Black Trans Women at the Center- Poly Pockets

Grantors

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Sponsors

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Donors

Tributes

Performers

Elisawon Etidorhpa

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Gigi

Samy Figaredo

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Benicio

Rocheny Princien

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Darla

Setting

Songs & Scenes

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Production Staff

Curated by

Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi

Project Managed by

Joey Reyes

National Partners

About Face Theatre, National Queer Theater, and Portland Center Stage

Venue Staff

School Administration Staff

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Musicians

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Board Members

Student Advisory Board

Credits

Lighting equipment from PRG Lighting, sound equipment from Sound Associates, rehearsed at The Public Theater’s Rehearsal Studios. Developed as part of Irons in the Fire at Fault Line Theatre in New York City.

Special Thanks

ASL Interpretation provided by Pro Bono ASL.

Post-show discussion moderators: Imara Jones and Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi

Black Trans Women At The Center lovingly remembers beloved community member and legend Bubbles. Thank you for all you have done. May you rest well Diva.

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

“Actors’ Equity Association (“Equity”), founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 actors and stage managers, Equity fosters the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actors’ Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an International organization of performing arts unions. www.actorsequity.org

United Scenic Artists ● Local USA 829 of the I.A.T.S.E represents the Designers & Scenic Artists for the American Theatre

ATPAM, the Association of Theatrical Press Agents & Managers (IATSE Local 18032), represents the Press Agents, Company Managers, and Theatre Managers employed on this production.

Invitation to Engage

Welcome to Black Trans Women at the Center!

This space can be one of reflection, one of revelation, one of discovery and one of affirmation.

You’re invited into this space, to be in this space, to help cocreate this space.

This is a communal space, one where the invitation of cultivating community is extended to all of you. You’re invited to fully engage in community with your fellow audience members. You’re invited to use the chat to say hello, to name who you are, to make new community.

This is an engagement space, a space of expression, a space for wonder, a space where you are welcome to find awe and love. You're invited to participate and respond. To use the chat to share your reactions to the performance and exercise the gift of affirmation.

We welcome expressions of joy or sadness, tears, laughter, the “Yaaasss” and “get it” and “mmm huh” and “bbbaaabbby” and other exclamations as the art moves through you.

This is a space of celebration. You are invited to use the chat to show the artist some love.

You are invited to stay after the show for a post-show discussion. To learn, to witness, to affirm.

This is a community space, a space of reflection, a space of discovery, a space of affirmation, a space where one can find awe.

Thank you for sharing this virtual space with us.

-Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi

About Partner Theatres

About Long Wharf Theatre

Birthed at the founding of America's regional theatre movement, Long Wharf Theatre opened on July 4, 1965 with Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Jacob G. Padrón, our company continues to build on a legacy of more than 400 productions that represent the best of classic plays, beloved musicals and world premieres, including works by Anna Deavere Smith, Paula Vogel, Tracey Scott Wilson, Lloyd Suh, Tina Landau, Whitney White, Ricardo Pérez González, and Dominique Morisseau. We are internationally recognized for a commitment to commissioning, developing, and producing new plays that expands storytelling in, and storytellers for, the American theatre. More than 30 Long Wharf Theatre productions have transferred to Broadway and Off-Broadway, and we produced three winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama: D.L. Coburn's The Gin Game, Michael Cristofer's The Shadow Box, and Margaret Edson's Wit. In recognition of its artistic achievements, Long Wharf Theatre won a Regional Theatre Tony Award, among the first to receive this honor, and Connecticut Critics Circle nominations and awards in nearly every category.

Today, Long Wharf Theatre is in a bold new chapter, moving beyond its physical home of nearly 60 years to bring theatre to everyone. We are once again leading a national theatre movement that instigates a fresh, sustainable model for our industry while making professional live theatre more financially and physically accessible for our community. In 2023, Greater New Haven residents could experience Long Wharf Theatre productions in seven cities and towns, including seven New Haven neighborhoods, at free and affordable prices. 2024 continues this innovative journey, ranging from a production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge at Canal Dock Boathouse to a celebration of our 60th season. This is an invitation for all our neighbors to gather, bear witness to our shared humanity, and live connected, art-filled lives.

Our efforts have garnered extensive feature stories in The New York Times, The Washington Post, American Theatre magazine, and "PBS NewsHour." For leading with courage and creating a theatre of possibility, Artistic Director Jacob G. Padrón was named among Town & Country's 2023 Creative Aristocracy, a national list of 70 "kings and queens of culture" who are keeping human ingenuity regally and outrageously alive, and 2023 Person of the Year by National Theatre Conference, joining the ranks of former recipients August Wilson, Lloyd Richards, and Joseph Papp.

