to right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s death.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Now, locals and entertainment industry officials alike worry what will happen if Kimmel’s show permanently disappears from a Hollywood still struggling to recover from the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 and the COVID-19 pandemic that literally shut the neighborhood down. While his suspension has sparked a roiling debate over free speech rights nationwide, in this neighborhood, the impact is more close to home.
“A hostile act toward Jimmy Kimmel is a hostile act toward Hollywood itself and one of its great champions,” former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told The Times on Friday.
“Hollywood is both a place and an idea. It’s an industry and a geography. Jimmy is always big on both. He actually lives in Hollywood, at a time when not a lot of stars do.”
Miguel Aguilar, a fruit vendor who often sets up near Kimmel’s theater, said Friday that business was always better on the days “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” filmed because so many audience members bought his strawberries and pineapples doused in chamoy. He was stunned when a Times reporter told him the show had been suspended.
“Was it canceled by the government?” Aguilar asked. “We used to get a lot more customers [from the show]. That’s pretty scary.”
A man holding a sign advertising at a nearby diner said he worried about Kimmel’s crew, including the gaffers and makeup artists.
“How many people went down with Kimmel?” he asked.
And Daniel Gomez, who lives down the street, said he feared that nearby businesses will suffer from the loss of foot traffic from the show, for which audience members lined up all the way down the block.
“Tourists still will come to Hollywood no matter what, but a portion of that won’t be coming anymore,” Gomez said as he signed a large canvas outside the theater on which scores of fans and free speech advocates wrote messages about the show being axed.
Protesters in front of Jimmy Kimmel’s theater in Hollywood.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s pretty bad that he got shut down because of his comments,” Gomez added. “Comedians should be free to say whatever they want.”
In a joint statement, a coalition of Hollywood labor groups including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said the kind of political pressure that Kimmel faced as a broadcaster “chills free speech and threatens the livelihoods of thousands of working Americans.”
“At a time when America’s film and television industry is still struggling due to globalization and industry contraction, further unnecessary job losses only make a bad situation worse,” the statement read.
During his monologue Monday, Kimmel made remarks about Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused of fatally shooting Kirk. He said the “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Ingrid Salazar protests outside of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” studio on Thursday.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
While Kimmel’s remarks could be interpreted in different ways, Kirk’s supporters immediately accused the talk show host of claiming Robinson was a Trump ally, which many of Kimmel’s supporters reject. Kimmel himself has not publicly responded.
Kimmel also mocked President Trump for talking about the construction of a new White House ballroom after being asked how he was coping with the killing of his close ally.
Nexstar Media Group responded on Wednesday, saying it would pull the show from its ABC affiliate stations because of Kimmel’s comments. Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, then announced it would suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely.
Nexstar’s decision to yank the show came after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, threatened to take action against ABC and urged local ABC affiliate stations to stand up the network.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told right-wing podcast host Benny Johnson. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Trump wrote on his Truth Social account: “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”
He also targeted late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, calling them “total losers.” He pressured NBC to cancel their shows, writing: “Do it NBC!!!”
The president this summer praised CBS’s decision to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” after this season, writing on Truth Social on July 18: “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
Pedestrians walk across the street from the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” theater a day after ABC has pulled the late-night host off air indefinitely.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
While the show is in limbo, it is unclear what will happen to Kimmel’s iconic theater in the historic former Hollywood Masonic Temple, a neoclassical 1921 building fronted by six imposing columns.
Disney owns the building, as well as the adjacent 1920s office building that contains the El Capitan Theatre and the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop. Kimmel’s production company, 12:05 AM Productions, occupies four floors — 26,000 square feet — in the six-story office building, according to real estate data provider CoStar.
Disney did not respond to a request for comment.
Garcetti, who long represented Hollywood on the L.A. City Council, said Kimmel was a major advocate for renovation of the old Masonic lodge and other revitalization Hollywood projects.
And after the Oscars returned for good to the Kodak Theatre (now Dolby Theatre) across the street in 2002 after several years outside of Hollywood, Kimmel “helped usher in what I call Hollywood’s second golden age, when the Academy Awards came back and people saw actual stars in nightclubs and restaurants,” Garcetti said.
When Garcetti was showing off the city to officials with the International Olympic Committee years ago in an effort to host the Games, Kimmel met their helicopter on the roof of a Hollywood hotel to brag about the neighborhood.
Jimmy Kimmel, host and executive producer of the late-night talk show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” celebrates as he receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Jan. 25, 2013.
(Reed Saxon/Associated Press)
At the 2013 Hollywood Chamber of Commerce ceremony awarding Kimmel a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Garcetti quipped: “When you came here to Hollywood Boulevard, this place was full of drug dealers and prostitutes, and you welcomed them with open arms.”
Kimmel joked that his parents brought him to the Walk of Fame as a 10-year-old and left him there to fend for himself.
“I’m getting emotional,” he said during the ceremony. “This is embarrassing. I feel like I’m speaking at my own funeral. This is ridiculous. People are going to pee on this star.”
Kimmel’s star is by his theater, near the stars for rapper Snoop Dogg — and Donald Duck.
On his show in May, pop star Miley Cyrus told Kimmel she developed a serious infection after filming on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last year, where she rolled around on the sidewalk. Part of her leg, she said, started to “disintegrate.”
“Have you been to the Walk of Fame in the middle of the night?” she asked.
“I live here,” Kimmel said.
“I thought it was my last day,” Cyrus responded.
Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside Kimmel’s theater in recent days, decrying the suspension of his show.
The cancellation occurred right after Dianne Hall and Michael Talbur of Kansas City got tickets to a live taping of the show and traveled to Los Angeles. So, they attended a protest Thursday instead.
Hall said she was expecting Kimmel’s monologue “to be something rude toward the [Kirk] family” but was surprised when she actually listened to it.
“I kept thinking, ‘Surely something bad was said for him to get fired,’ ” Hall said. “But it was nothing like that.”
Hollywood resident Ken Tullo said he’s “not a protesting type of guy, but enough’s enough” and he did not want his daughters to grow up with a fear of speaking freely.
“The current administration cannot laugh at themselves,” Tullo said, “and they don’t want anybody else to laugh.”
Times staff writer Roger Vincent contributed to this report.
Now, almost 20 years later, Cheryl L. West’s 2015 stage adaptation of writer-director Doug Atchison’s film is serving as The Ensemble Theatre’s season opener, and the question is, was it lightning in a bottle or does the story in Akeelah and the Bee still resonate today?
The play begins with 11-year-old Akeelah Anderson of Chicago, Illinois, waking up screaming after hearing gunshots outside her window. We quickly learn that Akeelah lives in a tough neighborhood, in an apartment with her mother, an overworked nursing assistant, and her older brother, an unemployed high school dropout, and attends a school, Southside Middle School, where, if the place ever had better days, they are now long gone.
Akeelah has an aptitude for spelling, a gift she traces back to her late father, but she wants no part of “that spelling thing” because kids at school make fun of her for it. When she wins the school spelling bee, however, the principal, desperate to change the school’s image, sees it as an opportunity. He believes she can go far – to district, then state, and maybe nationals – but she’ll need proper coaching. He encourages her to train with Dr. Joshua Larabee, a professor and former English department head at Northwestern. More importantly, though, Larabee once made it to the National Spelling Bee himself.
Bria Washington and Jason E. Carmichael in The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Akeelah and the Bee.
Photo by Jordan Guidry
Though they get off on the wrong foot, Dr. Larabee does agree to coach Akeelah, but the road to the national title in Washington, D.C. proves to be lined with obstacles, the least of which is that Akeelah’s navigating it all behind her mother’s back.
West’s adaptation premiered at the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Company in 2015. As such, though relatively loyal to the 2006 film, it may be even more family-friendly. The big beats are all still present, as are the inherent themes (race and class, inner-city violence, grief, self-worth, the power of community). All together, they add up to a classic underdog story. It’s easy to root for Akeelah because, as conventional and fairly formulaic as the story is, it’s got a lot of heart.
Director Eileen J. Morris leans into that heart by emphasizing the community around Akeelah, which makes the lively production welcoming like a warm hug. Strong performances from the cast also keep the story from coming across as trite, starting with Bria Washington as Akeelah.
Washington is a terrific Akeelah. She is child-like in her enthusiasm, and the ease with which she can go from excitable and talkative to overwhelmed with emotion perfectly reflects the balancing act Akeelah often finds herself in as she tries to find her footing in the world. Washington has great chemistry with all of her castmates, but her interactions with Jason E. Carmichael are most memorable.
