It felt this year – and this is not just me saying it, I had this conversation with actors, with artistic directors, with people in line at the bar – that theatre was back in a way we didn’t quite see in 2021. And for what’s become my favorite art form, that was a balm to my soul I couldn’t quite quantify.
I made it to 52 shows this year. In addition to Columbus, Anne and I saw quite good theater in St Louis (a terrific version of Assassins), Madison (the really fun Temptations jukebox musical Ain’t Too Proud) that didn’t quite make the list for me this year and stuff in New York that did, along with a couple NYC shows that had their hearts and minds in the right place but just didn’t land like I would have liked (a version of Company with a show-stopping lead performance by Katrina Lenk and a great comedic cast but was too uneven otherwise, and a 1776 with a stunning premise of having the founding fathers played by a cast without any cis men, but didn’t do anything with that premise).
It was a joy seeing Available Light back in a big way with a powerful shot across the bow in an exemplary performance of Jen Silverman’s Witch. CATCO built on their good work with Mr. Burns with my two favorite productions of the year, versions of School Girls and Indecent I have a hard time imagining being bettered. eMBer Women’s Theatre did a version of Margaret Edson’s W;t with a jaw-dropping performance by Sue Wismar at its heart that just wrecked me and made Anne say, “That’s the first great theater I’ve seen since we started going again.” Short North Stage – in addition to what was placed on this list – also had a production that turned me around on a show I never really liked Little Shop of Horrors, and one that re-invested me in a show I thought I was done with, Spring Awakening. The bench of choices to pick from was deep this year.
And these were the best of the best for me – the shows that made me want to grab a martini and talk about for two hours afterward (Sardi’s didn’t exactly make us use the elevator after Topdog/Underdog, but it was damn close) or hug whoever was near me. That lit me up and reminded me why I keep doing this.
But that’s not the whole story of the ecosystem. I want to call attention to the great work that MadLab and Evolution are doing: both of these companies take chances on plays no one else is and shine a light on voices that haven’t had many productions at the level of professionalism and care they both always bring to the table. Evolution did the almost unthinkable and brought a brand new musical to life.
For me, the finished products were mixed bags for both companies but you don’t find gems without taking the kind of bold risks they do. And also MadLab and Joe Bishara’s Abbey Theater (who host Evolution along with Original Production Theater, Stage Right, the Columbus Black Theatre Festival, etc) providing space and logistical support to other companies in a world where the rent’s too damn high and locations are thin on the ground for the needs of smaller troupes. They’re doing their part to nurture new, bold work. These are in chronological order and in Columbus unless otherwise stated. Photos are all taken from the theater’s websites or were provided by the production company for publicity purposes.
- School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh; directed by Shanelle Marie (CATCO) – I’d read Bioh’s pitch-perfect dissection of the cruelties people inflict on each other, through the specific lens of a girls’ boarding school in Ghana, and seen the streaming version of Chicago’s Goodman during lockdown but the production of this still hit me like every beat was brand new. I said, “In twenty-five years of regularly seeing theater, and a lifetime of living in Columbus, this is one of the ten best things I’ve ever seen on a stage here. It made me laugh myself hoarse and have to take my glasses off to wipe away tears,” when I reviewed it for Columbus Underground.
- Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears (composer) and Greg Pierce (libretto), based on the novel by Thomas Mallon; directed by Bruno Baker (Opera Columbus) – I wrote a preview for this stunning show which premiered in Cincinnati in 2016, a dark look at the HUAC-motivated purge of homosexuals from US government ranks centered around an incendiary performance from baritone Carl DuPont. I wrote about it for Columbus Underground.
- W;t by Margaret Edson; directed by Michelle Batt (eMBer Women’s Theatre) – This was just breathtaking, a fantastic play that not only holds up but gains new resonance as it feels like anti-intellectualism and disparaging of women’s autonomy gain new, ugly footholds. I said, “Wit is a play that still elicits huge laughs – proven the night I went – and keeps its power to devastate, a prime example of the play as a magician who tells you the trick at the outset, then dazzles you with it anyway”, in my review for Columbus Underground.