About Breaking the Binary Theatre

Breaking the Binary Theatre is a new work development and community building hub wherein transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists come together to reclaim our artistic license and liberty through a number of initiatives and programs, including the annual all-TNB2S+ Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival each October. Founded and led by George Strus (they/them), since Breaking the Binary Theatre’s launch in July 2022, the organization has produced over twenty-five workshops and readings of new works by TNB2S+ artists, commissioned over fifty TNB2S+ artists, hosted over fifteen community events, launched a free educational Summer Intensive for emerging TNB2S+ performers, partnered with Playbill and BroadwayCon, been in-residence at Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theatre Festival and New York Stage and Film, and paid out paid out over $325,000 to over 300 TNB2S+ artists. This summer, they produced an off-Broadway run of the late Cecilia Gentili's Red Ink featuring Jes Tom, Angelica Ross, and Peppermint. This fall, they will co-produce the world premiere of Sarah Mantell’s In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot alongside Playwrights Horizons. Breaking the Binary Theatre is powered by Producer Hub. For more information, please visit www.btb-nyc.com or @BreakingtheBinaryTheatre on Instagram.

About The Theater Offensive

The Theater Offensive (TTO) is an organization whose mission is to present liberating art by, for, and about queer and trans people of color that transcends artistic boundaries, celebrates cultural abundance, and dismantles oppression. Established in 1989, TTO grew out of the queer guerilla street theater troupe, United Fruit Company, founded by Abe Rybeck and other activists in response to increasingly conservative national politics and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Since then, TTO has become the leading presenter of LGBTQ theater in New England, and an award-winning model for advocacy and creation of original works by queer and trans artists.

About About Face Theatre

About Face Theatre is a company in Chicago that advances LGBTQ+ equity through community building, education, and performance. Since its founding in 1995, About Face has been a national leader in producing theatre that highlights the voices of intergenerational LGBTQ+ artists that tell nuanced queer stories for general audiences. Through bold theatre and arts-based educational programs, AFT's work celebrates persistence and joy shining a spotlight on the social inequalities impacting LGBTQ+ people. For more information about our 30-year history, please go to: https://aboutfacetheatre.com.

About National Queer Theater

National Queer Theater is an innovative queer theater collective dedicated to celebrating the brilliance of generations of LGBTQ+ artists and providing a home for unheard storytellers and activists. Founded in 2018, National Queer Theater amplifies queer stories and experiences to increase visibility within the broader NYC community. By serving our elders, youth, and working professionals, NQT creates a more just future through radical and evocative theater experiences and free community classes. www.nationalqueertheater.org. @nationalqueertheater

About Portland Center Stage

Portland Center Stage’s mission is to create transcendent theatrical experiences and community programs that break down the barriers separating people. We support our community in celebrating the full scope of humanity, appreciating difference, and fostering belonging. PCS was established in 1988 as a branch of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and became independent in 1994. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Marissa Wolf, the company produces a mix of classic, contemporary, and world premiere productions, along with a variety of high-quality education and community programs. As part of its dedication to new play development, the company has produced 29 world premieres, many of which were developed at its JAW New Play Festival. PCS’s home is The Armory, a historic building originally constructed in 1891. After a major renovation, The Armory opened in 2006 as the first building on the National Register of Historic Places, the first performing arts venue in the country, and the first building in Portland to achieve a LEED Platinum rating. Portland Center Stage is committed to identifying and interrupting instances of racism and all forms of oppression through the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA). Learn more at pcs.org/idea.

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that indigenous peoples and nations have for generations stewarded the lands and waterways of what we now call the state of Connecticut. We honor and respect the enduring relationship that exists between these peoples and nations and this land.

We are standing on the unceded territory of the Paugussett, Quinnipiac, and Wappinger peoples. We remind ourselves that along with stolen land came stolen people. It is our responsibility to the future to know our past.