Carmichael puts his commanding presence and booming voice to good use as Dr. Larabee who, under the cold exterior and impeccable posture, is revealed to have a secret pain. As they warm up to each other, his relationship with Washington’s Akeelah becomes utterly charming, as in the scene where he introduces a jump rope into her spelling routine.
April Wheat, Bria Washington, and Konnor Sheppard in The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Akeelah and the Bee.
Photo by Jordan Guidry
As mom Gail, April Wheat is a foil, but an unintentional one. As such, in Wheat’s hands, she is never unlikable. As Reggie, Akeelah’s brother, Konnor Sheppard is the ideal mix of caring and troubled. Reggie is a sweetheart of a brother, and his relationship with Akeelah is the best drawn of all. Rounding out Akeelah’s initial support system is Kendal Thomas’s Georgia, who is loud in her support of her best friend and flashy in style.
James West III skillfully plays the perpetually “on it” building super Drunk Willie, a kindly older man who (as his name implies) takes more than his fair share of nips, and Principal Welch, a beleaguered man not afraid to blackmail a child, or plead on bended knee, if it might benefit his school. Joyce Anastasia Murray gets her share of laughs as Batty Ruth, a bigmouthed, nosy neighbor who shares an unexpected past with Drunk Willie.
When we first meet Joshua Nguyen as Dylan, he is frustratingly arrogant (you know he’s doing it right when the audience can’t help but groan and drop oh god’s when he speaks. Nguyen shows another side of Dylan as the play progresses, especially as Johnny Barton establishes his antagonistic role as Dylan’s Dad, a man who demands nothing less than excellence from his son and is aptly described as “a little Hitler” by Georgia.
Utility players in the cast include Helen Rios, who plays (among others) Akeelah’s nearly nonverbal schoolmate Izzy, seemingly too shy to speak or lift her head, and an over-polished reporter working nationals; Sannia Bell, as rich girl Trish and two spelling bee competitors (one offensively Texan and the other an early victim of the pressure the kids feel to win); and Aliyah Robinson, whose turn as Ratchet Rhonda, the attitudinal cheerleader who shakes down Akeelah for snacks, outshines her more prim role as a spelling bee judge. Johnny Kelley appears first as jokester Chucky, but settles into the character Javier, a dorky and considerate friend to Akeelah.
The cast of The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Akeelah and the Bee.
Photo by Jordan Guidry
With almost half the cast playing double (or triple or quadruple) duty, Costume Designers/Dressers Dawn Joyce Peterson and Ann Ridley, as well as Sharon Ransom’s hair and makeup, do yeoman’s work distinguishing character. Equally supportive is Liz Freese’s set, which is beautifully decorated with fun Pop Art, comic book-style illustrations, which pop under Kris Phelps’s lighting design.
Not only did the set have a three-dimensional quality, with its layered levels, the use of the theater’s entrances and exits, aisle, and seats gave the cast even more space to play. It is a nice touch having cast sit in the audience, as during the final, when Akeelah’s camp forms a cheering section on one side of the audience while Dylan’s dad takes a seat on the other.
Adrian Washington’s sound designs complete the world in both comedic (Reggie’s baby at the district bee) and serious (the ever-present threat of gun violence nearby) ways. They also establish joy, as when musical interludes and dance, with choreography from Monica Josette, erupt on stage. One sound-related quibble is that it seemed to dip in the second act, with the dialogue getting noticeably quieter, but I’ll assume that’s a fluke that will be fixed going forward.
The verdict is that Akeelah and the Bee is designed to make viewers feel good and, in that, it hits the mark. Though it has its overly sappy moments, it’s here to entertain and inspire, which it can do for the right audience – meaning those that are not grinchy about a good time and a happy ending. And these days, who wants to be a grinch about a good time and a happy ending? We can certainly use both wherever we can find them.
It’s National Locate an Old Friend Day, and if you find an old friend and would like to make plans for the weekend with them, we’ve got some ideas for you. This week, both a popular movie and a bestselling book come to the stage, a choir all the way from Mexico City stops in for a joint concert, and much more await you, so keep reading for these and all of our picks for best bets.
A classic Russian folklore character that symbolizes “rebirth, beauty, and magic” will take center stage on Friday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. when the Houston Symphony opens its season with Valčuha Conducts Stravinsky’s Firebird at Jones Hall. Music Director Juraj Valčuha will lead the orchestra in the concert, which also includes Florent Schmitt’s Psalm 47 and the world premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Houston Symphony-commissioned Liberty Bell, plus special guests Angel Blue; Houston Chamber Choir, under Artistic Director Betsy Cook Weber; and Houston Symphony Chorus, under Director Anthony J. Maglione. The concert will be performed again on Saturday, September 20, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, September 21, at 2 p.m. Tickets to in-hall performances can be purchased here for $29 to $159. Saturday night’s concert will also be livestreamed, with access to the video performance available here for $20.
If you’re used to his serious, sacred cantatas, hear another side of Johann Sebastian Bach on Friday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m., when Ars Lyrica Houston opens its season with Bach’s Divine Comedy at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. The program will feature three works by Bach, including The Dispute between Phoebus and Pan, which refers to a comical singing contest drawn from a Greek myth, by way of the Roman poet Ovid. Matthew Dirst, the artistic director of Ars Lyrica, has described the secular cantataas “theatrical, tongue in cheek, and it’s filled with clever references to contemporary music taste.” Tickets can be purchased here for $15 to $80. If you can’t attend the performance in person, you can buy a $20 ticket to view the digital livestream here.
LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Studio” made history at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards by winning 13 awards, becoming the most awarded comedy series in a single season. It beat the previous record of 11 set by “The Bear” last year.
“The Pitt” won best drama and delivered Noah Wylie the best drama actor award for his performance as a wise but weary emergency room doctor.
“Adolescence” won six awards in the limited series categories, including best supporting actor for 15-year-old Owen Cooper.
“Severance” entered the ceremony as the top overall nominee and ended up taking two acting trophies.
Here’s a list of winners at Sunday’s Emmys:
“The Pitt”
Noah Wyle, “The Pitt”
Britt Lower, “Severance”
Tramell Tillman, “Severance”
Katherine LaNasa, “The Pitt”
Adam Randall, “Slow Horses”
Dan Gilroy, “Andor”
“The Studio”
Seth Rogen, “The Studio”
Jean Smart, “Hacks”
Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”
Jeff Hiller, “Somebody Somewhere”
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, “The Studio”
Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory and Frida Perez, “The Studio”
Despite Ossie Davis’s Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch garnering some famous fans after opening in 1961, folks like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Eleanor Roosevelt, and eventual film and musical adaptations, the play didn’t get a Broadway revival until 2023.
The revival proved the play still had plenty to say, so much so that it’s now the first production of Main Street Theater’s 50th anniversary season, and it’s a doozy.
But first.
The play begins in the recent past with the titular Purlie Victorious Judson returning home after a 20-year absence. Purlie’s family home sits on a Georgia cotton plantation owned by the bullwhip-carrying, Confederacy-loving Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, who keeps the Black cotton pickers in debt to keep them working for him, a practice Purlie sees akin to slavery. But Purlie’s back with a plan, the “all-consuming passion” of his life now to buy Big Bethel, a rundown barn that was once a church, and return it to its glory so he can preach freedom in the cotton patch. As Purlie says, “Freedom is my business.”
To get Big Bethel, though, Purlie needs money; specifically, the $500 inheritance Cotchipee owes his late cousin Bee. Enter Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, a young woman Purlie’s recruited from Alabama to impersonate Cousin Bee. Though Purlie has a supporter in his sister-in-law, Missy, his brother, Gitlow, is afraid Purlie’s scheme will land them all in jail, a risk he is loath to take as Cotchipee recently named him “Deputy for the Colored.” On top of that, Lutiebelle looks nothing like Bee, nor does she have Bee’s education. But for this, Purlie’s got an ace up his sleeve: “White folks can’t tell one of us from another by the head!” he declares.
Kendrick “KayB” Brown, TiMOThY ERiC, Wykesha King, and Krystal Uchem in Main Street Theater’s production of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davis.
Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography
It’s hardly a spoiler to say things don’t go exactly to plan in Purlie Victorious, a still stinging satire that proves to be resonant today, 64 years after it originally premiered. It’s both a testament to Davis’s writing and, unfortunately, an indictment of our society. The dialogue is witty and memorable, with lines like, “Some of the best pretending in the world is done in front of White folks,” eliciting knowing hums from members of the audience.
