STAGEFRIGHT by JAVIER
The late Kathleen Betsko, a lifelong advocate for women playwrights, would be thrilled to know that two local women are having their plays produced on local stages. Donna Hoke’s Brilliant Works of Art is playing its final week at Alleyway’s Cabaret, Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 3:00 & 7:30. Presented by Bellissima Productions the show is directed by Sabrina Kahwaty, starring Zoe Goñez, Greg Howze, and Johnny Barden. It is, what should I say? Titillating? Provocative? Gripping? Intense? Layered? Go see it!
Bella Poynton’s uplifting and thought-provoking play, The Mighty Maisie is now on stage at American Repertory Theatre of WNY through February 22nd, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 Saturdays at 5. Directed by Kelli Bocock-Natale, the production stars Marie Costa, Mariangela Mercurio, Maryann Seufert, Andrew Zuccari, Emily Yancey, and Anthony Grande. Following the performance on closing night, February 22nd, there will be a Mardi Gras Celebration including jambalaya, gumbo, rice & beans paired with good cheer and live music. Tickets are $35 (plus $4.19 fees) and they include admission to the play, food, and two drink tickets per person. Go to artofwny.org. I have lost count of how many plays Hoke and Poynton have written. Over twenty each?
Kathleen Betsko was one of the founders of the International Women Playwrights Conference, and her book Conversations With Contemporary Women Playwrights was a seminal work, inspiring countless successors. The first International Women Playwrights Conference was in Buffalo, and it was a wonderful time. Playwrights came from all over the world. Even the now gone Studio Arena got into the game and presented the play Men Should Weep by Ena Lamont Stewart. Many years later, after conferences all over the world, there was a conference in Sweden. The trip was beyond Kathleen’s means, but BUA, which had staged a successful production of her play, Johnny Bull, organized a fund raiser, beginning with calls to all the theater companies where Kathleen had worked asking for contributing of $100 to get us started. Everyone agreed immediately. (Well, except one, but that story will require a drink at Matinee). Then, BUA presented a reading of Betsko’s play, Stitchers and Starlight Talkers. The evening, starring Sabrina Kawahty and David Hayes was a huge success. Kathleen was able to fly to Stockholm, representing Buffalo, with hotel, meals, and incidental expenses all paid for. Stories like that make me so proud to be part of this community.
So, speaking of women playwrights, the Irish Classical Theatre Company (ICTC) is presenting the North American Premiere of Irish playwright Erica Murray’s play, The Loved Ones, following its successful debut at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2023. Directed by Kyle LoConti, the production stars Eileen Dugan, Ember Tate-Steele, Smirna Mercedes, and Rebecca Elkin. The production runs February 14 - March 2. Murray will be visiting Buffalo from March 2nd to March 4th, thanks to a partnership between ICTC and the Canisius University Hassett Family Endowment and the Creative Writing Program. Let’s hope they can talk her into staying over for St. Patrick Day’s Parade! Buffalo does it with far more enthusiasm than Dublin. Éirinn go Brách!
February is looking like Curtain Up! all over again, with so many shows opening, it is almost impossible to keep up. Second Generation Theatre (2nd Gen) presents The Niceties, a play by Eleanor Burgess directed by Gabriella Jean McKinley, starring Anika Pace and Pamela Rose Mangus. It is “a bristling, provocative debate play about race and privilege in the United States.” The production runs February 14th – March 2nd at Shea’s Smith Theatre. There will be post-show talkbacks with the director, cast and guest panelists on February 16th, 20th, 27th, and March 2nd. And save the date! 2nd Gen’s fundraiser, Broadway Bucket List 2025 will take place on Sunday, March 23rd.
The Alleyway Theatre also has an opening on February 14th. Winner of the Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition, Black Bear Island a psychological thriller by Karissa Murrell Myers which was also a finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Directed by Dan Lendzian, the production stars Gabrielle Nunzio, Russell C. Holt, Kira Whitehead, Kathleen Rooney, Alejandra Sutherland, Connor Raposa, Ayden Herreid, and Jared Eichel (several Fredonia alumni in there, where Lendzian is a professor). The play runs through March 8th.