Meet the Cast

Elisawon Etidorhpa

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Gigi

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)

(

)

Pronouns:

Elisawon Etidorhpa (they/she) is an nonbinary trans actor, writer, and director coming from a competitive theater background in Texas and studying in New York and obtaining their BFA from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy Los Angeles. Elisawon has recently appeared in Annex at the 2023 Hollywood Fringe Festival, Texas For Four More Years for the Hantext Play Reading Festival, in KeyTv’s Production of Keep Me in Mind’ produced by Keke Palmer, UCLA’s I’m Here Now, and season two of Queerious. She made her directorial debut at the 2024 Hollywood Fringe festival with A THIRD SPACE: Trans Conversation Project, their most recent written work includes Seeking Faith, developed by Long Wharf Theater (NYC) for their 2023 fourth annual “Black Trans Women at the Center” digital festival, and Girls Just Wanna have Fun showcased in the first ever Shuffle Fest short play festival. Find them on Instagram @Elisawon_

Samy Figaredo

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Benicio

(

)

(

)

Pronouns:

Samy Figaredo (he/him, they/them) is an actor, print model, consultant, and community organizer of over a decade. He recently season 3 of the HBO Max series The Other Two, and narrated the audiobook for the Lambda Literary award-winning novel The 30 Names of Night. Other recent appearances include Chonburi International Hotel & Butterfly Club (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Well-Intentioned White People (Barrington Stage Company), and Into the Woods (Ford’s Theatre). As a commercial and print model, he has participated in campaigns for CitiBank, Gilead Sciences, and JUST Water.

Rocheny Princien

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Darla

(

)

(

)

Pronouns:

Rocheny Princien(She/Her) is a Drag Artist (Godiva Sterling), Playwright, Director, and a Helen Hayes nominated actress for their role in (Theater Alliance)The Events. This is her first full year of Breaking Ground. Her first show was Virtual Healing(2020). The last shows you could have seen her in were GAY Love Jones(Caged Bird Productions), her one woman show What Did 2022 Do to You?!(Restoration Station), When Boys Exhale (Cagedbird Productions), The Crucible, Cabaret, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown (Parallel 45), Protest in 8 (Theater Alliance) and Sleep Deprivation Chamber (Roundhouse Theatre). As a Senior at Howard University, they are currently in the process of obtaining a BFA in Musical Theatre from The Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts.

Meet the Team

Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi

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Curator

(

)

Pronouns:

she/her

Dubbed the Ancient Jazz Priestess of Mother Africa, Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi is a Black Nigerian, Cuban, Indigenous, American Performance Artist, Author, Educator, a Helen Hayes Award-winning Playwright (Klytmnestra: An Epic Slam Poem), a 2021 Helen Merrill Award Winner, Advocate, Dramaturg, a 2x Helen Hayes Award Nominated choreographer (2016, 2018) and co-editor/co-Director of the Black Trans Prayer Book.

She is the curator and associate producer of Long Wharf Theater’s Black Trans Women At The Center: An Evening of Short Plays.

Her radio play, Quest of The Reed Marsh Daughter, can be heard on the Girl Tales Podcast. She wrote episode 1 of Untitled Mockumentary Project and acted on the series as well, was featured as Patra in King Ester and acted as a story consultant for the series, and wrote episode 9 (Refuge) of Round House Theater’s web series Homebound.

She also narrated The Netflix Docu-series Visions of Us.

Morticia Antoinette Godiva

*

Playwright

(

)

Pronouns:

Morticia Godiva is a multi hyphenated artist, who is Now and Evermore. Some of her visual works include Hotline, Feeling Like An Orchid and Boomerang. Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize Winning, Long Wharf Theatre has been partnering with Black Trans Women at The Center (BTWATC) and has done a virtual production of Poly Pockets each Fall season since 2021. Poly Pockets is an afro-futurist stage play that Godiva wrote while in fellowship with BTWATC. In 2022 Morticia stepped into another role and conducted a very tender interview with Indya Moore for Spectrum Vol2. As an artist Morticia often engages in work that may intersect with her identity. Godiva has been with BTTF since 2019, having worked previously as our Director of Operations for over four years, and now currently serves as the Co-Director for Black Trans Travel Fund. Her goals for the collective are to maintain global redistribution of resources to our siblings and to continue to find ways to keep our people fed and safe.

Imara Jones

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Moderator

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)

Pronouns:

Imara Jones, whose work has won Emmy and Peabody Awards, is the creator of TransLash Media, a cross-platform, non-profit journalism and narrative organization, which produces content to shift the current culture of hostility towards transgender people in the US. She was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People on the planet in 2023. As part of her work at TransLash, Imara hosts the TransLash Podcast with Imara Jones, which received the 2023 Outstanding Podcast Award from GLAAD ; as well as the investigative, limited series, The Anti-Trans Hate Machine.

