Theater performances to feed your inner thespian this October
A year ago in my Fall Preview, I lamented the theater community's financial woes and loss of venues woes. But, as Annie tells us, the sun'll come out tomorrow, and so it has.
According to Goldman
Act II Playhouse, through Oct. 4
Bruce Graham, Philly's major playwright, has two shows here this fall (following the summer run of his Stella and Lou). This one is about a screenwriter who hates Hollywood, starring Tony Braithwaite.
act2.org, 215-654-0200
All My Sons
People's Light, through Oct. 4
Arthur Miller's iconic play about greed and war turns out to be, sadly, always relevant. This production features an African American cast.
peopleslight.org, 610-644-3500
Photograph 51
Lantern Theater, through Oct. 11
In Anna Ziegler's play, DNA discoveries in mid-20th-century London are complicated by a woman's breakthrough in a sexist world of high-stakes science and cutthroat ambition.
lanterntheater.org, 215-829-0395
Baby Doll
McCarter Theatre, through Oct. 11
Hot times in the Mississippi Delta. Tennessee Williams wrote the screenplay for the movie that shocked the 1950s. Adapted for the stage by Pierre Laville and Emily Mann, who also directs.
mccarter.org, 609-258-5050
Antigone
Wilma Theater, Oct. 7-Nov. 8
Remember Attis Theatre of Greece's high-testosterone Ajax: The Madness two Fringes ago? Now the company brings its thrilling acting techniques to bear on Sophocles' great tragedy, featuring actors from both Athens and Philadelphia, including the controversial Jennifer Kidwell in the title role.
wilmatheater.org, 215-546-7824
The Children's Hour
EgoPo Classic Theatre, Oct. 7-25
Lillian Hellman's powerful drama about two teachers accused of a lesbian relationship, should be hopelessly dated by now, but, regrettably, is not.
egopo.org, 267-273-1414
Hooked!
Inis Nua Theatre Company, Oct. 7-25
The American premiere of a dark Irish comedy that promises to keep us "cringing and laughing."
InisNuaTheatre.org or 215-454-9776
Disgraced
Philadelphia Theatre Company, Oct. 9-Nov. 11
I was knocked out by Ayad Akhtar's terrific and troubling play in New York; others were too - it won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize after Off-Broadway and Broadway runs.
philadelphiatheatrecompany.org, 215-985-0420
The Mandrake
Quintessence Theatre Group, Oct. 14-Nov. 8
Machiavelli, the conniving mind that gave us "The Prince" and the resulting adjective "Machiavellian," wrote this comedy (!) about living (literally) at the pleasure of the powerful Medicis in 16th-century Florence.
Equivocation
Arden Theatre Company, Oct. 15-Dec. 6
Terrific playwright Bill Cain imagines Shakespeare between that rock and the hard place of a royal commission: Write a true and treasonous play or write a king-pleasing, fraudulent one.
ardentheatre.org, 215-922-1122
Rizzo
Theatre Exile, Oct. 15-Nov. 8
More Bruce Graham - and this is a new one. Here he dramatizes Philly's most controversial top cop, the larger- than-life Frank Rizzo, as he prepares for his 1991 mayoral campaign.
theatreexile.org, 215-218-4022
Animal Farm
Luna Theatre, Oct. 17-Nov. 7
An all-female cast of creatures (some more equal than others) in this stage adaptation of George Orwell's famous political allegory.
lunatheatre.org
Grounded
InterAct Theatre Company, Oct. 23-Nov. 13
A pregnant ace fighter pilot juggles drones and family in this award-winning British drama.
interacttheatre.org, 215-568-8079
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