Director Errol Anthony Wilks keeps the show moving and accessible, though his choice to lean fully into the comedy is at times at the expense of letting the play’s more serious beats breathe (Lutiebelle laundry-listing her best traits for a second time following an encounter with Cotchipee, for example). Davis’s characters are sketched in broad strokes from stereotypic archetypes, but subversive in places and bold in others, and Wilks and the cast are skillful at playing those notes. And there’s no one more bold than Purlie himself.
Davis not only wrote Purlie Victorious, he originated the role, and you can tell it’s a part he wrote for himself it’s so good. Purlie is a hero, quick and clever, and wonderfully verbose. And TiMOThY ERiC, recent co-winner of the Houston Theatre Award for Best Actor, wears the role of Purlie like a second skin.
“Something about Purlie always wound up the white folk,” says Missy, and embodied by ERiC, it’s easy to see the threat he poses, his delivery convincing, captivating, and wildly entertaining. It’s fully on display in the second act, as Purlie is in full sermonizing mode as he recounts his alleged confrontation with Cotchipee, traversing the stage and holding court in a way that’s got the other characters and the audience hanging on every word. He’s just as good at slipping in some quieter one-liners (“First chance I get I’m gonna burn the damn thing down,” Purlie says of his childhood home).
If there’s one thing, it’s that at moments, the louder ERiC gets, the more likely we are to miss a word here and there, some bits just lost to the ether.
(The sound design, by Jon Harvey, is otherwise stellar, from the place-defining banjo-picking played during transitions, to the crystal clarity of the off-stage dialogue, and the ambience, chicken clucks and dog barks heard under scenes adding weight to the world of the plantation.)
Seán Patrick Judge and Domenico Leona in Main Street Theater’s production of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davis.
Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography
From the moment she arrives at the farmhouse, breathless and wide-eyed, Krystal Uchem endears as Lutiebelle, a young woman proud of who she is even when she’s being criticized (such as when Purlie insults her name, saying, among other things, it means “cheap labor in Swahili”). Uchem plays the physicality of the role well, from the way she sits to eat, leaning forward with her legs akimbo, emphasizing her youthfulness, to half-hunched and hobbling, unaccustomed to heels, as she tries in vain to be Cousin Bee.
Wykesha King is a force as Missy, as quick to challenge Purlie as she is to see the value in what he’s trying to do. As her husband, Gitlow, Kendrick “KayB” Brown is more of a foil to Purlie. Gitlow plays the game, sensible in his subservience and willing to say anything Cotchipee wants to hear, though behind Cotchipee’s back, it’s a different, and hilarious, story.
Seán Patrick Judge is quite the presence as Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee. Stalking onto the set and dressed in all white, we know exactly who he is before he even starts ranting, raving, and dropping some vile ideas about race. Cotchipee has support from The Sheriff, played with on-the-nose ineptitude by Jim Salners, but not his son, Charlie, whom he calls a “disgrace to the Southland.” Domenico Leona, as Charlie, proves to be an ally to Purlie and co., influenced obviously by his sweet relationship with Andrea Boronell-Hunter’s Idella. Idella, who works for Cotchipee, raised Charlie as her own, and it’s apparent how close they are in just how lost she sounds when Charlie goes missing.
James V. Thomas’s wood-paneled set, with props design and set dressing by Rodney Walsworth, is both a good base and nimble. The sparse furnishings and flippable walls are quickly altered to indicate new locations as needed, with the angles and lines that dominate the space adding a compelling and relevant visual. The set, as well as Macy Lyne’s period-evocative costumes, areall warmly lit by Edgar Guajardo.
Put it all together, and you have a lively, energetic production with heart and conviction. Perfect to open a 50th anniversary season.
Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through October 12 at Main Street Theater – Rice Village, 2540 Times. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $45-$64.
Twenty-five years ago, a new opera titled “Dead Man Walking” made its world premiere in a San Francisco Opera production. Based on the same-titled 1993 memoir by author and activist Sister Helen Prejean, it was an instant sensation — and the start of a brilliant career by composer Jake Heggie.
In the years since then, the opera has had more than 80 international productions and become the most performed contemporary opera of the 21st century. And now, a quarter century after its world premiere, “Dead Man Walking” is returning to the company that gave the opera its first performances.
Running Sept. 14-28, these performances at the War Memorial Opera House celebrate the opera’s 25th anniversary in a production conducted by Patrick Summers and featuring some of the artists who appeared in the original cast, others who have since become collaborators with Heggie on other, more recent, projects, and numerous special events in connection with the opera’s return.
Heggie, who lives in San Francisco with his husband, Curt Branom, seems almost taken aback by his own success — not just with “Dead Man Walking,” but with the dozens of new works including operas, song cycles and other pieces he’s composed in recent years. He says he’s lucky; at the time “Dead Man Walking” was commissioned, he was working in San Francisco Opera’s publicity/marketing department and was yet to be known as an accomplished composer. Today, he calls it an “astonishing full-circle moment,” and admits that he’s still a little amazed.
The first ideas for the opera came together in meetings at the War Memorial Opera House. Heggie credits the late playwright/librettist Terrence McNally, who came prepared with ideas for possible productions and advocated for Prejean’s book as source material. “Terrence had a list of 10 ideas, and the first was ‘Dead Man Walking,’” Heggie recalls. “The book was out, the movie was out, and both were successes,” he notes, “and it seemed like it made total sense on the opera stage because of the height of its emotion — and the power of music.”
“It was kind of miraculous,” he adds. “And I don’t think it could have happened anywhere but San Francisco. That’s the kind of magical place this is.”
The opera goes to the heart of questions and debates over crime and punishment, and Heggie’s score propels it forward in an eloquent, deeply moving sound world.
San Francisco Opera’s revival showcases artists from the original cast, as well as welcoming new artists, including mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton in the role of Sister Helen, the nun whose work with death row inmates inspired her memoir and became the source for the opera. Barton, a rising star and a champion of Heggie’s music, previously sang the role at The Atlanta Opera.
Heggie says that Barton, one of the stars of S.F. Opera’s recent “Pride” concert, is a brilliant and dedicated artist. He’s composed numerous pieces for her; they have performed and recorded together, and collaborated on a recital tour and performances of his recent opera, “Intelligence.”
This production also features singers from the opera’s world premiere. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, who sang the role of Sister Helen Prejean in the company’s 2000 performances, returns here in the role of Mrs. Patrick De Rocher. Other artists include bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, singing the role of Death Row inmate Joseph De Rocher. Patrick Summers, also a veteran of the world premiere, returns to conduct.
Twenty-five years after its premiere, Heggie has composed 10 full-length operas, including “Moby-Dick,” “Great Scott” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” among others. He marvels when he considers their histories and the impact they have made. His success has never waned — among many awards, he’s Musical America’s 2025 Composer of the Year — and he’s quick to give credit to the city he calls home.
“It wasn’t until my early 30s that I got the job at the (S.F.) Opera,” he says. “It welcomed me. This is a city that celebrates creativity and invention and ideas.”
“It feels like such a wonderful full-circle moment,” he adds. “To be here, back in this house after all those years, it just feels miraculous.”
Contact Georgia Rowe at growe@pacbell.net
‘DEAD MAN WALKING’
Music by Jake Heggie, libretto by Terrence McNally, based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean, presented by S.F. Opera
When: Sept. 14-28
Where: War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
If you’re still trying to decide what to do this coming week, look no further. Below you will find our picks for the best bets over the next seven days. We’ve got a Tony Award-winning musical stopping by on its national tour, a stage legend visiting Miller Outdoor Theatre, and much more. So, keep reading before you finalize any plans.
Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valčuha will make his Miller Outdoor Theatre debut on Friday, September 12, at 8 p.m. when the orchestra drops in for Valčuha Conducts West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein himself “extracted nine sections” from the score to his hit Broadway musical to create Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, which will be joined on the program by dances from Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia, originally commissioned in 1941 to be a ballet “based on Argentine country life”; Mexican composer Silvestre Reveultas’s Sensemayá, based on a poem inspired by “an Afro-Cuban snake sacrificial ritual”; and Maurice Ravel’s rousing crowd-pleaser Boléro. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. today, September 11. Or, as always, you can sit on the Hill – no ticket required.
