Today’s Highlights:
Volpone, or the Fox benefit reading, by Ben Jonson, directed by Jesse Berger, featuring André De Shields, Jordan Boatman, Sofia Cheyenne, Franchelle Stewart Dorn, Clifton Duncan, Amy Jo Jackson, Peter Francis James, Hamish Linklater, Roberta Maxwell, Sam Morales, Kristine Nielsen, and Mary Testa, begins FREE streaming (through June 18) at Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater.
After filmed production, conceived by Jack Virtel, featuring Christopher Jackson, Nova Y. Payton, Sophia Adoum, Phillip Attmore, Jessica Bennett, DeWitt Fleming Jr., Jennie Harney Fleming, Andre Hinds, Jodeci Milhouse, Solomon Parker III, Shayla S. Simmons, and Kaysha Williams, begins streaming at Off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre.
The Indomitable Irishry: An Online Celebration, directed by Charlotte Moore, honoring Bill Irwin, Mary Lou Quinlan, and Joe Quinlan, with special guests Matthew Broderick, Gabriel Byrne, John Douglas Thompson, and Bill Whelan, and featuring Len Cariou, Michael Cerveris, Kerry Conte, Melissa Errico, Jay Aubrey Jones, Donna Kane, Kylie Kuioka, Ciarán Sheehan, and Max von Essen, streams at 7:30 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Irish Rep.
Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Spring Gala: NYC 
MTC, with special guests Lewis Black, Gale A. Brewer, Mark Brokaw, Blair Brown, David Cromer, Fiona Davis, Edie Falco, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Darren Goldstein, Rupert Goold, James Graham, Anchuli Felicia King, Tom Kirdahy, Nathan Lane, Ayodele Maakheru, Junior Mack, Eden Marryshow, Bryonha Marie Parham, Mary-Louise Parker, Debra Jo Rupp, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Benjamin Scheuer, Simon Stephens, R.L. Stine, Paco Tolson, Roma Torre, Meredith Viera, Jason Michael Webb, Richard Wesley, Florian Zeller, and more, concludes FREE streaming.
“Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: The Clever Chemist Matter” benefit broadcast, by Jack Johnstone, directed by Jonathan Silverstein, featuring Santino Fontana, George Abud, Ali Ewoldt, Ted Koch, Susan Malloy, John-Andrew Marrison, Steven Ratazzi, and Jay Russell, concludes streaming at 7 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Keen Company.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz: Animal Duos by Jim Bernhard
Fill in the missing word in each pair of animals in these titles of plays and musicals:
| 1. The ____ and the Pussycat, play by Bill Manhoff | A. Fish |
| 2. Woman Bites ____, play by Sam and Bella Spewack | B. Canary |
| 3. The Cat and the ____, play by John Willard | C. Bear |
| 4. The ____ and the Mouse, play by Charles Klein | D. Frog |
| 5. Tiger, ____ Burning Bright, play by Peter S. Feibleman | E. Mice |
| 6. Fox Versus ____, play by J. D. Stockton and R. B. Brough | F. Owl |
| 7. Bulls, ____s, and Asses, play by Milton Herbert Gropper | G. Tiger |
| 8. A Year with ____and Toad, musical by Robert and Willie Reale | H. Goose |
| 9. Big Fish, Little ____, play by Hugh Wheeler | I. Dog |
| 10. Of ____ and Men, play by John Steinbeck | J. Lion |
Scroll down for the answers…
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Video: Stars in the House, a Dreamgirls reunion, with special guests Lillian White, Audra McDonald, Heather Headley, Darius de Haas, Tamara Tunie, and Brenda Braxton. (2:05:56)
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Sarah Ruhl’s Dear Elizabeth, directed by Kate Whoriskey, will stream on TDF. Ticket buyers will receive a viewing link via email at least one hour before showtime on Thurs. June 17 at 8 PM ET (which will also be available until Mon. June 21 at 6 PM ET).
Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline.
The play, based on the correspondence between poets Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, maps the relationship of the two writers, from their first meeting to a brief affair, as well as the turmoil of their lives in between.
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Playwright Katori Hall has been named this year’s recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, for The Hot Wing King.
