urban excavations

[featured image caption: Times Square. Screen capture from opening sequence of Babes on Broadway (1941).]

Public performances in calendar year 2016, live or filmed, were many and thrilling. I viewed new talents and old familiars in large venues and intimate spaces. I wasn’t always thrilled with what I experienced, but I learned from each performance or screening, and always appreciate the talent and effort behind each creation. My rough count of live theatrical performances seen in calendar year 2016 is 192 — excluding screening and readings, including some repeat visits.

January

• (1/2) These Paper Bullets (Atlantic Theater Company | Linda Gross)
• (1/3) The Humans (Roundabout | Laura Pels)
• (1/3) Marilyn Maye: Marilyn By Request (Metropolitan Room)
• (1/7) Kiss Me Kate (54 Below)
• (1/8) Key Change (Fourth Street)
• (1/14) Now I’m Fine (Under The Radar | Public)
• (1/14) Samedi Detente (Under The Radar | Public)
• (1/14) Key Change (Fourth Street)
• (1/16) Picasso Sculptures (MOMA)
• (1/17) Yo Miss! (Nuyorican Poets Cafe)
• (1/18) Lazarus (New York Theatre Workshop)
• (1/19) China Doll (Gerald Schoenfeld)
• (1/20) Necessary Exposure Women in Theatre (Dixon Place, panel)
• (1/22) I and You (59E59)
• (1/23) Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Actors Studio, cancelled due to snow storm)
• (1/26) Left Luggage (Walter Reade, screening)
• (1/27) King Charles III (Music Box)
• (1/28) The Humans (Helen Hayes)
• (1/30) Sense &  Sensibility (Bedlam | Gym at Judson)
• (1/31) Women Without Men (Mint | New York City Center)

February

• (2/6) The Woodsman (Strangeman & Company | New World Stages)
• (2/11) O, Earth (HERE)
• (2/12) Noises Off (Roundabout | American Airlines)
• (2/14) Buried Child (New Group | Signature)
• (2/19) Women Without Men (Mint | New York City Center)
• (2/21) The Body of an American (Primary Stages | Cherry Lane)
• (2/21) Her Requiem (Lincoln Center | Tow)
• (2/22) Blackbird (Belasco)
• (2/23) Pericles (Theatre for a New Audience, Brooklyn)
• (2/24) Angel Reapers (Signature | Linney) (return to work first viewed December 2011)
• (2/25) The Wildness (Ars Nova)
• (2/27) Southern Comfort (Public | Anspacher)
• (2/28) Our Mother’s Brief Affair (Friedman)
• (2/29) LPTW Networking Panel: Unsung Heroes Backstage Professionals (Theaterlab)

March

• (3/5) Boy (Keen | Clurman Theatre Row)
• (3/5) The Way West (LAByrinth)
• (3/7) Harvardwood Presents William Madison on Madeline Kahn (Lambs)
• (3/8) History of the World in 100 Performances: Garland at Carnegie Hall (Rubenstein Atrium Lincoln Center)
• (3/15) The Effect (Barrow Street)
• (3/16) Hughie (Booth)
• (3/17) Hungry (Public | LuEsther Hall)
• (3/18) King and I (Lincoln Center | Beaumont)
• (3/20) YOUARENOWHERE (3LD Art & Technology Center)
• (3/23) Stupid Fu**ing Bird (Pearl)
• (3/23) Bright Star (Cort)
• (3/24) The Shipment with Young Jean Lee and Christian Parker (screening, Columbia Pulitzer Hall)
• (3/26) Red Speedo (New York Theatre Workshop)
• (3/27) Teenage Dick (Public | Shiva)
• (3/29) House Rules (Ma-Yi | HERE)
• (3/30) Cleopatra (Theater for a New City)
• (3/31) Head of Passes (Public | Newman)

April

• (4/1) Six Characters in Search of an Author (La MaMa, Ellen Stewart)
• (4/6) Two Trains Running (Arden, Philadelphia)
• (4/7) Peter and the Starcatcher (Walnut, Philadelphia)
• (4/8) The Nether (InterAct | Drake, Philadelphia)
• (4/9) An Octoroon (Wilma, Philadelphia)
• (4/10) Sex With Strangers (Philadelphia Theatre Company)
• (4/14) Exit Strategy (Primary Stages | Cherry Lane)
• (4/15) Tuck Everlasting (Broadhurst)
• (4/16) The Rug Dealer (WP Pipeline Festival | McGinn/Cazale)
• (4/17) Ironbound (Rattlestick + Women’s Project | Rattlestick)
• (4/22) A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing (Baryshnikov Arts Center)
• (4/24) Toast (Brits Off Broadway | 59E59 A)
• (4/26) Daphne’s Dive (Signature | Linney)
• (4/28) Conversations on Broadway: She Loves Me (Richie Rich | the New School Auditorium)
• (4/28) Butterfly (Brits Off Broadway | 59E59 C)
• (4/30) First Born (Actors Studio)