Performing Arts Houston is bringing Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, September 14, at 7:30 p.m. to play a one-night-only set of classic jazz, big band tunes, and American Songbook standards. The actor, well known for roles in films like Jurassic Park, Independence Day, and Wicked, has been playing with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra – so named for a family friend who lived to be 100 – for 30 years, with their most recent album, Still Blooming, featuring appearances from folks like Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Scarlett Johansson, coming out this past spring. In previous shows, Goldblum has been noted for his commentary, “a merry blend of comedy and jazz,” and “his singing voice.” Limited tickets remain and are available here for $49 to $149.
Paul Hope Cabarets will present their first concert of the season on Monday.
Photo by Tasha Gorel, Natasha Nivan Productions
For some folks, lightning doesn’t strike twice, but on Monday, September 15, at 7:30 p.m., you can celebrate those memorable musical one-offs when Paul Hope Cabarets presents One Hit Wonders and Minor Music Makers at Ovations Night Club. During the program, you can expect to hear songs like Bob Merrill’s “Love Makes the World Go ‘Round” from the 1961 musical Carnival, Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion’s “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” from the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha, and Meredith Willson’s “Seventy-Six Trombones” from the 1957 musical The Music Man, among many other recognizable works. The concert will be performed again at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 22, and Monday, October 6. Tickets to any of the performances can be purchased here for $26.50 to $41.80.
Except nothing came of it. In 2022, The Daily Beast reported that Harris had been let go from the show “after having trouble meeting script deadlines.” HBO said Harris was “not fired from The Vanishing Half,” citing creative differences that were “part of the normal development process,” and called Harris “a valued collaborator.” He’s since worked with the network on a documentary about Slave Play called Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.
Harris, who calls the The Daily Beast “a gossip rag,” stands by his work. He fondly remembers a staff research trip to New Orleans that he organized and blames the show’s fate on systemic issues at the network. (The Daily Beast did not respond to a request for comment.)
“The reason the show didn’t happen is because the book was bought at a very specific time, in June of 2020,” Harris says. “HBO changed leadership within that time period. The Black woman who advocated for our show to be bought, and was our executive, left.” That woman, Kalia Booker King, departed to work for Sinners director Ryan Coogler’s production company, Proximity Media. But King’s departure wasn’t the only factor. “I don’t think that the pairing of our producers and me and Aziza as writers was necessarily fully a fit. I think that Issa Rae would’ve made an amazing version of the show in her own way. I don’t think she would’ve made the version that me and Aziza were making.” (Rae did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment. HBO and King declined to comment.)
Harris has been accused of caring more about his public persona than his written work. Several people I’ve spoken to—including a film and television actor and theater professionals—suggest he has been known to be unreliable, a natural consequence of being overcommitted and overextended. Harris’s talent, they agree, is undeniable. But there are concerns about his follow-through, according to these sources, none of whom were willing to go on the record for fear of alienating Harris, who has a penchant for responding publicly and ferociously to his critics. (See: Jesse Green, Young Jean Lee.) Fear of retaliation notwithstanding, a question hangs over this gifted writer’s head: Is he self-obsessed, or are people just obsessed with him?
“He loves to take on more than he should,” says his former CAA agent, Ross Weiner, reflecting on the roughly eight years he spent representing Harris before he left the industry. “But it was always a good thing.” As of this story’s publication, Harris has no less than six projects in various states of development on IMDb Pro, including The Wives and the seemingly abandoned The Vanishing Half.
Some past collaborators praise him even when the project doesn’t work out. Sydney Baloue, a writer on The Vanishing Half, calls Harris “the creative genius of our time” and said he had an “incredible” experience working on the show. “Jeremy is a brilliant writer,” says Allain. “He and Aziza put together an incredible room of writers who delivered several knockout scripts. Sadly, not everything in development gets made.”
On December 15, 2024, Barnes died by suicide. “I was the person that had to call everyone from the writers room and tell them,” Harris remembers. “The thing that got me through was thinking about the fact that there are so many parties Aziza just didn’t want to be at. No matter how social I tried to ask them to be….” He takes a beat. “Life is sort of a party that none of us asked to be invited to. I don’t know that it’s my place to demand that someone stay, while also having a lot of sadness that they’re gone.”
You’re going to go to this play with me now,” Harris commands as we finish our meal at Dimes. It’s called Trophy Boys, an off-Broadway production directed by Tony winner Danya Taymor and starring The Gilded Age’s Louisa Jacobson—another close friend of Harris’s from his Yale days. Though this wasn’t the plan, one doesn’t say no to Harris. I get the check.
On the way, he rolls calls—putting out more theatrical fires while texting Gerber. There’s a controversial big-time producer who wants to see Prince Faggot. “I’m going to get him in tomorrow,” Harris tells one of his agents over the phone. “I have reached out to the man many times. I’m telling you right now: If this man loved me, if he was obsessed with me, if he needed me, he would call me every hour on the hour till I answer.”
VENICE, Italy — The 82nd Venice Film Festival is coming to a close Saturday as its juries make final choices for the awards. The prizes, including nods for acting, directing and best picture, called the Golden Lion, will be handed out during an evening ceremony.
This year’s competition lineup included many possible Oscar heavyweights. Kathryn Bigelow set off a warning shot about nuclear weapons and the apparatus of decision-making with her urgent, and distressingly realistic, thriller “A House of Dynamite.”
Guillermo del Toro unveiled his “Frankenstein,” a sumptuously gothic interpretation of the Mary Shelley classic, with Oscar Isaac portraying Victor Frankenstein as a romantic madman and Jacob Elodri, naive and raw, as the monster.
Park Chan-wook delighted with his darkly comedic “No Other Choice,” a satire about the desperation of white-collar workers competing for jobs.
Dwayne Johnson took a serious turn as a fighter grappling with addiction to painkillers and winner in the MMA/UFC sports drama “The Smashing Machine,” while Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are strange and fierce as kidnapped and kidnapper in Yorgos Lanthimos’s provocative “Bugonia.”
George Clooney and Adam Sandler moved audiences as an aging movie star and his devoted manager on a soul-searching journey through Europe in “Jay Kelly,” a ruthlessly truthful love letter to Hollywood, in all its ridiculousness and beauty.
Jude Law furrowed his brows as Vladimir Putin in “The Wizard of the Kremlin” and Amanda Seyfried put a human, feminist, face to the religious sect the shakers in “The Testament of Ann Lee.”
Julia Roberts also flexed her acting muscles as a Yale philosophy professor in the midst of a misconduct accusation against a colleague in “After the Hunt,” but neither she nor her castmates Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri and director, Luca Guadagnino, are eligible for Venice prizes. The film debuted out of competition.
Far from Hollywood, Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, had a late-festival smash with “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” about the 6-year-old girl killed in Gaza, which reportedly got a 22-minute standing ovation. The film is a shattering document of the Israel-Hamas war, set entirely inside the dispatch center of the Palestine Red Crescent Society rescue service. It uses the real audio of Hind’s call, while actors portray the first responders.
“Nebraska” filmmaker Alexander Payne presided over the main competition jury, which included Brazilian actor Fernanda Torres, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, French director Stéphane Brizé, Italian director Maura Delpero, Chinese actor Zhao Tao and Romanian director Cristian Mungiu.
Both Lanthimos and del Toro have won the Golden Lion before, for “Poor Things” and “The Shape of Water,” respectively. Those films also went on to win top Oscars, including best actress for Stone in “Poor Things,” and best picture and director for del Toro’s “The Shape of Water.”
Since 2014, the Venice Film Festival has hosted four best picture winners, including “The Shape of Water,” “Birdman,” “Spotlight” and “Nomadland.” Last year, they had several eventual Oscar-winning films in the lineup, including Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” which won three including best actor for Adrien Brody, Walter Salles’ best international feature winner “I’m Still Here,” and the animated short “In the Shadow of the Cypress.”
The previous Golden Lion winner, Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language debut “The Room Next Door,” a smash at Venice with an 18-minute standing ovation, received no Oscar nominations.
In a little wooden house in upstate New York, three crosses decorate the wall. They are centrally placed, impossible to ignore, and perfect to obscure the fact that the residents of this little house are, in fact, Jewish.
In Deborah Zoe Laufer’s The Last Yiddish Speaker, the year is 2029, eight years after the successful attack on the U.S. Capital on January 6, 2021. In the years following the insurrection, there have been brutal and concerted efforts to “get rid of the wrong kind of people.” For those left, home inspections are the norm. We learn of a wall that may now exist between the U.S. and Canada, a repopulation mandate, and a recent edict that forbids women from going to college.