Audria LB

*

Director

(

)

Pronouns:

she/her/hers

Audria LB (she/her/hers) is a Black transfeminine filmmaker, poet, and interdisciplinary artist, based in Durham, North Carolina. She graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2017 with B.A’.s in Media Arts and African American Studies. Audria LB seeks to fill the world with dope Black queer and trans art, shifting culture for left and progressive causes. Having published work in Lambda Literary Award-winning The Black Trans Prayer Book, she is currently a co-director on the upcoming Black Trans Prayer Book Documentary. Audria also serves as Festival Coordinator at the Hayti Heritage Film Festival. She is thrilled & honored to be part of yet another installment of Black Trans Women at the Center.

Joey Reyes

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Project Manager

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)

Pronouns:

they/them

Joey Reyes Project Manager (they/them) is a queer, Latine creative producer, consultant, and administrator originally from Southern California, now based in Chicago. Their professional journey spans collaborations with leading arts consulting firms, including AMS Planning & Research, Evolution Management Consultants, A. D. Hamingson & Associates, and CNTR ARTS. Through these partnerships, Joey has contributed to projects in executive searches, capital campaigns, audience development, and strategic planning & research. Independently, they are the Creator and Host of the Mx It Up podcast, a platform celebrating LGBTQ+ creatives of the global majority working across arts, culture, and entertainment.

Since 2020, Joey has been a key collaborator with Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT, where they work alongside Artistic Ensemble Member Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi to produce the annual Black Trans Women at the Center Virtual New Play Festival. This groundbreaking program is the only one of its kind commissioning Black trans women to write, star in, and direct original works. From 2019 to 2022, Joey served as Associate Producer for The Sol Project, a national initiative championing Latine playwrights in NYC and beyond. In this role, they supported the development and production of new works, co-produced the SolTalk podcast, and interviewed over 30 influential Latine artists, including Daphne Rubin-Vega, Robin de Jesús, and Luis Alfaro.

In September 2020, Joey was recognized as one of “19 Theater Workers You Should Know” by American Theatre Magazine in a special issue highlighting TGNC theatre practitioners. They are also a 2018 alum of artEquity’s National Facilitator Training. Joey holds an M.S. in Leadership for Creative Enterprises from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Theatre Arts with a minor in Business Administration from Azusa Pacific University.

Khalil White

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Stage Manager

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Pronouns:

Khalil is thrilled to return to for this years Black Trans Women at the Center festival! Their previous credits include Lighting Designer (ArtsCentric)The Wiz, Little Shop of Horrors, LaCage, Snapshots, and DreamGirls at Baltimore Center Stage. Production Assistant (Baltimore Center Stage) The Hot Wing King, The Importance of Being Ernest.
Assistant Stage Manager (ArtsCentric) Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, For Colored Girls, The Scottsboro Boys

Media

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2021 National Touring Cast

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A Superb Jonathan Groff Brings Bobby Darin To Life In JUST IN TIME — REVIEW

Kobi Kassal

April 27, 2025

It seems every other year at this point we get a new bio-jukebox musical of some singer with a troubled past living in the 40s, 50s, or 60s, and Donnie Kirshner appears in some way. There is just one issue that all those other musicals have… they don’t have Jonathan Groff in them.

Fresh off his Tony Award-winning performance as Franklin Shepard in last season’s fantastic Merrily We Roll Along revival, Groff is back on Broadway this time at the intimate Circle In The Square where Just In Time officially opens tonight. Based on the life of Bobby Darin, and featuring all his greatest hits, this new musical takes everything we know about conventional bio-musicals and throws it out the window.

Groff became enamored with Darin after performing his music at the 92nd Street Y back in 2018, and ever since then has been waiting for tonight. He enlisted the help of Alex Timbers who directs (and developed) the piece with a book by Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver. The show starts out in a nightclub in 2025 with Groff on stage and he effortlessly transforms right before our very eyes — it's an astonishing feat that has the audience enraptured at every point.

During intermission, a very polite British tourist asked me if I had ever seen Groff perform on stage — it was her first time ever seeing him and she was gobsmacked by his talent. As well she should be, since Groff is delivering a career-defining highlight that is sure to be talked about for years to come.

__wf_reserved_inherit — Gracie Lawrence and Jonathan Groff | Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

When we add in the cast of stunning supporting characters including the heartwrenching Michele Pawk (who should be in every musical ever) as Darin’s mother Polly and the incredible Emily Bergl as his sister Nina, the performance really comes together. Timbers directs Groff and company to use up every inch of space around the theatre and immerses us in Darin’s life. Pop icon Gracie Lawrence returns to Broadway as the vibrant Connie Francis — her belting is worth the price of admission alone. She’s paired with the equally charming Sandra Dee who graciously takes over narration from Darin at points to give us her POV. Of course the highlight of the evening was the music (Andrew Resnick oversaw music supervision and orchestrations with Michael Thurber). That big band sound carries us away as if we were at the Copa. And boy are they moving! Shannon Lewis makes her Broadway debut as a choreographer, and what a lovely debut it is.