May

• (5/1) New York Madness: Guest Migdalia Cruz (Cherry Lane)
• (5/2) LPTW 2016 Awards Celebration and Big Mingle (Signature)
• (5/3) Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (Soho Rep)
• (5/4) Murrow (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble | The Wild Project)
• (5/5) On Your Feet (Marriott Marquis)
• (5/6) All The Days (McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton)
• (5/7) The Pelican (Fourth Street)
• (5/7) Ugly Little Sister (Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute)
• (5/11) Drama Desk Nominee Reception (Marriott Marquis)
• (5/11) Peer Gynt (Classic Stage Company)
• (5/12) Gorey: The Secret Lives of Edward Gorey (Life Jacket Theatre Company | HERE)
• (5/15) Letters to Sala (Museum of Jewish Heritage)
• (5/17) James Gavin: This Is Your Night (Metropolitan Room)
• (5/18) A Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Roundabout | American Airlines)
• (5/18) Love & Friendship (screening, DGA New York Theater)
• (5/21) The Father (Theatre for a New Audience, Brooklyn)
• (5/23) The Lily Awards (Signature)
• (5/24) Dramaturgs in Conversation: Mark Bly and Heather Helinsky (LMDA | New Amsterdam, Disney Theatrical Offices)
• (5/25) Indecent (Vineyard)
• (5/26) Visiting Hours (reading, Torn Page)
• (5/28) You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown (York)
• (5/28) A Doll’s House (Theatre for a New Audience, Brooklyn)
• (5/29) Skeleton Crew (Atlantic Theater Company | Linda Gross)
• (5/31) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York (MCC | Lortel)

June

• (6/1) Eclipsed (Golden)
• (6/3) Get Happy! Judy Garland 1944-’54 (Joan Ellison | 54 Below)
• (6/4) Confusions (Brits Off Broadway | 59E59 A)
• (6/4) Hero’s Welcome (Brits Off Broadway | 59E59 A)
• (6/5) Fun Home (Circle in the Square)
• (6/5) 61st Annual Drama Desk Awards (live stream)
• (6/6) 6th Annual Night of a Thousand Judys (Merkin Concert Hall, Kaufman Center)
• (6/7) Then Silence (Lion | Theatre Row)
• (6/9) From Off-Broadway to Blockbusters – Albert Poland (Harvardwood | Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
• (6/10) Charles Busch (54 Below)
• (6/11) The Crucible (Walter Kerr)
• (6/12) The Father (Samuel J. Friedman)
• (6/13) The Assignment (reading, Houses on the Moon | Soho Playhouse)
• (6/14) Signature Plays (Signature | Griffin)
• (6/15) O’Neill (Unexpected) (Metropolitan Playhouse)
• (6/16) Spare Rib: A Fundraising Celebration (New York Society for Ethical Culture)
• (6/18) Out of the Mouth of Babes (Cherry Lane)
• (6/20) Sibyl Kempson 2016 Summer Solstice (Whitney Museum of American Art)
• (6/21) On the Verge (Attic | Walkerspace)
• (6/22) Lorna Luft (54 Below)
• (6/23) The Healing (Clurman | Theatre Row)
• (6/24) Times Talks: Orange is the New Black (Times Center)
• (6/24) Miss VodKa Singer (Feinstein’s 54 Below)
• (6/25) God of Vengeance (The Festival of New Jewish Theater | 14th Street Y)
• (6/26) I Remember Mama (Two River Theater, Red Bank, NJ)
• (6/27) LPTW: Carmen de Lavallade (Bruno Walter Auditorium NYPL)
• (6/30) Tumacho (Clubbed Thumb | The Wild Project)