Paul and his daughter Sarah, who goes by the name Mary, have fled their New York City home. They are now living in Granville and passing as Christian. Paul, a former city planner, now works at the local Walmart. Sarah is a high school senior, struggling to hide who she is and what she believes amongst the people of her new town and especially in front of her 17-year-old boyfriend John, a Granville local and inspector, tasked with searching Sarah’s home with a gun at his side.
Complicating matters is a mysterious woman who is dropped off at Paul and Sarah’s doorstep, a well-worn suitcase in her hand and a note pinned to her shawl.
“This is your Great Aunt Chava. It’s your turn to hide her. Good luck.”
For Laufer, Chava is a touch of magical realism in her worthy, and sadly necessary, addition to a subgenre of dark and dystopian works, warnings in the form of intellectual exercises in alternate history by folks like Sinclair Lewis and Philip K. Dick. We learn that Chava is 1,000 years old – “give or take” – and traces her own history back to the Crusades. She has since found herself everywhere from Kentucky to Yemen, encountering Nazis, Cossacks, and the Ku Klux Klan. She quite literally gets dropped “wherever something bad is happening to the Jews.”
Olivia Knight and Jason Duga in The Last Yiddish Speaker.
Photo by Gentle Bear Photography
The Last Yiddish Speaker is aching and funny, and thought-provoking above all else. And this production, from Mildred’s Umbrella in collaboration with the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston, is directed by Rhett Martinez with perfectly paced precision. Martinez navigates the play’s potentially tricky tone with ease, letting us feel the weight of this world and its stakes without overwhelming us.
And whether by necessity or design, Martinez’s traverse staging is quite clever and dynamic. Edgar Guajardo’s set is woody and rustic and perfectly evoking its rural locale, as do Samantha Hyman’s costumes. The set runs from wall to wall, audience members looking on from either side. Guajardo favors bold lighting choices, the color blue particularly prominent, likely for its moody feel and symbolic meaning.
Equally moody and ominous is Guajardo’s sound design. Several sound cues, however, were interestingly abrupt and (if intentional) unnecessarily distracting. And if there’s one thing you wouldn’t want to risk distracting from, it’s the terrific performances from Martinez’s four-actor ensemble.
Deborah Hope is a treasure, so it should be no surprise that she can play a character carrying the weight of an entire culture, its history, and language, on her proverbial back. Hope carries not only that weight, but Chava’s own – centuries of husbands and children long gone – in her hunched-over shoulders and little, shuffling steps, in eyes too knowing and sudden bouts of weakness and breathlessness that suggest she’s not immune to its effects. But most affecting is the way Hope balances “ancient being with a magical charge” with “Great Aunt Chava,” a motherly figure with such warmth, an irresistible twinkle in her eye, and a wicked sense of humor that leads to an incredibly funny exchange between Chava, Sarah, and a translation app.
(It’s worth mentioning, though probably unnecessary, that I’m no expert on Yiddish. But I was thoroughly convinced and impressed, so props to Dr. Mina Graur, the production’s Yiddish consultant.)
Austin Brady and Jason Duga in The Last Yiddish Speaker.
Photo by Gentle Bear Photography
As Sarah, Olivia Knight is electric. Sarah is whip-smart and understandably bristling at the restrictions she’s forced to live under. Even when she pushes farther than she should, risking her own life and that of her father, it’s painfully clear why and where she’s coming from. (There’s a particular monologue about a Hawaiian bird that is bound to bring tears to your eyes.) The heart of the play is Sarah’s growing connection with Chava, and Knight’s scenes with Hope are incredibly sweet and tender. Knight also has a great rapport with Jason Duga, who plays Sarah’s father, Paul.
Paul is frustrating by design. He is disconnected from Judaism and motivated by fear, his only real goal (protecting his daughter in the best way he can see) making him a foil to Sarah and, albeit briefly, a threat to Chava. His fear colors his exasperated back-and-forths with Sarah and his ingratiating comments to John and eventually explodes in his outbursts. Duga, however, is excellent at keeping Paul from slipping into one-note territory. Though his desperation may be at the fore, he never lets us lose sight of the internal conflicts that have brought him here.
The fourth member of this ensemble is Austin Brady, who tackles the role of John, Sarah’s small-town boyfriend. John reads as smarmy at the top, with Brady’s approach to him noticeably more performative than his castmates. It may have been to up the suspense on just how sincere John’s love for Sarah would prove to be when push came to shove. Still, Brady excelled in matching Knight’s energy and in portraying John’s growing discomfort as Sarah continually challenged him.
To say that The Last Yiddish Speaker is timely doesn’t quite do it justice, as we’re living in a moment where the timeline could still easily branch off in a direction like the one Laufer envisions in her play. It adds a certain bit of unease, but it’s that tension that tells you just how necessary works like this are and makes it more than worth seeing.
Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. Sundays through September 21 at the Joe Frank Theatre, Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston, 5601 South Braeswood. For more information, call 713-729-3200 or visit mildredsumbrella.com. $18-$29.
It’s Eat an Extra Dessert Day, so consider stopping on your way to, or on your way home from, one of our best bets for a sweet treat. This week, we’ve got a ballet returning to Houston after 17 years, two classic film restorations, and much more. Keep reading for these and all our picks of the best things to check out this week.
Go down the path of an alternate history, one where the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol was ultimately successful. In this world, a white supremacist, Christian nationalist government rules, and a father and daughter, Jewish, are living in upstate New York, hiding their identity when a 1,000-year-old Yiddish-speaking woman shows up at their door. That’s the premise of Deborah Zoe Laufer’s The Last Yiddish Speaker, a co-production between Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company and the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston, which will open tonight, September 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC. Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. Sundays through September 21. Tickets can be purchased here for $18 to $29.
Thirty-five years ago, in July 1990, Houston played host to the 16th G7 Summit, attended by then Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, who participated in the unveiling of a model for the Japanese Garden in Hermann Park. He also gifted funds to construct a garden pavilion, or azumaya. On Saturday, September 6, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Japan Festival Houston will honor this history when it returns to Hermann Park for two days of Japanese food, cultural exhibits, family-friendly activities, martial arts demonstrations, cosplay, and traditional and contemporary performances, including two performances by alumni from Takarazuka, an all-female musical theatre troupe – one on Saturday, September 6, at 8 p.m. at Miller Outdoor Theatre. The free festival will continue Sunday, September 7, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Artistic Director Dr. Betsy Cook Weber will lead the Houston Chamber Choir in season-opener Mozart Requiem.
Photo by Jeff Grass Photography
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Haydn brothers, Franz Joseph and his younger brother Michael, were not only contemporaries, but at times neighbors, friends, collaborators, and rivals; Michael Haydn was once Mozart’s chief competition for the job of organist at one of Salzburg’s largest churches. Considering their intertwined lives, Houston Chamber Choir will open its season, its first conducted by new Artistic Director Dr. Betsy Cook Weber, at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church on Saturday, September 6, at 7:30 p.m. with Mozart Requiem, a program set to feature all three composers. During the concert, featuring members of the Houston Symphony, Mozart’s titular piece will be bookended by works by the Haydns: Franz Joseph Haydn’s Te Deum, which will open the program, and “Exsurge” from Michael Haydn’s cantata Applausus, which will close it. Tickets are available here for $10 to $50.
It’s National Bow Tie Day, and in the spirit of the made-up day, why not add a snazzy little accent piece to your ensemble as we mark the transition from August to September? You can add a little style to your wardrobe as you head out to any of our best bets. This week, we have world premiere stage and dance works, a night of famous showtunes, a sumo tournament, and more. Keep reading to see all of our picks for the best things to do this coming week.
Broadway fans will want to go to Miller Outdoor Theatre on Friday at 8 p.m. for Broadway on the Hill, a night of popular songs from hit shows. The lineup of talent, all hailing from Houston, includes Anthony Boggess-Glover, who you may have caught last year in shows at The Ensemble Theatre; DeQuina Moore, who played the Hobby Center’s Founders Club last month; and Ashley Támar, a Grammy nominee who appeared on Broadway in Motown the Musical. Jarvis B. Manning Jr., known for Broadway shows like Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations; Jennafer Newberry, who performed in Wicked on Broadway and the touring production; and Mikey Wolfe, a local singer-songwriter, round out the lineup. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. today, August 28. Or you can sit on the Hill – no ticket required.