With a terrific full band right on stage the entire time, we are transported to the streets of East Harlem, Vegas, and even Portofino thanks to versatile nightclub scenic design by Derek McLane. I task you with finding a leading man today with half the charisma that Jonathan Groff possesses. He brings not just the story, but the very soul of Bobby Darin to life. If there is one musical to see this season, you might as well grab your bathing suit and come Splish Splash in the basement of Wicked - you won’t be disappointed.

Just In Time is now in performance at the Circle In The Square on West 50th Street in New York City. For tickets and more infromation, visit here.

DEATH BECOMES HER Leads OCC Nominations With 12; Full List Announced

Alan Koolik

April 25, 2025

It's Awards Season! Today the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town, national, and digital news publications, has announced the nominees for the 2025 Outer Critics Circle Awards, honoring the 2024-2025 Broadway and Off-Broadway season. Leading the pack with the most honors of the season is the Broadway musical Death Becomes Her, with twelve nominations, followed by Maybe Happy Ending with nine nominations. Stranger Things: The First Shadow leads in the play categories with a total of seven nominations, followed by The Hills of California with six. See the full list below:

2025 OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD NOMINATIONS

Outstanding New Broadway Play

Cult of Love

The Hills of California

John Proctor Is the Villain

Purpose

Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Outstanding New Broadway Musical

Boop! The Musical

Death Becomes Her

Maybe Happy Ending

Operation Mincemeat

Real Women Have Curves

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical

The Big Gay Jamboree

Drag: The Musical

We Live in Cairo

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play

The Antiquities

Grangeville

Here There Are Blueberries

Liberation

Table 17

John Gassner Award (new American play preferably by a new playwright)

Amy Berryman, Walden

George Clooney and Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck

Marin Ireland, Pre-Existing Condition

Lia Romeo, Still

Emil Weinstein, Becoming Eve

Outstanding Revival of a Musical

Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Floyd Collins

Gypsy

Once Upon a Mattress

Sunset Boulevard

Outstanding Revival of a Play

Beckett Briefs: From the Cradle to the Grave

Glengarry Glen Ross

Romeo + Juliet

Vanya

Yellow Face

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play

Kit Connor, Romeo + Juliet

Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California

Mia Farrow, The Roommate

Jon Michael Hill, Purpose

Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play

Kieran Culkin, Glengarry Glen Ross

LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose

Francis Jue, Yellow Face

Mare Winningham, Cult of Love

Kara Young, Purpose

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical

Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending

Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins

Audra McDonald, Gypsy

Jasmine Amy Rogers, Boop! The Musical

Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Boulevard

Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical

Danny Burstein, Gypsy

Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat

Michele Pawk, Just in Time

Christopher Sieber, Death Becomes Her

Michael Urie, Once Upon a Mattress

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical

Nick Adams, Drag: The Musical

Marla Mindelle, The Big Gay Jamboree

Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, Safety Not Guaranteed

Alaska Thunderfuck, Drag: The Musical

Taylor Trensch, Safety Not Guaranteed

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical

Ali Louis Bourzgui, We Live in Cairo

Paris Nix, The Big Gay Jamboree

Eddie Korbich, Drag: The Musical

J. Elaine Marcos, Drag: The Musical

Andre De Shields, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Henry Stram, Three Houses

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play

Caroline Aaron, Conversations with Mother

F. Murray Abraham, Beckett Briefs: From the Cradle to the Grave

Jayne Atkinson, Still

Adam Driver, Hold On to Me Darling

Anthony Edwards, The Counter

Paul Sparks, Grangeville

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play

Betsy Aidem, Liberation

Sean Bell, The Beacon

Michael Rishawn, Table 17

Richard Schiff, Becoming Eve

Frank Wood, Hold On to Me Darling

Outstanding Solo Performance

David Greenspan, I'm Assuming You Know David Greenspan

Khawla Ibraheem, A Knock on the Roof

Sam Kissajukian, 300 Paintings

Andrew Scott, Vanya

Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending

David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat

Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour, We Live in Cairo

Bob Martin, Boop! The Musical

Marco Pennette, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending

David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat

David Foster and Susan Birkenhead, Boop! The Musical

Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, Real Women Have Curves

Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Will Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending

Doug Besterman, Death Becomes Her

Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters, Pirates! The Penzance Musical

Daniel Lazour and Michael Starobin, We Live in Cairo

Andrew Resnick, Just in Time

Outstanding Direction of a Musical

Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending

Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her

Robert Hastie, Operation Mincemeat

Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Jerry Mitchell, Boop! The Musical

Outstanding Direction of a Play

Trip Cullman, Cult of Love

Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Sam Mendes, The Hills of California

Phylicia Rashad, Purpose

Danya Taymor, John Proctor Is the Villain

Outstanding Choreography

Jenny Arnold, Operation Mincemeat

Warren Carlyle, Pirates! The Penzance Musical

Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her

Shannon Lewis, Just in Time

Jerry Mitchell, Boop! the Musical

Outstanding Scenic Design

Miriam Buether, Jamie Harrison, and Chris Fisher, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Rachel Hauck, Swept Away

Rob Howell, The Hills of California

Dane Laffrey, Maybe Happy Ending

Derek McLane, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Costume Design

Gregg Barnes, Boop! The Musical

Wilberth Gonzalez and Paloma Young, Real Women Have Curves

Rob Howell, The Hills of California

Qween Jean, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Paul Tazewell, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Lighting Design

Kevin Adams, Swept Away

Natasha Chivers, The Hills of California

Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Ben Stanton, Maybe Happy Ending

Justin Townsend, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Sound Design

Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Adam Fisher, Sunset Boulevard

Peter Hylenski, Death Becomes Her

Peter Hylenski, Maybe Happy Ending

John Shivers, Swept Away

Outstanding Video/Projections

59, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom, Sunset Boulevard

David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Hana S. Kim, Redwood

Finn Ross, Boop! The Musical

Note on Eligibility

The following productions were considered in previous seasons, with only new elements eligible during this cycle: Buena Vista Social Club; Dead Outlaw; English; Hold On to Me Darling; Job; and Oh, Mary!. The following productions were not eligible for awards this season: All In: Comedy About Love, and Ben Platt: Live at the Palace.

Shows with Multiple Nominations

12 - Death Becomes Her

9 - Maybe Happy Ending

8 - Boop! The Musical

7 - Stranger Things: The First Shadow

6 - The Hills of California, Operation Mincemeat

5 - Drag: The Musical, Purpose

4 - Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Sunset Boulevard, We Live in Cairo

3 - The Big Gay Jamboree, Cult of Love, Gypsy, Just in Time, Real Women Have Curves, Swept Away

2 - Beckett Briefs, Becoming Eve, Floyd Collins, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grangeville, Hold On to Me Darling, John Proctor Is the Villian, Liberation, Once Upon a Mattress, Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Romeo + Juliet, Safety Not Guaranteed, Still, Table 17, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Vanya, Yellow Face

A Reworked PIRATES! For Our Time — Review

Joey Sims

April 25, 2025

How do you prefer your Gilbert and Sullivan?

Traditionalists may balk at Roundabout Theatre Company’s lightly reinvented Pirates! The Penzance Musical, a jazzy, Caribbean-infused take that relocates the enduring G&S classic to New Orleans. This new adaptation by Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) mostly tinkers with the original, adding some inconsequential French Quarter trappings and a metatheatrical framing device that proves needless—if, also, harmless.

For audiences less expert on the source material, myself included, these changes mostly glide by innocuously. At times, a stray lyric or bit of dialogue did hit the ear oddly. But outside of a cringey closing number (more on that later), the adjustments are neither enhancing nor crippling. This still feels like Pirates in all its buoyant charm and bottomless heart.

More than that—it is Pirates staged with wonderfully energetic aplomb by director Scott Ellis, wittily choreographed by Warren Carlyle and expertly performed by a dream ensemble. In keeping Gilbert & Sullivan’s shrewdly crafted text, this Pirates! is very serious about being seriously ridiculous, and a joyful trip to musical theater heaven is the result.

An incompetent pirate crew, led by the wild Pirate King (Ramin Karimloo), dock in New Orleans to celebrate his ward Frederic’s 21st birthday. But when Frederic (Nicholas Barasch) falls for local girl Mabel Stanley (Samantha Williams), daughter of the controlling Major-General Stanley (David Hyde Pierce), complications quickly ensue.

