Monologist Dael Orlandersmith's latest solo, The Gimmick, will come to NJ's McCarter Theatre for two weeks in February. This world premiere looks at a childhood friendship "put to the test by `the gimmicks' of inner city survival." The show by the author of Characters In Motion, runs Feb. 19-March 1, 1998 at the Second Stage space.
As for the mainstage, The House Of Bernarda Alba ended its run Nov. 9, to be followed by dance and concert performances, as well as the annual Christmas Carol. The season proper starts up again after the new year with:
Jan. 20-Feb. 10, 1998: Cymbeline, Shakespeare's romantic drama about evil potions, lost sons and Roman gods. The show opens Jan. 24, 1998.
March 17-April 5, 1998: Richard Greenberg's Safe as Houses, a world premiere, will be staged by artistic director Emily Mann. The play is set on a summer evening in 1980 when the young guest of a privileged family inadvertently learns more about his hosts' private lives than he bargained for. As a result he is sucked into the family's spiral of secrets, and passing time. Mann called Safe as Houses "Greenberg's finest play to date and a major American drama."
During the 1997-98 season Greenberg will have two other premieres of his work. Hurrah at Last will world premiere at the South Coast Repertory Theatre; and Manhattan Theatre Club will host the East coast premiere of Three Days of Rain. His other plays include Eastern Standard, Night and Her Stars, The Extra Man and The American Plan.
May 5-May 24, 1998: The Captain's Tiger, Athol Fugard's autobiographical story of a young writer haunted by a cherished photograph of his mother as a young woman. The show opens May 8, 1998. Fugard directs and stars in the play (as he did in Valley Song), which premiered in Pretoria, South Africa in late August. Following the opening night, Fugard jotted a note to McCarter's artistic director Mann, who was also in attendance: "...a thrilling launch last night. Individual response after the show leaves me in no doubt we have on our hands a play that works."
Classical music, world music, dance and jazz series will also be on the McCarter schedule. For information on The McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ, winner of the 1994 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, call (609) 683-8000.
-- By David Lefkowitz & Laura MacDonald
