Due to high ticket demand, Second Stage Theatre has announced an extension for the Off-Broadway debut of Anna Deavere Smith’s Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education. The solo show, created, written, and performed by the award-winning Smith, officially opened November 2 and has garnered positive reviews from New York City critics.
The play features music composed and performed by Marcus Shelby and direction by Leonard Foglia. Performances will now play through December 18.
Playwright, actor, and educator Smith, whose earlier works have explored racial tensions, law enforcement, and deficiencies in the healthcare system, turns her attention to the school-to-prison pipeline and the poverty gap in Notes from the Field. Smith had originally planned to perform the piece in local communities, but following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, decided to return to the professional stage with the show’s timely message. It is based on hundreds of real-life interviews.
Other Off-Broadway shows to receive extensions due to high ticket demand are the Manhattan Theatre Club productions of Vietgone and Sell/Buy/Date, the Irish Repertory Theatre revival of Finian's Rainbow starring Melissa Errico, and Labyrinth Theater Company’s Homos, Or Everyone in America, with Robin De Jesús and Michael Urie.
MTC has announced that Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone—a twist on the all-American love story about finding love in a refugee relocation camp, directed by May Adrales—will extend through December 4, and Sell/Buy/Date, Sarah Jones’ acclaimed monologue play about the sex industry and its often unheard voices, will extend through December 3. Performances of Vietgone began October 4, and Sell/Buy/Date, directed by Carolyn Cantor, kicked off September 27.
Downtown at the Bank Street Theater, the world premiere of Homos, Or Everyone in America by Jordan Seavey, will now play through December 11. The play, about learning to live and love in New York City, was scheduled to conclude performances November 27. The production is directed by Mike Donahue, with a cast that also features Aaron Costa Ganis and Stacey Sargeant.
Irish Rep artistic director Charlotte Moore’s adaptation of Finian's Rainbow has also been extended to play through December 31 at the company’s newly renovated theatre on West 22nd Street. The revival opened to positive reviews on November 6. Scroll through production photos below:
