Kick off the year with captivating new releases that inspire, challenge, and entertain! January’s lineup has something for every reader. Don’t miss the chance to discover your next favorite story!
A Guide for the Homesick by
Photo by Russ Rowland, 2024 Off-Broadway production
On his way home after a year in East Africa, a young aid worker goes back to a shabby Amsterdam hotel room with a fellow American. Over beers, the two strangers confess their shared fear that they betrayed the friends who needed them most.
Conscience by
Photo by T. Charles Erickson, 2020 George Street Playhouse production
Margaret Chase Smith was a woman of firsts: In 1940, she was the first woman elected by the state of Maine to serve in Congress; nine years later she was the first woman the state elected to the Senate. And in 1950, she became the first senator to stand on the Senate floor and publicly rebuke Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who rose to power using post–World War II anti-Communist hysteria and ruined the lives of those who opposed him. Margaret Chase Smith’s “Declaration of Conscience” speech was a public act of defiance at a time when both Democrats and Republicans were cowed into silence for fear of retribution. It came at a cost: She was shunned by her colleagues, challenged in a primary, and McCarthy threatened to expose her personal secrets. Conscience is the story of a remarkable woman who stood up for what was right and refused to back down.
Eight Nights by
2019 Antaeus Theatre production
Eight Nights follows Holocaust survivor Rebecca Blum and her family as they grow and evolve as Americans over the course of eight decades. In their Lower East Side apartment, Rebecca, her father, future husband, daughter, and more, celebrate each night of Chanukah, the festival of lights. They discuss marriage, friendship, parenthood, immigration, and especially, memory. With each passing year, Rebecca’s continued perseverance inspires her family, ensuring her legacy stretches well beyond the walls of her apartment.
Theo by
After a fraught exodus almost a decade ago, Theo returns to his hometown in the Catskills, only to learn the health of his mother, Margaret, is deteriorating. What was supposed to be a quick reconciliation balloons into an extended stay, pulling Theo back into the orbits of people he hasn’t seen in years: his sister, Beth, a single mom who resents him for making her take care of their aging mother alone; Beth’s transgender child, Maddy, who desperately wants to be seen for who she really is; and Abe, Margaret’s nurse and a former classmate of Theo’s, who is dealing with his own ghosts. As they help Margaret through the last phase of her life, they’re forced to lean on each other and to reveal parts of themselves they would much rather stay hidden. A tender, heartwarming play about family, forgiveness, and the importance of being present in one’s own life.
Hollywood, Nebraska by
2022 Oak Ridge Playhouse production
Two fortysomething actresses have returned to their once-thriving hometown in rural Nebraska. Jane is coming from Los Angeles to check on her ailing mom, Alma. Andrea’s back from New York City to bury her father. Distracted by two charismatic local men—a handsome widower and a rough-and-ready laborer—the old friends navigate complicated feelings about their careers, love, and loss, leading to an overdue showdown between Jane and her mother. Hollywood, Nebraska is a hope-filled, tears-and-laughter comedy about small towns and big dreams, parents and children, the urge to be creative, and the ache—and joy—of coming home.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (Ensemble Version) by
Photo by Joan Marcus, 2022 Off-Broadway production
Acclaimed as “an American masterpiece” (Newsweek), Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 is a stunning work of “documentary theatre” in which Anna Deavere Smith uses the verbatim words of people who experienced the Los Angeles riots to expose and explore the devastating human impact of that event. From nine months of interviews with more than two hundred people, Smith has chosen the voices that best reflect the diversity and tension of a city in turmoil: a disabled Korean man, a white male Hollywood talent agent, a Panamanian immigrant mother, a teenage Black gang member, a macho Mexican-American artist, Rodney King’s aunt, beaten truck driver Reginald Denny, former Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates, and other witnesses, participants, and victims. A work that goes directly to the heart of the issues of race and class, Twilight ruthlessly probes the language and the lives of its subjects, offering stark insight into the complex and pressing social, economic, and political issues that fueled the flames in the wake of the Rodney King verdict.
Hearts Like Planets by
Photo by Isaiah Tanenbaum, 2012 Secret Theater production
Now that the evil Doctor X is in jail, the members of the New Crimefighters have settled into something like normalcy. In fact, superhero Magpie is on a date with roving reporter Henry Hardnose when a giant rock almost as big as the moon begins to hurtle toward Earth. With the world on the brink of destruction, our heroes and villains make big life and love choices. Dr. X leads a prison break. The New Crimefighters fight to restore order and save the world. And Harry Hardnose, ace reporter, tries to record it all.
A companion play to Hearts Like Fists.
This Much I Know by
Photo by Ryan Maxwell, 2024 Theater J production
Lukesh is a professor who knows exactly how humans operate. He literally teaches the subject. But when the son of a white supremacist asks Lukesh to sponsor his thesis, and more personally, when his wife Natalya ups and leaves for Russia, Lukesh struggles to make sense of everything with his typical black-and-white understanding of the human brain. He is faced with an ultimatum: think about life in a new light, or sink. Jumping back and forth through time, This Much I Know weaves in stories of Svetlana Alliluyeva—Stalin’s daughter—who has become disillusioned with her father’s ideas and considers defecting to the United States. Her story mirrors the story of Lukesh, Natalya, and his student Harold; their parallel journeys explore how a person changes their mind, if we are responsible for things we cannot control, and after it all, if something that was once submerged can still float.