__wf_reserved_inherit — Photo: Joan Marcus

Karimloo serves up a plate of prosciutto ham as the Pirate King, belting and mugging to hilarious effect. Barasch is a wonder as Frederic, in gorgeous voice and fully committed to the character’s immense sincerity. Surprisingly, only the typically genius Jinx Monsoon (as Ruth, Frederic’s hopeless nanny) struggles, hitting some laughs but letting others slip by—Jinx can sing it, but her Ruth lacks a clear emotional grounding.

Ellis’ embrace of over-the-top silliness is a breath of fresh air, and his creative team fully understands the assignment. David Rockwell’s brightly colored sets, cheap but not cheap-looking, are a delight. Linda Cho’s frilly costumes look fabulous. Charles G. LaPointe’s wacky wigs are invaluable—not to mention Major General Stanley’s wildly oversized mustache and mutton chops, which feel like whole characters in and of themselves.

The Major General is played, of course, by the undeniable David Hyde Pierce, a stage master at the height of his powers. Every line reading, every intonation, every blink of the eyes, each is here an individual lesson in perfectly-pitched comedic restraint. Pierce’s “Modern Major General” is such a thrill, a totally astonishing barn-burner, you practically want to throw an engraved Tony into the man’s arms right there and then.

Pirates stumbles at the end with a clumsy reworking of “He Is An Englishman,” plucked from H.M.S. Pinafore and rewritten with the new refrain, “We’re All From Someplace Else.” No-one could argue the message, but Pirates is simply not a message piece, and this ham-fisted effort at modern resonance has no place amidst W.S. Gilbert’s lyrical sophistication.

Good comedy is gravely difficult, and in this case the task nearly gets screwed by an excess of modern tinkering. But in spite of overcomplicating its own task, this Pirates still triumphs.

‍Pirates! The Penzance Musical is now in performance at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Todd Haimes Theatre on West 42nd Street in New York City. For tickets and more information, visit here.

Theatrely News

EXCLUSIVE: Watch A Clip From THEATER CAMP Starring Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, and Molly Gordon

Theatrely News

READ: An Excerpt From Sean Hayes Debut YA Novel TIME OUT

Theatrely News

"Reframing the COVID-19 Pandemic Through a Stage Manager’s Eyes"

EXCLUSIVE: Watch A Clip From THEATER CAMP Starring Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, and Molly Gordon

By: Maia Penzer

14 July 2023

Finally, summer has arrived, which can only mean one thing: it's time for camp! Theater Camp, that is. Theatrely has a sneak peak at the new film which hits select theaters today.

The new original comedy starring Tony Award winner Ben Platt and Molly Gordon we guarantee will have you laughing non-stop. The AdirondACTS, a run-down theater camp in upstate New York, is attended by theater-loving children who must work hard to keep their beloved theater camp afloat after the founder, Joan, falls into a coma.

The film stars Ben Platt and Molly Gordon as Amos Klobuchar and Rebecca-Diane, respectively, as well as Noah Galvin as Glenn Wintrop, Jimmy Tatro as Troy Rubinsky, Patti Harrison as Caroline Krauss, Nathan Lee Graham as Clive DeWitt, Ayo Edebiri as Janet Walch, Owen Thiele as Gigi Charbonier, Caroline Aaron as Rita Cohen, Amy Sedaris as Joan Rubinsky, and Alan Kim as Alan Park.

Theater Camp was directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman and written by Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman & Ben Platt. Music is by James McAlister and Mark Sonnenblick. On January 21, 2023, Theater Camp had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

You can purchase tickets to the new film from our friends at Hollywood.com here.

‍

READ: An Excerpt From Sean Hayes Debut YA Novel TIME OUT

By: Kobi Kassal

29 May 2023

Actor Sean Hayes is what we in the biz call booked and blessed. On top of his Tony-nominated performance as Oscar Levant in Good Night, Oscar, Hayes has partnered with Todd Milliner and Carlyn Greenwald for the release of their new YA novel Time Out.

Heralded by many as Heartstopper meets Friday Night Lights, Time Out follows hometown basketball hero Barclay Elliot who decides to use a pep rally to come out to his school. When the response is not what he had hoped and the hostility continually growing, he turns to his best friend Amy who brings him to her voting rights group at school. There he finds Christopher and… you will just have to grab a copy and find out what happens next. Luckily for you, Time Out hits shelves on May 30 and to hold you over until then we have a special except from the book just for Theatrely:

The good thing about not being on the team the past two weeks has been that I’ve had time to start picking up shifts again at Beau’s diner and save up a little for college now that my scholarship dreams are over.