Experience the first collaboration between Group Acorde and interdisciplinary artist Jasmine Hearn on Friday, August 29, at 8 p.m. during REpurpose at Houston Met Dance. The evening will feature the premiere of “A cave in the moon,” a duet danced to an original sound score for bass and cello by Group Acorde Musical Director Thomas Helton and performed on a set of recycled materials designed by former Houston Ballet first soloist Allison Miller. Roberta Paixão Cortes, one of the founding members of Group Acorde, recently discussed the performance and Hearn’s “unique voice” with the Houston Presshere. Tickets are $20 and are still available here for opening night and a performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, August 30. If available, tickets can be bought at the door, but advance purchase is recommended as each performance is limited to 25 seats.
Mercury Chamber Orchestra will open its season with Handel and Vivaldi this weekend at Miller Outdoor Theatre.
Photo by Ben Doyle
In 1717, George Frideric Handel debuted Water Music, three suites commissioned for a royal boat trip down the Thames – and King George I loved it so much, according to guest Louis Frederick Bonet, he had it “played three times in all, twice before and once after supper, even though each performance lasted an hour.” You can hear Water Music on Saturday, August 30, at 8 p.m. when Mercury Chamber Orchestra opens its 25th season with Handel & Vivaldi, a free concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Joining Handel on the program is Antonio Vivaldi, with the ensemble also set to play his Concerto for Four Violins in B minor and “Summer” from The Four Seasons. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. Friday, August 29, or you can plan to sit on the Hill, where no ticket is required.
VENICE, Italy — VENICE, Italy (AP) — George Clooney plays a famous actor on a soul-searching journey and Emma Stone makes a turn as the CEO of a pharmaceutical company in two of the films premiering at the Venice Film Festival Thursday evening.
Clooney and Stone are among the many Hollywood actors, including Adam Sandler, Laura Dern and Jesse Plemons, expected to grace the red carpet with the world premieres of Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly” and Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia.” Both films are vying for the coveted Golden Lion prize, the winner of which often goes on to get Oscar nominations and even wins.
Lanthimos is a Venice veteran, having just recently won the festival’s top prize for “Poor Things,” which would go on to win several Oscars, including best actress for Stone. The new film, “Bugonia,” is an English-language adaptation of a South Korean film, about two conspiracy-minded men (one of which is played by Plemons) who believe Stone’s character is an alien and kidnap her.
Baumbach, too, was on the Lido recently with his Don DeLillo adaptation “White Noise,” which went on to a less decorated awards run. “Jay Kelly,” he said in his director’s statement, “is about a man looking back at his life and reflecting on the choices, the sacrifices, the successes, the mistakes he’s made.”
The film features a large ensemble cast, including Sandler as the actor’s manager, Baumbach’s wife and oft-collaborator Greta Gerwig, Dern, Billy Crudup and Riley Keough. Like “White Noise,” “Jay Kelly” is a Netflix-produced film. After taking a year off from the festival, the streaming giant is back with three major films playing in competition, including Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” and Kathryn Bigelow’s political thriller “A House of Dynamite.”
The 82nd edition of the festival kicked off Wednesday on the Lido. It runs through Sept. 6.
In an alternate reality, Maude Apatow might be practicing her serve instead of learning lines for the third season of Euphoria. “My dad was a ball boy growing up. He was really into tennis,” she said of her father, director Judd Apatow. “I think he wanted my sister and I to play tennis when we were younger. It never really stuck.”
Maude Apatow in the Moët & Chandon box at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Liam McGurl
Although Judd didn’t exactly get his wish, a love of tennis certainly transferred to his eldest daughter. In an exclusive conversation with Vanity Fair, Apatow shared her appreciation for the sport in the Moët & Chandon box at Arthur Ashe Stadium on the first day of the US Open. “I haven’t been to the Open before,” she shared, excitedly. Her first trip to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center saw 19-year-old rising star Learner Tien face off against one of the all-time greats, 38-year-old Novak Djokovic, who currently holds the all-time Grand Slam record with 24 wins. “Djokovic is playing, so that’s pretty cool,” she said.
Apatow has had a pretty cool year herself, with a memorable cameo as the well-meaning gentrifier Bethany in the hit comedy One of Them Days, starring Grammy-winner SZA and Keke Palmer. “I only worked a couple of days, but it was so fun,” Apatow said. “Keke is a comic genius. She can improvise better than anyone I have ever seen in my entire life.”
While Lerner and Djokovic rallied back and forth, Apatow was joined by a slew of up-and-coming stars. Ben Ahlers, star of The Gilded Age who is sometimes affectionately known as “Clock Twink,” sat arm in arm with his girlfriend, Tony nominee and Grotesquerie star Michaela Diamond. Together, they chatted with Duster actor Rachel Hilson about the match and their upcoming projects. Next to them, influencer Tinx was caught on camera mouthing “That sucks” after Djokovic lost a nail-biter of a point against his 19-year old opponent—which she immediately posted to her Instagram story. Wunderkind chef and tennis aficionado Flynn McGarry was locked into the match despite the fact that his second restaurant, Cove, is set to open this week in the West Village.
Their box was conspicuously devoid of Honey Deuces—the Open’s signature pink vodka cocktail with honeydew melons shaped like tennis balls. Apatow and her compatriots chose to sip on complimentary Moët Champagne instead. “[I] love to celebrate with Champagne,” Apatow said. “It’s really special to break out Champagne at the end of something.”
Michaela Diamond, Ben Ahlers, Rachel Hilson, and Apatow and guests at the U.S. Open
Joey Andrew
Apatow enjoyed her bubbly as a well-deserved night out amidst filming the highly anticipated and highly under wraps third season of HBO’s Euphoria from director Sam Levinson. “We’ve been shooting since the end of January, and we’re getting close to finishing,” Apatow says. “It’s been really nice to see everyone together. It’s been years since we shot the last season.” Those years that have passed since the second season of Euphoria, which aired in 2022, are reflected in the script, which makes a bold leap into the future.
“It’s five years in the future. We’re all navigating our adult lives,” Apatow says of season three. While she’s not at liberty to release details as to what is in store for her character, aspiring playwright Lexi Howard, Apatow can say that she thinks Levinson made “the right call” by allowing the characters to age out of high school. “I like that it’s growing up with us,” she says. “From what I’ve seen and read so far, I think people will really like it.”
Candlelight set the mood for a cozy Saturday evening that delivered adrenaline-inducing performances, including a chair acrobat and a juggling duo, clownish comedy skits and vulnerable poetry. Eight acts — some with deaf performers and others who are allies of the deaf community — were showcased on night two of the 258 (ASL slang for “very Interesting”) Deaf Variety Show designed by deaf artists for deaf audiences…
When Aaron Alon tells people that his latest musical, The Chosen Ones, which Thunderclap Productions is days away from world premiering at the MATCH, is set in a conversion therapy summer camp, he often gets the same reaction.
“I get a lot of, ‘Wait. That’s still a thing?’” says Alon. “There’s this lack of awareness about it.”
But the seed for the show was planted while Alon volunteered with Hatch, an LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults group run out of The Montrose Center. It’s an experience he describes as “amazing.”
“One of the really impressive things about Hatch is in their, at that time, 25-year history, they never lost a kid to suicide. Not one,” says Alon. In particular, Alon recalls how former Hatch leader Deb Murphy, whom he counts as one of his best friends to this day, would greet new “hatchlings.”
“One thing that she always did is when kids would walk in the door, she would say, ‘Welcome home.’ It was such a powerful reminder of the power of community and what it means to just be seen and accepted for who you are,” says Alon. “I heard so many stories from young people, and listening to how much they had struggled and what this organization meant to them really cemented some of the ideas in me that led to this musical.”
Alon says the experience made him “a great champion” of the concept of “family of choice,” which he carried over into The Chosen Ones. The musical focuses on six LGBTQ+ teens in a conversion therapy summer camp led by an “ex-gay” pastor.
“Despite how horrible this place might be for them, there’s still something really beautiful about coming together with other people who share these LGBTQ identities,” says Alon.
According to Alon, director-choreographer Aisha Ussery did “beautiful work” in helping to individuate the six teens, as have the actors.
Director Aisha Ussery in rehearsals for The Chosen Ones.