July

• (7/2) Shuffle Along (Music Box)
• (7/3) Taylor Mac: Selections from A 24-Hour Decade History of Popular Music (Joe’s Pub)
• (7/4) The Radio City Spectacular (Radio City Music Hall)
• (7/6) She Loves Me (Roundabout | Studio 54)
• (7/7) Simon Says (Lynn Redgrave )
• (7/8) Red Emma (reading, The Paradise Factory)
• (7/8) Gideon (reading, The Paradise Factory)
• (7/9) Runaways (Encores! Off-Center | City Center)
• (7/10) Good (Atlantic Theater Company | Stage 2)
• (7/10) No End of Blame (Atlantic Theater Company | Stage 2)
• (7/11) The Golden Bride (National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene | Museum of Jewish Heritage)
• (7/13) Tallulah (screening, Dolby 88)
• (7/14) Poor Edward (PlayPenn 1st read, Philadelphia)
• (7/14) Mike Daisey: The Trump Card (FringeArts, Philadelphia)
• (7/15) A Class Act (New World Stages)
• (7/17) 54 Sings The Pajama Game (Feinstein’s / 54 Below)
• (7/20) She She She (New Ohio)
• (7/21) Vivian Reed (Metropolitan Room)
• (7/23) A Scythe of Time (NYMF | June Havoc)
• (7/23) Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova | Signature)
• (7/24) A Class Act (New World Stages)
• (7/24) 54 Sings Hair (Feinstein’s / 54 Below)
• (7/26) Marilyn in  Fragments (Laurie Beechman)
• (7/27) Junie B.’s Essential Survival Guide to School (TheatreWorks | Lucille Lortel)
• (7/28) Freedom Riders (NYMF | June Havoc)
• (7/28) Summer Shorts Series A (59E59 B)

August

• (8/4) Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare in the Park)
• (8/5) Amy Leon: Impossible to Love (Joe’s Pub)
• (8/6) Divaholic (Midtown Festival | Jewel Box)
• (8/7) Alice in Black and White (59E59 C)
• (8/10) Presenter, Panel on Women in Chicago Theatre (Women and Theatre Program ATHE)
• (8/14) Summer Shorts Series B (59E59 B)
• (8/18) At the Flash (New York Fringe Festival | Under St. Mark’s)
• (8/19) Two for the Show (Metropolitan Room)
• (8/21) #Blessed (New York Fringe Festival | SEA)
• (8/23) A Day by the Sea (Mint | Beckett)
• (8/27) The Actress (Hudson Guild Theatre)
• (8/28) Mike Daisey: The Trump Card (Joe’s Pub)
• (8/30) The Trojan Women (The Flea)

September

• (9/2) The Humans (Schoenfeld)
• (9/3) Marie and Rosetta (ATC | Linda Gross Theater)
• (9/5) Natalie Douglas (Birdland)
• (9/6) Edwin (Theatre at St. Clement’s)
• (9/8) The Layover (Second Stage | Tony Kiser)
• (9/9) Blossom (Dixon Place)
• (9/10) Lady Liberty Festival (Urban Stages)
• (9/11) What Did You Expect? (Public | LuEsther Hall)
• (9/12) Julie Halston (Birdland)
• (9/13) The Birds (59E59 C)
• (9/14) LPTW Season Launch (The Players)
• (9/15) The Three Sisters Bronte, Arlene Hutton work in progress (reading, New Dramatists)
• (9/17) the Black Crook (Abrons Art Center)
• (9/20) Janet McTeer and Liev Schreiber (Merkin Concert Hall)
• (9/24) A Scandal at the Table (Hell Phone, Brooklyn)
• (9/25) Safe (14th Street Y)
• (9/27) Taylor Mac Act VI: 1926-1956 (St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn)
• (9/28) Nat Turner in Jerusalem (New York Theatre Workshop)
• (9/29) The Wolves (Playwrights Realm | Duke on 42nd)

October

• (10/1) Holiday Inn (Studio 54)
• (10/1) All the Ways to Say I Love You (MCC | Lucille Lortel)
• (10/4) A Taste of Honey (Pearl)
• (10/6) Communion (Urban Stages)
• (10/7) The Clearing (59E59)
• (10/8) Stuffed (WP | McGinn-Cazale)
• (10/8) The Maids (Intar)
• (10/9) Career Suicide (Lynn Redgrave)
• (10/10) Joan Benny on Jack Benny (Harvardwood | The Lambs)
• (10/11) Orwell in America (59E59)
• (10/12) Inner Voices (TBG)
• (10/13) She Stoops to Conquer (TACT | Theatre Row)
• (10/14) The Musical World of Lerner and Loewe (Carnegie Hall)
• (10/15) Tick Tick Boom (Keen | Theatre Row)
• (10/15) Public Enemy (Pearl)
• (10/16) The Roads to Home (Primary Stages | Cherry Lane)
• (10/18) Lainie Kazan (Iridium)
• (10/20) The Cherry Orchard (Roundabout | American Airlines)
• (10/22) The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui (Phoenix | Wild Project)
• (10/22) Plenty (Public | Newman)
• (10/23) Oh, Hello (Lyceum)
• (10/23) One Flea Spare (Playhouse Creatures | Sheen Center)
• (10/24) Samo Isn’t Dead (Cesi Davidson @ Cheri, Harlem)
• (10/25) Love, Love, Love (Roundabout | Laura Pels)
• (10/26) Afterplay (Irish Repertory)
• (10/26) Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova)
• (10/27) Duat (Soho Rep | Connelly)
• (10/28) Something Rotten (St. James)
• (10/29) Vietgone (MTC | New York City Center)
• (10/29) The Encounter (Golden)
• (10/30) Heisenberg (MTC | Friedman)
• (10/30) The Collector (59E59 C)
• (10/31) Sagittarius Ponderosa (NAATCO | 3LD)

