Off-Broadway plays Curtains and Papa have posted closing notices for mid-July: Curtains will close July 16, Papa on July 13.
Curtains, a black comedy by Stephen Bill about the right to die, played 5 previews and 22 performances at the INTAR Theater before transferring to the John Houseman Theater, where it will have played 64 more performances upon closing.
The production, presented by the Off-Broadway troupe The New Group, earned director Scott Elliott an Obie Award in May. Last season, Elliott and The New Group were responsible for an acclaimed production of Mike Leigh's Ecstasy. Included in the cast of Curtains are David Cale, Lisa Emery, Kathleen Claypool, and Laura Esterman.
Papa, the one-man show about Ernest Hemingway starring Len Cariou, was initially scheduled to play until June 30, but was then extended to the end of August.
Apparently, producers were overly optimistic about ticket sales, and scaling back the extension to July 13 will mean only one more week of performances than originally planned, as the show is on hiatus from July 1-6 to give Cariou a vacation. When Papa closes, it will have played 6 previews and 73 performances at the Douglas Fairbanks Theater.