2nd Gen, ICTC and the Alleyway are partnering in the Main Street Triple Play Theatre Challenge. To enter, simply go see The Niceties (2nd Gen), Black Bear Island (Alleyway), and The Loved Ones (ICTC), snap a photo of yourself at the theatre! Post on social, and tag all three companies with the hashtag #MainStreetTriplePlay to win a prize from each theatre on your next visit! They don’t’ say what the prize is, but all those theaters have bars.
And there’s still next week! Musicalfare opens the fabulous Pulitzer Prize winning musical Next to Normal, February 19th-March 16th, directed by Randall Kramer, choreographed by Michael Oliver-Walline, and music direction by Theresa Quinn. The production stars Quinn Christopher McGillion, Victoria Pérez, Marc Sacco, Aaron Gabriel Saldana, Darryl Semira and Penelope Sergi.
Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) is also opening a show next week, running February 20th- March 23rd, Our Lady of 121st Street, by Stephen Adly Guirgis, co-directed by Scott Behrend & Mike Doben. They have a stellar cast (how can every company now get a stellar cast?)
starring Dave Mitchell, Johnny Rowe, Peter Johnson, Peter Palmisano, Xavier Harris, Bobby Cooke, Davida Evette Tolbert, Melinda Capeles, Alejandro Gabriel Gómez, Dan Torres, Jenn Stafford and Eve Everette
You may recall that Guirgis wrote a play for our own Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy, which opened off Broadway and then was transferred to Broadway, earning Henderson his second Tony Award nomination and a Pulitzer Prize for Guirgis. Word has it that Guirgis will be in town to check out the production and visit pal Henderson.
By the way, RLTP will open next season with a co-production with Shakespeare in Delaware Park, celebrating their 50th anniversary, The Book of Will by Lauren Gunderson, directed by John Hurley. The company’s season will also include a new adaptation of Uncle Vanya by Annie Baker, Exit Strategy by Ike Holter, and Ghost Brothers of Darkland Country, a musical by Stephen King and John Mellencamp, to be directed by Doug Weyand.
Up next for Ujima, Goodnight, Tyler, a play by B.J. Tindal, directed by Curtis Lovell. The play is a humorous drama exploring grief, memory, and the power struggle over a person’s legacy. On stage at the Lorna C. Hill Theater, February 28th-March 16th, starring Cordell Hopkins, Daniel Bills-Warman, Julia Pitarresi, Zachary Bellus, Janae Leonard & Karen Saxon.
So Ujima will no longer be involved in the production of Dreamgirls to be staged at Shea’s 710 Main for Curtain Up!. It appears that Shea’s will now be the sole producer of the show, directed by Naila Ansari Carbonell Catilo, with music direction by Karen Saxon. Ujima will instead be presenting the classical Godspell at their place on Plymouth Avenue.
Desiderio’s Dinner Theater is opening Sean Grennan’s romantic comedy/drama Now and Then, on February 20th. Directed by Jay Desiderio, the production will star Lisa Hinca, Sarah Emmerling, Steve Jakiel, and Andrew Salamone.
And then there’s Cats. Starring Buffalo presents the Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic, February 27th – March 1st at Shea’s 710, starring Broadway veterans Alyssa Fox, Major Attaway, and Ashlyn Fenn. They will be joined by local favorites Charmagne Chi, Anne DeFazio, David P. Eve, Alex Garcia, Jetaun Louie, Vinny Murphy, Maria Pedro, and Dan Urtz, alongside the company’s Community Chorus and regional dancers.
Talk about perfect casting, Tarzan the Disney musical opens at the Palace Theatre in Lockport for a run March 6th – 16th. Sean Ryan is playing Tarzan, Jenny McCabe is playing Jane. Xavier DesChamps is playing young Tarzan. Ryan informs me that he is on a strict diet until the opening. For tickets see: www.lockportpalacetheatre.org
For us Melissa Manchester fans, she was originally cast in the touring production of Funny Girl, as Mrs. Brice. When the tour came to Buffalo, Ms. Manchester had been injured and was out of the show for a couple of months. Now, she’s baaaack, and she is close by. She will be in Rochester, April 8th-13th at the West Herr Auditorium Theatre (West Herr is everywhere, right?).