November

• (11/1) Yale Drama Series 10th Annual Award Event (Lincoln Center | Claire Tow)
• (11/2) Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Booth)
• (11/3) Falsettos (Walter Kerr)
• (11/4) Ajax + Squash (Flea)
• (11/5) Coriolanus (Barrow Street)
• (11/5) Corinna Sowers Adler (Jazz at Lincoln Center | Appel Room)
• (11/6) Zora Neale Hurston (New Federal | Castillo)
• (11/6) Don’t You F**king Say a Word (59E59)
• (11/9) Master Harold and the Boys (Signature | Diamond)
• (11/9) Among the Dead (Ma-Yi | HERE)
• (11/11) Homos, or Everyone in America (LAByrinth )
• (11/12) Sweat (Public | Martinson)
• (11/12) Women of a Certain Age (Public | LuEsther)
• (11/13) Othello The Remix (Westside | Downstairs)
• (11/13) The Servant of Two Masters (Theatre for a New Audience, Brooklyn)
• (11/14) My Name is Gideon (All For One | Rattlestick)
• (11/15) Terms of Endearment (59E59 A)
• (11/16) The Death of the Last Black Man in America (Signature | Griffin)
• (11/18) A Life (Playwrights Horizons)
• (11/19) Ultimate Beauty Bible (New Ohio)
• (11/19) Man in Snow (La MaMa)
• (11/20) After Orlando (reading 2 of 4) (DR2)
• (11/22) The Front Page (Broadhurst)
• (11/23) Finian’s Rainbow (Irish Rep)
• (11/25) That Golden Girls Show! (DR2)
• (11/25) Notes from the Field (Second Stage)
• (11/26) The City that Cried Wolf (59E59 | C)
• (11/26) Sweet Charity (Signature | Linney)
• (11/27) Party People (Public | Anspacher)
• (11/27) A Taste of Things to Come (York)
• (11/30) The Portal (Minetta Lane)

December

• (12/1) Tiny Beautiful Things (Public | Shiva)
• (12/2) The Wolves (Duke on 42nd)
• (12/3) The Outer Space (Ethan Lipton & his Orchestra) (Kimmel Center | SEI Innovation Studio, Philadelphia)
• (12/4) Elements of Oz (Builders Association | 3LD)
• (12/6) This Day Forward (Vineyard)
• (12/7) A Bronx Tale (Longacre)
• (12/8) Town Hall (Caridad Svich reading | Ensemble Studio Theatre)
• (12/8) The Babylon Line (Lincoln Center | Newhouse)
• (12/9) The Band’s Visit (ATC | Linda Gross)
• (12/10) Alligator (New Georges + Sol Project | A.R.T./New York)
• (12/10) Ride the Cyclone (MCC | Lucille Lortel)
• (12/11) Sondheim Unplugged (54 Below)
• (12/15) In Transit (Circle in the Square)
• (12/17) Othello (New York Theatre Workshop)
• (12/17) Rancho Viejo (Playwrights Horizons)
• (12/18) Life is for Living (59E59 | C)
• (12/19) Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Imperial)
• (12/22) It’s a Wonderful Life (screening, IFC Center)
• (12/23) God of Vengeance (New Yiddish Rep | La MaMa)
• (12/24) Jackie (screening, AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13)
• (12/26) Bold Colors and Bold Patterns (Barrow Street)
• (12/30) 20th Century Women (screening, AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13)
• (12/31) Manifesto (Julian Rosenfeldt/Cate Blanchett video exhibit, Park Avenue Armory)
• (12/31) Hidden Figures (screening, AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13)

© Martha Wade Steketee (December 29, 2016)