Read on for some recent theatre headlines and videos you may have missed.
Marsha Mason and Brian Cox in Dear Liar
Oscar nominee Marsha Mason (Broadway’s Steel Magnolias) and Emmy winner Brian Cox (Broadway’s The Great Society) will pair up for a virtual benefit reading of Jerome Kilty’s Dear Liar. Mark Brokaw (How I Learned to Drive) will direct the play about George Bernard Shaw and his muse “Mrs. Pat,” presented by Bucks County Playhouse. The reading will take place September 1 at 7 PM EST, with advanced tickets priced at $25 ($35 day of). Proceeds will go to the Bucks County Playhouse Pandemic Campaign.
READ: Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason to Virtually Reunite for The Letters of Noël Coward
A Tribute to Nick Cordero
Cast members from the 2015 Off-Broadway musical Brooklynite assembled remotely to honor their late co-star Nick Cordero, who died due to complications from COVID-19 last month. Watch Matt Doyle, Nicolette Robinson, Ann Harada, John-Michael Lyles, Manik Choski, Remy Zaken, Grace McLean, Andrew Call, Gerard Canonico, Carla Duren, Max Chernin, Alex Boniello, and Tom Alan Robbins—plus composer Peter Lerman on guitar—perform the show’s “Rescue Waltz” below.
HVSF Goes Virtual
The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival will bring its annual HVSF2 Reading Series online this year, with three titles streaming via Vimeo (with a suggested donation of $20 per viewer). The lineup includes Will Power’s Seize the King directed by Jesse J. Perez (August 13), Erin Shields’ adaptation of Paradise Lost directed by Sara Holdren and featuring Nance Williamson (August 20), and Untitled Agatha Project, an HVSF commission from writer Heidi Armbruster and director Lavina Jadhwani (August 27). All streams will take place at 7:30 PM ET.
Concert Venues Unite
Joe’s Pub, Le Poisson Rouge, SubCulture NY, The Town Hall, United Palace, and over 100 more performing arts venues in New York City have formed the New York Independent Venue Association in response to the financial strain many are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The group, associated with the National Independent Venue Association, is pushing for the Save our Stages and Restart Acts to be passed in Congress.
A Taste of Sleepless
Check out a new video from the upcoming musical Sleepless, based on Sleepless in Seattle. In the clip, Kimberly Walsh, who stars as Annie, sings the song “Outta My Hands” from Robert Scott and Brendan Cull’s score. Performances are due to begin August 25 at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, with a socially distanced indoor configuration and with the implementation of new COVID-19 testing technology.