- Fat Ham by James Ijames; directed by Saheem Ali (Public Theater and National Black Theater, NYC) – I’ve been a fan of James Ijames’s’s heavily poetic language and incisive looks at the human condition since Available Light included a work of his in the 2017 Next Stage Initiative – but this year’s Fat Ham was the first piece of his that tied all the threads together and exceeded its potential. A riff on Hamlet set in the deep South, following a gay man, Juicy (Marcel Spears in a masterful performance), as he tries to navigate a bad family situation and relationships he keeps fucking up, with humor and fire. The moment when I realized Calvin Leon Smith’s sharply drawn Larry wasn’t Laertes he was Ophelia almost knocked me out of my chair and the concluding fourth wall shattering “If it’s all right with you, we decide to live,” that could have been so cheesy felt like the only truth I needed. One of the best new plays I’ve seen in many, many years.
- The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder; directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz (Lincoln Center Theater, NYC) – I’d read and enjoyed this Thornton WIlder, but I’m not sure I’d ever seen it. Anne’s enthusiasm for the work – and my curiosity about what Lileana Blain-Cruz, whose work on Suzan-Lori Parks’ The Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World blew me away a few years ago, would do with it – made this our first trip back to Lincoln Center since the pandemic started and it was a dizzying, almost-too-appropriate take on how you live in the face of an apocalypse. A surreal apocalypse but a reminder that the world, especially in times of crisis, is always surreal. Puppet mammoths and hordes of barbarians tromp through a well-appointed home, with an astonishing performance from Gabby Beans as Sabina at the center of it.
- Voice of the Net by Jeremy Llorence; directed by Joe Bishara (Original Productions Theater, presented at the Abbey Theatre of Dublin) – Science fiction is hard to adapt on the stage; so are mysteries. So it was an extra delight to see this world premiere cyberpunk/techno-thriller play handle literary tropes I would have thought un-adaptable with stiletto grace. A credit to both the sharp, steady hand of Llorence’s script and Bishara’s innovative and empathetic direction; as well as a great cast including Julie Whitney Scott, Tom Holliday, and Jeff White. I reviewed this for Columbus Underground.
- Queen Margaret by Jeanie O’Hare, adapted from William Shakespeare; directed by Philip Hickman (Actors’ Theatre) – This Jeanie O’Hare dissection of Shakespeare’s Wars of the Roses plays, centered around a brilliant performance by Jessica Hughes as the eponymous queen, was a shining example of Actors’ Theatre’s power to bring complicated, adult work to a beautiful summer night without any pandering or bullshit. Hickman’s direction kept the tension high but also let the characters breathe. I talked about this for weeks. I reviewed this for Columbus Underground.
- Althea and Angela by Todd Olson, directed by James Blackmon (JB3 Entertainment, presented at MadLab) – This world premiere historical drama about the friendship between Althea Gibson (Jaymi Horn), the first black American to win a Grand Slam tennis title, and her competitor/sometimes doubles partner Angela Buxton (Mallory Fischer) was a gift. Beautifully directed by James Blackmon for his JB3 Entertainment company. I called it “It’s an exciting slice of history, well-told; a profound look at the reasons and rewards of connecting with one another; and a dazzling reminder of how much beauty there is in being alive,” in my review for Columbus Underground.
- King Hedley II by August Wilson, directed by Patricia Wallace-Winbush (PAST Productions with Actors’ Theatre) – One of only two August Wilson plays I hadn’t seen performed (*cough* could somebody do Seven Guitars?) paired with the perfect director for it, and Wallace-Winbush met or exceeded every one of my sky-high expectations. A grim, soaring take on the difficulty of getting out of the poverty cycle, others’ expectations, and our own tragic flaws. Wilma Hatton – also excellent in School Girls this year – gives one of those performances of a lifetime. I said, “The care with which Wallace-Winbush and her cast treat the milieu, the characters, and the words, make this an indelible evening and a reminder of the necessary empathy at the heart of all great tragedy,” in my review for Columbus Underground.
- Witch by Jen Silverman; directed by Whitney Thomas Eads (Available Light) – This return from the last of the main theatre companies to come back, AVLT, was almost everything I could have hoped. An amazing central performance from Michelle Schroeder and stellar work from David Glover and Ian Short among others, directed beautifully by Whitney Thomas Eads. I called it “A towering example of exactly what I’m going to the theater for and an incandescent reminder of what Available Light brings to the Columbus theater community,” in my review for Columbus Underground.
