a poor player

Isaac Butler put out the idea of listing a “fall preview” of upcoming shows in your area that you’re looking forward to seeing. The NYC theatre bloggers have apparently gotten together, responded quickly, and are all kicking around a “fall preview,” listing their choices for what they want to see this coming fall season in NYC. An excellent suggestion, and a big help to those of us who only get to visit now and again. Here’s what I am looking forward to seeing in the upcoming season in Buffalo (no order of importance. Actually, this may become a list of show I would want to see, but can’t, because I’m in another show):

• A Man of No Importance – Irish Classical Theatre Company. Word on the street is that this is a wonderfully mounted production of a show which never quite found its audience or bearings when it opened in NYC. Terrance McNally wrote the book, Stephen Flaherty the music and Lynne Ahrens of Ragtime the lyrics. One of my former students, Brian Riggs, plays Alfie, a stage-struck Dublin bus conductor who dreams of staging a musical based on the works of Oscar Wilde.
• The Memory Garden – new play by Rebecca Ritchie, Gerald Fried Theatre Company. How many plays are there for two senior citizens to delve into the wonders, trials and tribulations of a 40-year marriage? Roz Kramer and Manny Fried, a McCarthy-blacklisted labor union activist who is now 92 and still writing and acting, bring the piece to the stage. The company is named after Manny’s brother Gerald. A short run, probably not one I will get a chance to see.
• The Metamorphosis – New Phoenix Theatre on the Park. An adaptation of Kafka’s work with music. Should be challenging.
• The Dodo Bird – Road Less Travelled Productions. Producer/director Scott Berhend has opened the newest space in Buffalo, housed in the Market Arcade Cinema in the Theatre District. This is the aforementioned Manny Fried’s first play, and Road Less Travelled intends to make this season a celebration of Manny’s works. It centers around a working-class Buffalo family and their trials and tribulations.
• Long Day’s Journey into Night – Irish Classical Theatre Company. I love O’Neill.
• The Fourth Wall – Kavinoky Theatre. A local premiere of Buffalo native A.R. Gurney’s work. It’s always nice to see Gurney’s work in the city about which he write the most.
• The War Room – Road Less Travelled Productions. An original script by Darryl Schneider, it links a Vietnam vet with his son who was KIA in Iraq. Scheider’s play Two to the Head was a breakout script for him a season ago.
• Three Days of Rain – Studio Arena Theatre. Perhaps more out of obligation than anything else, since I’ve not yet seen a Richard Greenberg play of any sort. The direction is by Kathleen Gaffney, Studio’s new Artistic Director.
• Othello – American Shakespeare Center, Staunton VA. Not Buffalo, but I think it’s a road trip for this one. Terry Teachout gave it a very nice notice, and I would like to touch base with all those people again. (Side note – I’ve gained a great deal of respect for Terry since he’s the only NY critic I am aware of who has actually thought to venture outside NYC and see theatre in the regions. I may even have to subscribe to the WSJ just to read his other reviews)

Two theatres I’m interested in do not appear to have any publicity yet for fall show. Ujima Theatre, which is Western NY’s only African-American theatre, has no season yet (I hope in the year I was away they have not folded), and I am curious as to what Torn Space will do next. Their experimental multimedia show Terminus at the abanoned Buffalo Terminal Building got very good notices, and they want to produce more multimedia work.

Finally, I would like to make an offer to any of my fellow bloggers who mentioned that they cannot afford the price of a ticket to see a show. I’m willing to fund half the price of any one show you want to see which you believe you cannot afford. I will set aside a total of $200 for this “blogger subsidy.” All you need do is email me, and we can make arrangements for payment. All of you are doing pretty cool work and writing pretty cool stuff, and I’d be honored to have the opportunity to help get you out there to see what you need to see. -twl