Lauren Worsham – Lilli Cooper

On May 26 at 8pm ET, cast members of 2016’s Lortel-nominated show “The Wildness” will reunite for a virtual reimagining of the production as part of Ars Nova’s Supra series. This one-night-only concert event features members of the theatrical indie-pop band Sky-Pony, including Tony nominees Lauren Worsham, Lilli Cooper and Kyle Jarrow alongside David Blasher, Jeff Fernandes, Lindsey Ford, Sharone Sayegh, Jamie Mohamdein and Kevin Wunderlich. Tickets are only $10, available in advance at https://arsnovanyc.com/The-Virtual-Wildness.

Christine Toy Johnson

Abingdon Theatre Company (Chad Austin, Artistic Director) has announced three new Artists in Residence for their upcoming 29th Season beginning in the fall. Christine Toy Johnson, Ilda Mason and Matthew McLachlan are set to be the next participants in the Carolyn Halpert Artist in Residence Program which began in 2017.

Abingdon will present a short film of Christine Toy Johnson’s piece, “Empress Mei Li Lotus Blossom” followed by a talk back with the writer and cast, moderated by Reggie Lee on May 25th at 7pm ET. This event is free. This piece is being screened in May to Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. www.abingdontheatre.org

Dixon Place presents NEW MONY! by Maria Camia as part of its Spring 2021 Production Season of puppetry commissions, performed live May 19-22, 2021 at 7:30pm EDT with video on demand (VOD) streaming available from May 25 through June 1, 2021. In-person performances will take place at 161A Chrystie Street, New York, NY. Tickets are $10-$35 and can be purchased online here. (dixonplace.org/productions-2021/). 

Two-time Tony Award® winner Patti LuPone released a video message to theater fans around the globe, on behalf of the Broadway community. The video is available for download with permission granted HERE.

LuPone will return to New York this year in her 27th Broadway engagement with the visionary, award-winning new production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s landmark American musical, Company, directed by two-time Tony Award® winner Marianne Elliott, and starring Tony and Grammy Award® winner Katrina Lenk as Bobbie. www.companymusical.com

This summer Japan Society offers an unconventional presentation of psychiatrist-turned-director/playwright Kuro Tanino’s The Dark Master, defined “part fable, part dream play,” (The Australian).  Inspired by an indie manga, this immersive and humorously dark experimental theater piece engages the audience with sights, sounds and smells.  Through Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, headphones, and live on-stage cooking, the piece positions each audience member in “first person perspective” as the play’s protagonist, an unassuming patron of a Japanese diner. Performed by Tanino’s experimental theater company Niwa Gekidan Penino, the story depicts the strange, symbiotic relationship that develops between the customer and the restaurant’s owner-chef simply called the “Master.”  Borrowing the dramaturgy of first-person video games, the audience experiences first-hand how the Master’s all-consuming persona highjacks the identity of his victims in a novel production that collapses the border between reality and illusion.  

This in-person theater event, performed for just 10 audience members at a time, will have 16 performancesJune 23 through June 27 at Japan Society’s auditorium (333 East 47th Street).  Originally performed in Japanese and then dubbed in English for this accompanying audio.  Running time: 45 minutes.  This program is for audiences 18 years and older due to mature content (depiction of sex act and suggested nudity). www.japansociety.org