- Rent by Jonathan Larson; directed by Chari Arespacochaga (Short North Stage) – It’s no secret that my tastes have been shaped by a number of friendships over the years. Everything good is the result of a series of friendships, alliances, and warm acquaintances. I lost two friends who were big proponents of Rent and made me see it through a more forgiving eye than my anything-popular-has-to-suck teenage attitude and while it’s not perfect, I have a real fondness for it. Both passed this year, and we hadn’t been close for a little while, which kind of made seeing this again perfect. That feeling was bolstered by the fact that this was a beautiful production. RIP, Kate Wright (Opperman when I knew her). RIP, PBS. I never adequately explained how much you meant to me and my understanding of art and the world over the years. I reviewed this for Columbus Underground.
- Montag by Kate Tarker; directed by Dustin Willis (SoHo Rep, NYC) – This fall was my first trip back to Soho Rep, the site of many of my most profound theatrical experiences, and I lucked into a flamethrower of a play. I’ve never heard language like Kate Tarker’s, take on relationships – the friendship with the two women, beautifully acted by Nadine Malouf and Ariana Venturi, felt real and approachable even in the heightened circumstances of being under attack. Surreal details creeping into view – a disco ball grim reaper, a motorcycle-loving friend with an operatic area, and a crash of sunlight – are the right balance of terrifying and hilarious. I didn’t understand huge chunks of this, but I fucking loved it.
- Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks; directed by Kenny Leon (John Golden Theater, NYC) – Probably my favorite play ever, certainly always one of the two or three things in the conversation. I read Parks’ Topdog/Underdog in 2002 or 03, right after it was published in book form, and it set my hair on fire. I missed its original Broadway run by a couple of months on one of my first trips to New York. And afterward I didn’t miss any of her plays if I could help it and saw a couple terrific regional versions over the years (a very good one at CATCO in 2004 still stands in my mind), so there was no way I was going to miss the first Broadway revival. From the moment I walked into the building to Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s “They Reminisce Over You” booming through the PA, I was hyped. And at first, I was a little disappointed – Kenny Leon’s direction felt a little sitcom-y, a little boom-clap. But by the end of it, the incandescent performances of Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II were reverberating in my chest, making me interrogate why some choices made me uncomfortable. Especially when those same choices were turning some of the audience into people never having seen a play before – when Linc announces he’s lost his job, there’s a small chorus of “Awww,” that at first felt annoying and then was really endearing. Two hours of discussion and three manhattans with Anne at Sardi’s later, I got it. It might not be a perfect version (if such a thing even exists), but it’s a stunning, finely tooled for now take on this 20-year-old masterpiece.
- Indecent by Paula Vogel; directed by Leda Hoffmann (CATCO) – Another take on a play I dearly love, probably my favorite of Vogel’s work, and I’m a fan in general. Leda Hoffmann (who also killed me with Mr. Burns last year) did a marvelous job paying tribute to the Jewish and queer histories in the play and making it luminous, thoughtful entertainment. I was wiped out and burned out from the week when I saw this, but I barely got to the coffee shop to write my review before texting half a dozen friends to tell them how good this tribute to the human need to get together and tell stories, to the eternal power of theater, was. I reviewed it for Columbus Underground.
- Assassins by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and John Weidman (book); directed by Brandon Boring (Imagine Productions) – I also saw an excellent production of Assassins, maybe my favorite Sondheim play, in St Louis while there for good friend John Wendland’s wedding, and what I thought was interesting about both was they did away with the abandoned-carnival setting. I got a kick out of Fly North Theatrical’s quite good version set at a political fandom convention, directed by Bradley Rohlf (and it had maybe the best Sam Byck I’ve ever seen, Sarah Lantsberger), but I was fully blown away by Brandon Boring’s staging of this in a courtroom. I previewed it because I was in Mexico City for the first weekend, but I spent my own money to see one of the last two performances, and it reminded me how good it feels to do that once in a while. It was riddled with great touches like the judge’s gavel for gunshots, the balladeer as a prosecuting attorney making his case to the ensemble as a jury, and the assassins gathered around a defense table. An excellent cast with particularly strong performances from Chris Rusen, Brian Horne, Lexi Vestey, and Nancy Skaggs, delivered the hell out of the material. I had a few issues with projecting; some lyrics got lost when actors realistically turned away from my part of the audience, and I understand the reasons for them, but I’m still not in love with singing to backing tracks, but those minor quibbles couldn’t take the shine off my love of this production. Anne and I went to see our friend DJ at The Oracle after and never left the bar to make our way into the room where the dancing was happening, having a lot to say, which doesn’t normally happen on a play we’ve seen three productions of together before the one we watched that night. Building on his terrific Into the Woods a few years ago, Boring might well turn out to be our current standard-bearer for directing Sondheim.
Screen of Distance 