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Hartford Stage has announced its 2021-22 in-person season:
Ah, Wilderness! (Oct. 14 – Nov. 7), by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Melia Bensussen. In 1906 Connecticut, a young man falls in love with poetry and a girl, and ends of with his heart broken. But with the help of others, he may yet find happiness.
It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Nov. 26 – Dec. 26), adapted by Joe Landry, co-directed by Melia Bensussen and Rachel Alderman.
Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous (Jan. 13 – Feb. 6, 2022), by Pearl Cleage, directed by Susan V. Booth. The fictional story of actress Anna Campbell and director Betty Samson, who, 25 years ago, ignited a major controversy with a performance of scenes from August Wilson’s Fences that came to be known forever after as Naked Wilson (a fictional creation by Cleage). Now, invited to restage their legendary work, they’re challenged by a young actress who has a very different perspective on feminism, art and activism.
Dishwasher Dreams (Feb. 24 – Mar. 20), by Alaudin Ullah, directed by Chay Yew. Alaudin, a stand-up comedian whose family hails from Bangladesh, is in LA on the verge of success when a family crisis forces him back to New York. Deferring his dreams while confronting his family history, he takes on a moving and hilarious journey from colonial India in the 1930s to Spanish Harlem in the 1970s, and all the way to present-day Hollywood for his once-in-a-lifetime audition for a major film.
Lost in Yonkers (Apr. 7 – May 1), co-directed by Marsha Mason and Rachel Alderman.
….and one more production TBA.
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Video: New trailer for Lin Manuel Miranda’s “Tick,Tick…Boom,” starring Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesús, Joshua Henry, MJ Rodriguez, Bradley Whitford, Tariq Trotter, Judith Light, and Vanessa Hudgens, which is now available to stream on Hulu.
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Blindness, one of the first shows to open after a year-long shutdown, will now close July 25 at the Daryl Roth Theatre, despite a recent announcement that the production would run through Sept. 5.
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Taylor Louderman’s Musical writing contest, Write Out Loud, will release an EP of 3 winning singles from itsbn 2020 contest. The album will be available digitally on Spotify and Apple Music on June 18.
* “Coffee in the Morning,” by Matt Copley, performed by Jeremy Jordan
* “Samson,” by Ethan Carlson, performed by Ariana DeBose & Taylor Louderman
* “Sang Along,” by Alexander Sage Oyen, performed by Lilli Cooper.
A live concert of songs from the 2020 competition will premiere this Fall at 54 Below (dates and performers TBA).
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Adrienne Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders will livestream Thurs. June 17 at 7:30 PM CT at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene. The production will then be available on demand through June 20.
Eunice Woods Young (Suzanne), Ernnest Bentley (David/Val), Destini Huston (Iris Ann), Shake Kenyon (Robert Hampshire), Jacqueline Williams (Present Suzanne), and Dee De Batteast (Aunt Louise/Mrs. Tyler/Miss Dawson).
When Suzanne arrives at Ohio State University in 1949 as one of the handful of Black freshmen, she discovers that the “safe haven” of academia offers little sanctuary. Decades later, the accomplished writer returns to her alma mater to speak about her work – and unravels the heartbreaking truth and chilling mystery of her life lived in the shadows.
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Jack Viertel & Langston Hughes’ After Midnight continues streaming through Aug. 4 at DC’s Signature Theatre, directed & choreographed by Jarret Grimes, and music direction by Mark G. Meadows.
Harold Arlen, Cab Calloway, Harry Carney, Sidney Easton, Duke Ellington, Dorothy Fields, E.Y. Harburg, Johnny Hodes, Harry James, Ted Koehler, Jimmy McHugh, Bubber Miley, Irving Mills, Henry Nemo, Ben Pollack, Sippie Wallace, Ethel Waters, and Harry A. White.
Christopher Jackson, Nova Y. Payton, Sophia Adoum, Phillip Attmore, Jessica Bennett, DeWitt Fleming Jr., Jennie Harney-Fleming, Andre Hinds, Jodeci Milhouse, Solomon Parker III, Shayla S. Simmons, and Kanysha Williams.
