A collection of nine plays by women for theatre companies to consider produciing has been revealed in the Expand the Canon list from Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre.
Four of the plays will be staged in a digital reading series this fall, including Bold Stroke for a Husband by Hannah Cowley and House of Desires by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. In addition to the works by Cowley and de la Cruz, the plays selected for 2020 are: A Bold Stroke for a Wife by Susanna Centilivre, Her Soul by Amelia P. Roselli, Rachel by Angelina W. Grimke, Restless Night in Late Spring by Fumiko Enchi, Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston, The Drag by Mae West, and Wedding Band by Alice Childress.
“From hundreds of plays by women, we chose 9 that span history, geography, and subject matter—and are by writers from diverse backgrounds,” said Mary Candler, artistic director of Hedgepig. “Each play takes on relevant conversations to this moment and can easily, and meaningfully, slot into 2021 seasons.”
Emily Lyon
Expand the Canon is a call to action for theatres to stage classical plays by women and to include more diversity in their repertoire. The project aims to ensure that what’s considered a “classic” includes a diverse set of women’s voices from history.
The Do This Play: Expand the Canon virtual reading series kicks off September 22 with Cowley’s 17th century play. Directed by Emily Lyon, the cast includes Skye Pagon, Shannon Corenthin, David Huynh, Basil Rodericks, Sara Hymes, Rachel Schmeling, Jory Murphy, Andrew Hutcheson, Gregory Jon Phelps, Marcus D. Johnson, and Madeline Addis.
Up next is de la Cruz’s Mexican comedy September 27, directed by Melisa Pereyra and produced in partnership with American Players Theatre. House of Desires stars Cher Alvarez, Eduardo Xavier Curley-Carillo, Triney Sandoval, Alejandro Cordova, Sebastian Arboleda, Basil Rodericks, Jamal James, Olivia Williamson, and Desiree Baxter.
Ma-Yi Theater Company co-presents Fumiko Enchi’s Restless Night in Late Spring September 29. Directed by Chari Arespacochago, the world premiere English-language translation of the Japanese play features Sasha Diamond, Shannon Tyo, Daniel K. Isaac, and Fara Faidzan.
Closing out the series October 1 is Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston. The reading is directed by Bianca LaVerne Jones and produced in partnership with The Classical Theatre of Harlem, with casting to be announced.
All of the readings take place at 8 PM ET. For tickets, click here. For more information about the list, visit ExpandTheCanon.com.
Tony and Grammy Award-winner John Lloyd Young returns to The Space in Las Vegas on Saturday, October 3 with John Lloyd Young’s Broadway, an intimate and unforgettable evening of Broadway favorites and classic showtunes. While we await he big night, we’re getting inside John’s head as he counts down ten Broadway performances that have excited, entertained, and inspired him throughout his life and career
1904Julian Eltinge, the famed female impersonator, makes his Broadway debut in Mr. Wix of Wickham, the unsuccessful musical at the Bijou Theatre. 19-year-old Jerome Kern writes some of the songs for the show. Kern goes on to write music for Show Boat and Sunny during his long, successful career. Also on this date, E. H. Sothern, Shakespeare actor extraordinaire, stars in a Chicago production of Romeo and Juliet.
1910 For the first time, George M. Cohan directs and writes a non-musical triumph. Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford, his new comedy, opens at the Gaiety Theatre. It is based on the novel by George Randolph Chester about a con man who reforms. The show runs for 424 performances with its stars, Frances Ring and Hale Hamilton.
1962 Opening performance of Eric Bentley‘s translated version of Bertolt Brecht‘s Mann Ist Mann. Another version, translated by Gerhard Nellhaus, opened the night before at The Living Theatre. The New Repertory Company stages tonight’s production at the Masque Theatre, directed by John Hancock and starring John Heffernan and Olympia Dukakis. Both productions run 175 performances.
1974 The Winter Garden Theatre is evacuated due to a bomb threat, at the first preview for the revival of Gypsy. Gene Brown’s book, Showtime, notes that librettist Arthur Laurents joked with the audience during the break that acclaimed star Angela Lansbury was quite a “bombshell” herself. The show resumes shortly after the evacuation.
2000 Less than two weeks after ending its run at Second Stage Theatre, the revival of August Wilson‘s Jitney reopens at the larger Union Square Theatre Off-Broadway. The first play written by the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright looks into the lives of a group of black men working at a gypsy cab company (or jitney station) in 1970s Pittsburgh.
2001 Led by Cristyne Lategano Nicholas, the NYC Tourism Chief, and Tim Zagat, president of the famous Zagat surveys of restaurants, New York City business leaders rally at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre to express support for the theatre industry in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and to urge theatre fans to continue buying tickets.
2002Nunsense, the Off-Broadway novelty musical about a convent full of wacky nuns, spawns its fourth sequel: Meshuggah-Nuns, an entirely new show “with a touch of Yiddish,” at the Fireside Theatre in Minneapolis. Previous entries in the series: Nunsense, Nunsense II, Sister Amnesia’s Country Western Nunsense Jamboree, and Nuncrackers (the Christmas themed show), not counting Nunsense A-Men, the original show, but with an all-male cast.
2004 The television adaptation of Tony Kushner‘s Tony- and Pulitzer-winning drama Angels in America wins a record 11 Emmy Awards.
2006Elizabeth Allen, 77, the stage, film, and television actor and model who played a feisty, love-hungry tourist in the Broadway musical Do I Hear a Waltz?, dies at Wingate Nursing Home in Fishkill, New York.
2012 The world premiere of Jay Kuo, Marc Acito and Lorenzo Thione‘s Allegiance—A New American Musical, charting the lives of Japanese Americans who were placed in concentration camps on U.S. soil during World War II, opens at The Old Globe in San Diego, California. Directed by Stafford Arima, it stars Telly Leung, George Takei and Lea Salonga. The production transfers to Broadway three years later.
