Concluding Sept. 28
The Hill Town Plays (Off-Broadway at Cherry Lane Theatre's studio and mainstages, as well as the Axis Theatre, the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and the New Ohio Theatre). The Rattlestick Playwrights Theater production of The Hilltown Plays is a five-play cycle featuring the work of Lucy Thurber, including the world premieres of Ashville and Stay as well as Scarcity, Where We're Born and Killers and Other Family. The Hill Town Plays, a collection of new and existing works, according to the Rattlestick, "tells the story of a woman who works her way into a new life from a childhood of poverty, alcoholism and abuse. Each play examines a pivotal stage of the character’s life, spanning from a childhood in a poor mill town in Western Mass through adulthood as a successful author. The Hill Town Plays investigate where we come from, what we dream of becoming and who we are." Visit Rattlestick.org.
Concluding Sept. 29
The Two-Character Play (Off-Broadway at New World Stages). The Off-Broadway premiere of Tennessee Williams' rarely-seen The Two-Character Play stars Tony and Emmy winner Amanda Plummer. "Reality and fantasy are interwoven with terrifying power as two actors on tour-brother and sister-find themselves deserted by their troupe," according to press notes. "Faced by an audience expecting a performance, they enact The Two-Character Play. As they dip in and out of performance they find it difficult to differentiate themselves from their roles and reality from illusion." Visit TheTwoCharacterPlay.com.
stop. reset. (Off-Broadway at the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center). Written and directed by Regina Taylor, the world premiere of stop. reset. features Michi Barall as Deb, Teagle Bougere as Chris, Ismael Cruz Cordova as J., LaTanya Richardson Jackson as Jan, Carl Lumbly as Alex Ames and Donald Sage Mackay as Tim. "As e-books outsell printed books, Alex Ames, the owner of Chicago's oldest African American book publishing company, must question each of his employees to determine who is still relevant in a rapidly changing world," press notes state. "When he meets J., a mysterious youth plugged into the future, Mr. Ames is forced to discover just how far he will go to survive. A new play from Residency Five playwright Regina Taylor, stop. reset. asks powerful questions of legacy, identity and survival in a world where the real and the virtual are more closely tied than we think." Visit SignatureTheatre.org.