Photo by Aaron Alon
“Each of them has found little quirks about their characters that are not in the script that have just brought these people to life. It’s been really amazing thing to watch,” says Alon. “I think it’s easy to lump people together – ‘Oh, queer kids’ – but every one of them has their own background and story and inner life, and I really wanted to try to capture that. I think one of the powerful things about musicals is that you can, because you’re able to give each of them not only a different speaking voice, but a completely different musical style.”
As the story is primarily about six teenagers, five cast members are current college undergraduates: Nicole Campos, Abraham “Abe” Garcia, Isaac A. Gonzalez, and Sarah Rivers from Sam Houston State University and Santiago Pena from the University of Houston.
“They’re incredible performers, and they’ve brought so much to this work. And,” Alon adds, “I think it’s just more believable because they are very close to the ages of the characters they’re playing.”
Amaan Atkins, who recently earned a Master of Music at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music; Ashley Duplechien, a member of the Houston Grand Opera chorus since 2014; and Tyler Galindo, who previously starred in Thunderclap’s production of Melville & Hawthorne, round out the cast.
Alon says the casting process was challenging, with one role needing to be cast three times after the first two actors were forced to drop out prior to rehearsals. “Somehow, despite all the chaos of replacing actors and trying to work this all out, we ended up with an astonishing cast.”
The hardest role to cast, Alon says, was Jo.
“Jo is, first of all, a baritone role, and it’s hard to find young men in musical theater. There’s a dearth of them,” says Alon. “It’s also hard because it’s a trans role. The actor who plays it is not trans, but finding someone in the current cultural climate who’s willing to take that on is hard, let alone finding one who’s also an incredibly strong actor, singer, and baritone.”
The role eventually went to Garcia, who Alon says is primarily an actor.
Isaac A. Gonzalez (Daniel) and Abraham “Abe” Garcia (Jo) in rehearsals for The Chosen Ones.
Photo by Aaron Alon
“Doing a musical is brand new to him. It’s also a show that includes choreography, and he’s disabled, but the director was able to find ways of making the choreography effective that still worked for the way his body works,” says Alon. “And I was so excited by that, because it is fundamentally, in some ways, a show about diversity, and that enlarged that scope in a really beautiful way.
“I will be shocked if people are not in tears in at least two of his scenes. I’ve seen the show a whole bunch of times at this point, and I still find myself tearing up because he brings so much beauty and authenticity to the role.”
If there is a bad guy in the story, Alon says it is Pastor Noah, the ex-gay minister who leads the camp, played by Galindo. But he’s no two-dimensional villain.
“I’ve met some terrible people in my life, but I’ve never met a person who gets up in the morning, rubs their hands together and says, ‘How can I commit evil today?’” says Alon. “Conversion therapy is a wide and unregulated practice, so there are people who truly torture these kids unambiguously, but there are lots of people who really believe they’re doing good work in helping these young people.”
Alon adds, “Oftentimes, the people who do the greatest harm are people who believe they’re doing good things, and I think Pastor Noah is one of those people.”
“Blissfully unaware” is how Alon describes Pastor Noah, as well as a “little bit of a windbag” who “leans into the ‘love the sinner, hate the sin’ line” and can say very hurtful and insensitive things – though he doesn’t see them that way.
“There are some things that I did write into the character that I think will rub some people the wrong way, and that’s intentional,” explains Alon, who notes, “Sometimes the kids call him on it. They’re not having it.”
Still, audiences will see Noah “struggling with his own attempts to reject his own homosexual feelings,” which will be brought to the fore by Matt, an attractive (and straight) member of the grounds team who gets paired up with Noah as prayer partners.
Ashley Duplechien (Iris), Abraham “Abe” Garcia (Jo), Isaac A. Gonzalez (Daniel), Sarah Rivers (Billie), and Nicole Campos (Alex) in rehearsals for The Chosen Ones.
Photo by Aaron Alon
“This man really kicks some stuff up for him. They’re getting together, they’re praying, they’re talking – they form this intimacy between them. I do want audiences to care about Noah and to see him as a person who’s trying to do good…I think that makes him a more interesting character and makes it a more interesting story.”
For Alon, there are multiple reasons for audiences, whether part of the LGBTQIA+ community or not, to check out The Chosen Ones.
“If young queer people come see the show, I’m hoping that they find some hope in this idea that you can find your people. They can find that family of choice, and that, as awful as their childhoods may be, they are worth surviving because something better is out there. And once you’re an adult, you really can seek it out,” says Alon.
Since starting work on the musical, Alon says he’s met several people who are survivors of conversion therapy camps and found that they don’t share much about it. He hopes The Chosen Ones helps give them a voice.
“I hope that people who have suffered through this can see themselves reflected a bit in this story. I hope that they see themselves reflected, and they see that people do care and are giving this a voice. Because I do think it’s been a largely silent epidemic in a way.”
“When [Exodus] disbanded, these other groups didn’t go away, but they became much harder to track. So, I don’t think we really know how many of these conversion therapy camps are around the country. The last I checked, it was illegal in 22 states, plus D.C., so in a majority of U.S. states, it’s still legal. I want people to know that this is still happening, because I think there’s a lot of suffering happening in silence,” says Alon.
Though Alon is unsure if people who support, or are on the fence about, conversion therapy will see the show, he says he would love to see The Chosen Ones move the needle on the subject. As a self-proclaimed “data nerd,” Alon says he’s hopeful as most research supports the idea that “we form our beliefs emotionally and then justify them after the fact intellectually.”
“I like reading studies, and I like digging into facts and doing deep research, but when we really want to move people, usually it’s going to be through their hearts more than their minds,” says Alon. “If we really want to move people, I do think we have to come at it through their hearts, and I hope that this story has a chance of doing that, because these are not queer youth in America as a category. These are six unique, beautiful people who deserve to be seen and loved for who they are.”
Performances are scheduled for August 28 through September 6 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and September 1, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and September 6 at the MATCH, 3400 Main. For more information, call 713-521-4533 or visit thunderclapproductions.com or thechosenonesmusical.com. $15-25. The August 28 preview performance is pay-what-you can with a $1 minimum.
The Chosen Ones contains adult language, descriptions of sexual acts, and content relating to conversion therapy, self-harm/suicide, homophobia, and transphobia. It is recommended for teens and adults.
VENICE, Italy — No Hollywood star seems as intrinsically tied to Venice as George Clooney.
Twenty-seven years ago he attended his first Venice Film Festival with the instant classic “Out of Sight”; 20 years ago, it’s where he debuted his sophomore film, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which earned him his first best director nomination; and 11 years ago, it’s where he exchanged vows with then Amal Alamuddin, at the Aman Venice, a five-star hotel perched alongside the Grand Canal.
Venice is a city that he, like many, thinks is one of the most beautiful in the world. Unlike most people, he also owns 15-bedroom villa a few hours away on Lake Como that famously co-starred in “Ocean’s Twelve.”
This year he’ll be back on the Lido again with Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly,” in which he plays a middle-aged movie star on a journey through Europe with his manager, played by Adam Sandler. And his longtime friend and oft co-star Julia Roberts is making her Venice debut this year with “After the Hunt.”
Here are some of Clooney’s most memorable Venice moments.
As legend has it, Clooney’s long term love affair with Venice may have begun with the festival’s premiere of Steven Soderbergh’s Elmore Leonard adaptation “Out of Sight.” Then 37 and doing press alongside Jennifer Lopez, the actor would also make another big jump soon: Leaving “ER” that February.
This Coen brothers joint, co-starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, premiered out of competition at the 60th Venice Film Festival, alongside titles like “Matchstick Men,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” and “The Dreamers.” Clooney’s nearby Italian residence was already as famous as him, and a stakeout spot for amateur and professional paparazzi.
In a profile that fall, while shooting “Ocean’s Twelve,” Vanity Fair writer Ned Zeman observed: “That an affable, self-effacing Kentucky-born Hollywood actor is fast becoming the most popular public figure in Italy says a little about Italy and a lot about Clooney, who isn’t Italian, doesn’t speak Italian, and lives here only in summertime.”
Clooney’s acclaimed black-and-white dramatization of journalist Edward R. Murrow’s clash with Joseph McCarthy began its successful run in competition at the 62nd Venice Film Festival. Though it lost the Golden Lion to Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain,” it did go on to pick up six Oscar nominations including for Clooney’s directing.