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Boston’s SpeakEasy Stage has announced its 2021-22 season:
The Sound Inside (Sept. 24 – Oct. 16), by Adam Rapp, directed by Bryn Boice. Int the 17 years since she was last published, novelist Bella Baird has almost completely isolated herself from the world. But things change when she meets Christopher – a brilliant but enigmatic student in her creative writing class at Yale. As their friendship deepens, their lives and the stories they tell about themselves become intertwined in unpredictable ways, leading to a shocking request.
BLKS (Oct. 29 – Nov. 29), by Aziza Barnes, directed by Tonasia Jones. The play follows three twenty-something Black women trying to find intimacy and purpase in a city that doesn’t seem to care about them.
People, Places and Things (Jan. 7 – Feb. 5, 2022), by Duncan Macmillan, directed by David R. Gammons. Emma, a thiry-something actress who thinks she is having the time of her life, until she finds herself in rehab. Her first step it so admit that she has a problem. But the problem isn’t with Emma: it’s with everyone else. And when intoxication feels like the only way to survive, how can she ever sober up?
Once On This Island (Mar. 11 – Apr. 16), directed by Pascal Florestal.
The Inheritance, Parts 1 & 2 (Apr. 22 – June 11), by Matthew Lopez, directed by Paul Daigneault. A generation after the peak of the AIDS crisis, what is it like to be a young gay man in New York> What is the legacy left to them by previous generations? What do they owe the future and each other
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Emily Skinner: A Broad with a Broad Broad Mind will run July 29-31 at 54 Below,
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Hartford Stage has announced its New Play Festival, to run June 23-26:
June 23 : Festival Kickoff (7 PM ET)) with a conversation about the festival and the process of developing new work.
June 24: Simona’s Search (7 PM ET), by Martin Zimmerman, directed by Melia Bensussen. A moving poetic look at the bond between fathers and daughters. Curious about her father’s life in Latin America before moving to the United States, Simona obsesses over his secrets, and her thoughts and dreams become haunted by the mystery that is his past.
June 25: Her Math Play (7 PM ET), by Christina Pumariega, directed by M. Bevin O’Gara. JoAnne loves Math like a person. But it’s the very language her daughter Sam fails to speak. Inspired by the playwright’s math professor mom, this is a love letter to mothers, daughters, laten feminism, and Math told in equations and whale song.
June 26: Ash Tree (3 PM ET), by Georgina Escobar, directed by Kim McKean. Three sisters faced with their mother’s sudden death engage in a dangerous game of forgetting and make-believe. Amidst confusion, riddles, journeys, and the ever-blurry boundaries between fiction and fact, the sister’s fantastical playtime – inspired by their mother’s bedtime stories – ultimately leads them to a truth and acceptance that inspires their own new story.
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RIP: Ned Beatty has died at the age of 83.
He appeared on Broadway twice, making his debut in 1968 in The Great White Hope, as well Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2003), for which he won a Drama Desk Award.
Beaty was best know as a character actor in films (more than 160), including “Deliverance” (1972), “Network” (1976), “Friendly Fire” (1979), “Hear My Song” (1991), and “Toy Story 3” (2010).
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A private reading of Emily Mann, Susan Birkenhead & Lucy Simon’s Big Country (based on the novel by Ken Haruf), took place June 11, directed by Victoria Clark, with music direction by Deborah Abramson.
LaChanze (Addie Moore) and Terrence Mann (Louis Waters)
One morning, in the fictional small town of Holt, Colorado, widow Addie Moore poses an unexpected question to her neighbor, widower Louis Waters, which triggers an unconventional arrangement that turns into a deep friendship and passionate love affair. However, their happiness is threatened by a prejudiced town and Addie’s troubled and disappearing son. Ultimately, Addie has to choose between the family she already has and the new family she longs for.
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GRACE NOTES Quiz answers: Animal Duos
1-F. The Owl and the Pussycat
2-I. Man Bites Dog
3-B. The Cat and the Canary
4-J. The Lion and the Mouse
5-G. Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright
6-H. Fox Versus Goose
7-C. Bulls, Bears, and Asses
8-D. A Year with Frog and Toad
9-A. Big Fish, Little Fish
10-E. Of Mice and Men