PREVIEW: The Summer Warm-Up

All the big shows on Broadway have opened, I've got my (mother's) subscription to the Signature Theater taking me on a wonderful tour of works -- old and new -- from Fugard, Eno, and Lonergan, and I'm well-prepared for the arrival of Soho Rep.'s UNCLE VANYA, written by Annie Baker, directed by wunderkind Sam Gold, and starring people like the Debate Society's Paul Thureen, Boardwalk Empire's Michael Shannon, and the incredible Reed Birney (Blasted, Circle Mirror Transformation, etc.). But wow, will you look at everything else that's opening up next month in what appears to be a conspiracy to keep me out of the sun: 

The Brick is back at it with their DEMOCRACY festival -- one-acts from a bevvy of people you've heard me speak of before (Gyda Arber, August Schulenburg, James Comtois, and Jeff Lewonczyk) and a bunch of people I can't wait to be exposed to . . . and that's to say nothing of full shows from Zack Calhoon, Matthew Freeman, and Chris Chappell & co.

As always, given their stellar track record this season (I'm looking at you THE BIG MEAL), I'm expecting good things from Playwrights Horizon, which has RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN starting soon. (Lee Tergesen is in it; who knew?)

Banana Bag & Bodice are back with SPACE\\SPACE, which I have fond developmental memories of from the Ice Factory Festival a few years back. So's Company XIV, with another Baroque Burlesque fusion of poetics both textual and balletic.

The Women's Project, already talented on its own, puts seven playwrights, four directors, three producers and five actors together for their latest, WE PLAY FOR THE GODS.

And last but not least, Clubbed Thumb's terrific showcase of new works, SUMMERWORKS, shows no sign of slowing down in its 17th season, and I'm glad to see returning directors like Ken Rus Schmoll and Lear deBessonet teaming up with terrific off-Broadway actors like Steven Boyer, Jennifer Ikeda, and Bobby Moreno.

If you think of any other great stuff I'm neglecting to see, feel free to drop a comment below!