During the trip, he also inspired a cocktail still served at the ritzy Belmond Hotel Cipriani on Giudecca. One night he retreated to the hotel’s Gabbiano Bar where his friend, the legendary bar manager Walter Bolzonella, mixed him a drink of lemon, sugar, vodka, cranberry juice, ginger and Angostura bitters and named it Buona Notte in honor of the film. The two would later name a prosecco, passionfruit and elderflower cocktail La Nina after Clooney’s mother, which was served at his wedding.
Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton,” which nabbed Clooney an Oscar nomination for his turn as the titular law firm fixer, played in competition at Venice. The top prize went again to an Ang Lee film: “Lust, Caution,” which also beat out the likes of “I’m Not There,” “Atonement” and “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”
This Coen brothers comedy featuring Clooney and Brad Pitt opted to debut out of competition in the opening night slot. He said it completed his “trilogy of idiots” that he’d played for the Coens, including “Intolerable Cruelty” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” “Looking at the parts we are playing, I’m very concerned about what you think of us,” Clooney said at the press conference. Pitt, who’d won the festival’s acting prize the year prior, added: “Like George … I’m not sure if I should be flattered or insulted.”
Another opening night, out of competition slot debut for this Clooney-directed campaign thriller starring Ryan Gosling and Philip Seymour Hoffman. As usual, Clooney was peppered with political questions in which he observed that, “it’s a very difficult time to govern.”
Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” opened the 70th edition of the Venice Film Festival before going on to win seven Oscars. Clooney, of course, attended the premiere alongside Sandra Bullock and he was self-deprecating about his role: “There were only two parts and Sandy had the other one, so I felt like this was the only one I could get away with.”
The canals were packed with paparazzi for the nuptials of one of Hollywood’s favorite bachelors. On Sept. 27, Clooney, then 53, and Alamuddin, then 36, exchanged vows in front of 100 of their closest friends and family, including Bono and Matt Damon, at the luxury hotel Aman Grand Canal, originally a grand palazzo built in 1550. She wore a custom Oscar de la Renta dress, of French lace, pearls and diamanté accents. He wore a black wool/cashmere Giorgio Armani tuxedo.
Clooney returned to the festival with another of his directing projects, “Suburbicon,” a dark comedic satire about a seemingly idyllic 1950s community with Damon and Julianne Moore. This festival was especially notable for it being the Clooneys’ first public appearance since the birth of their twins, Alexander and Ella, a few months prior.
This time George was the plus one to Amal, who was receiving an award from the Diane von Furstenberg and The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation for her work as a human rights lawyer. The power couple gave the festival some much-needed star power amid the actors strike with an appearance at the adjacent DVF Awards. “I am here in Venice with my husband; he is a rising star,” she said that night. “I just wanted to say, you, my love, like this city, take my breath away.”
Clooney and Pitt reunited for the Jon Watts action comedy “Wolfs,” that played out of competition. But the spotlight was less on the film and more on the off-screen drama of the AppleTV+ produced film only getting a limited theatrical release, and his then-recent New York Times op-ed urging President Joe Biden to end his reelection bid.
“The person who should be applauded is the president who did the most selfless thing anyone’s done since George Washington,” Clooney said. “All the machinations that got us there, none of that’s going to be remembered. And it shouldn’t be. What should be remembered is the selfless act.”
At one point inAnnie Baker’s 2009 playCircle Mirror Transformation, now being staged by Mighty Acorn Productions, the teacher of an adult acting class encourages her students to be “open and willing to go with it.” And that happens to be perfect advice for potential audiences as well.
But first, the set-up.
In small-town New England, it’s the first week of a six-week adult acting class at the local community center. The small class is led by a 51-year-old woman named Marty, the teacher quoted above, and the class includes Marty’s husband, James; Schultz, a recently divorced carpenter who still wears his wedding ring; Theresa, a former actress and transplant from New York attempting to cope with a recent breakup; and Lauren, a soon-to-be high school senior who wants the part of Maria in an upcoming school production of West Side Story.
Marty leads the group through a variety of standard acting class games, which in turn ask the would-be performers to play tag, have a conversation using nonsense words, and embody the qualities of, say, a bed or a baseball glove. As the weeks progress, so does our understanding of the characters as well as their understanding of themselves and each other.
There’s an idea that’s prevalent when it comes to good dialogue: It’s how people would talk if they just had more time to think about what to say. Typically, that means the uhs and the ums, the meanderings and the stumbles, get edited out. Baker’s script does the opposite. It’s in its naturalism, and in the fits and starts of thoughts unfinished and sometimes repeated, that Baker finds depth. Through the sentence fragments, hesitations, and interruptions, Baker offers us glimpses of her characters, portraits gaining color and shape as the play progresses.
Christian Tannous and Anna Flynn in Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation.
Photo by Jeff McMorrough
As such, Circle Mirror Transformation is character-driven. Regarding the plot, there’s not much to write home about. To sustain the show, you need an especially adept director and a talented cast to hold an audience’s attention. Mighty Acorn has both.
Director David Kenner puts on a clinic in handling the subtleties of Baker’s script – in an unforgiving environment, too. The play takes place on a corner-set stage in a room much like one that would host a real five-person acting class. It’s small, intimate, the cast close enough to touch as they use the main entry door as just that – in and out for breaks and arrivals.
Mark Lewis’s set is simple and effective – wood paneling on the floor, an exercise ball here, a bulletin board there, and mirrors along one side. On the other wall, a dry-erase board to count down the weeks and a critical directive: “Listen. Stay open. Commit.” Lewis actually dons multiple hats for the production, credited as scene, lighting, and sound designer.
Then, of course, there’s the stellar ensemble this production boasts.
Tracy Ahern and Foster Davis in Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation.
Photo by Jeff McMorrough
There’s a new age-y vibe to Tracy Ahern as the well-meaning and warm Marty. (Of course, she would have a dreamcatcher and just look at those flowy teal pants). At times, Ahern is positioned outside the action, guiding the class with a benevolent hand, but it’s when Ahern is an active participant, and Marty’s vulnerability comes through, that she is at her best – particularly, in scenes with Foster Davis.
When the play begins, the lights go up on the entire cast lying on the floor, playing a counting game with their eyes closed. Except Davis’s James, that is, whose eyes are noticeably open and darting around. Davis imbues James with a kindness that matches Ahern’s Marty, but it’s not long until we start seeing past the veneer, learning about James’s estrangement from his daughter and finding marital resentments. In one especially memorable scene, Ahern and Davis roleplay as Lauren’s parents, deftly blurring the lines between real Marty’s and James’ conflict underneath it all.
Christian Tannous plays Schultz like a ticking time bomb. Emotionally, Schultz is a man standing on ever shaky ground. He’s brusque, the kind of guy who says things like “What’s your deal?” when a “New in town?” would probably suffice. He seems easily excitable, with a lot of frustration and anger underneath, and his unpredictability makes it hard to take your eyes off him.
Anna Flynn, Callina Anderson, and Foster Davis in Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation.
Photo by Jeff McMorrough
As Theresa, Callina Anderson shows off an ease with and enthusiasm for the acting class that is only compromised when she’s reminded of her recent past. She is as visibly haunted as she is joyous at times, like when she’s hooping (as in that circular thing you swivel around your waist). Anderson is also a master at finding the undercurrent in her interactions, notably in scenes with Tannous and Davis.
Anna Flynn rounds out the cast, capturing that certain world weariness that only teenagers seem to have. As Lauren, she begins the play detached, finding Marty’s lesson plans suspect and openly questioning how any of her games are supposed to help with acting. Flynn’s arc is ultimately the most interesting, as by the end of the six-week class her demeanor has shifted, allowing Flynn to deliver a tender and powerful monologue that is not only not to be missed, but framed beautifully under Lewis’s pinpoint lighting design.
For most of the show, Lewis approximates standard rec room lighting, which makes the moments when it’s played with, as during the in and out of the room entries and exits, the nicely chaotic transitions, and one standout moment when Tannous acts out an explosion, more effective. One less-than-appreciated element on the sound side is the too-loud toilet flush that practically becomes its own character in the second act.
If you need one specific reason to see Circle Mirror Transformation, you can find it in one exercise the class does. In each of the first five weeks, we see the characters take turns introducing themselves as one of their classmates. And each introduction quickly goes from surface-level biographical details and “fun facts” (“I’m from New Hampshire” or “I really love the southwest”) to things like “I’m in a lot of pain” and “I think the problem is not my father so much as my fear of being my father.” Seeing the looks on each face as they listen to someone tell their story…well, that kind of acting is worth the price of admission alone.