The bad part is it’s the perfect place to see how my actions at the pep rally have rotted the townspeople’s brains too.

During Amy’s very intense musical theater phase in middle school, her parents took her to New York City. And of course she came back home buzzing about Broadway and how beautiful the piss smell was and everything artsy people say about New York. But she also vividly described some diner she waited three hours to get into where the waitstaff would all perform songs for the customers as a way to practice for auditions. The regulars would have favorite staff members and stan them the way Amy stans all her emo musicians.

Working at Beau’s used to feel kind of like that, like I was part of a performance team I didn’t know I signed up for. The job started off pretty basic over the summer—I wanted to save up for basketball supplies, and Amy worked there and said it was boring ever since her e-girl coworker friend graduated. But I couldn’t get through a single lunch rush table without someone calling me over and wanting the inside scoop on the Wildcats and how we were preparing for the home opener, wanting me to sign an article in the paper or take a photo. Every friendly face just made the resolve grow inside me. People love and support the Wildcats; they would do the same for me.

Yeah, right.

Now just like school, customers have been glaring at me, making comments about letting everyone down, about being selfish, about my actions being “unfortunate,” and the tips have been essentially nonexistent. The Wildcats have been obliterated in half their games since I quit, carrying a 2–3 record when last year we were 5–0, and the comments make my feet feel like lead weights I have to drag through every shift.

Today is no different. It’s Thursday, the usual dinner rush at Beau’s, and I try to stay focused on the stress of balancing seven milkshakes on one platter. A group of regulars, some construction workers, keep loudly wondering why I won’t come back to the team while I refuse proper eye contact.

One of the guys looks up at me as I drop the bill off. “So, what’s the deal? Does being queer keep ya from physically being able to play?”

They all snicker as they pull out crumpled bills. I stuff my hands into my pockets, holding my tongue.

When they leave, I hold my breath as I take their bill.

Sure enough, no tip.

“What the fuck?” I mutter under my breath.

“Language,” Amy says as she glides past me, imitating the way Richard says it to her every shift, and adds, “even though they are dicks.” At least Amy’s been ranting about it every free chance she gets. It was one thing when the student body was being shitty about me leaving the team, but the town being like this is even more infuriating. She doesn’t understand how these fully grown adults can really care that much about high school basketball and thinks they need a new fucking hobby. I finally agree with her.

[She’s wearing red lipstick to go with her raccoon-adjacent eyeliner as she rushes off to prepare milkshakes for a pack of middle schoolers. I catch her mid–death glare as all three of the kids rotate in their chairs, making the old things squeal. My anger fades a bit as I can’t help but chuckle; Amy’s pissed-off reaction to Richard telling her to smile more was said raccoon makeup, and her tolerance for buffoonery has been at a negative five to start and declining fast.

I rest my arms on the counter and try not to look as exhausted as I feel.

“Excuse me!” an old lady screeches, making me jump.

Amy covers up a laugh as I head to the old lady and her husband’s table. They’ve got finished plates, full waters. Not sure what the problem is. Or I do, which is worse.

“Yes?” I say trying to suppress my annoyance.

“Could you be bothered to serve us?”

Only five more hours on shift. I have a break in three minutes. I’ll be with Devin at Georgia Tech tomorrow. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” I say, so careful to keep my words even, but I can feel my hands balling into fists. “What would you—?”

And suddenly Amy swoops in, dropping two mugs of coffee down. “Sorry about that, you two,” she says, her voice extra high. “The machine was conking out on us, but it’s fine now.”

Once the coffee is down, she hooks onto a chunk of my shirt, steering us back to the bar.

“Thanks,” I mutter, embarrassed to have forgotten something so basic. Again.

“Just keep it together, man,” she says. “Maybe you’d be better off with that creepy night shift where all the truckers and serial killers come in.”

Honestly, at least the serial killers wouldn’t care about my jump shot.

It’s a few minutes before my break, but clearly I need it. “I’ll be in the back room.”

Right before I can head that way though, someone straight-up bursts into the diner and rushes over to me at the bar. It’s a middle-aged dad type, sunburned skin, beer belly, and stained T-shirt.

“Pickup order?” I ask.

“You should be ashamed,” he sneers at me. He has a really strong Southern accent, but it’s not Georgian. “Think you’re so high and mighty, that nothing’ll ever affect you? My kid’ll never go to college because of you and your lifestyle. Fuck you, Barclay Ell—”

And before this man can finish cursing my name, Pat of all people runs in, wide-eyed in humiliation. “Jesus, Dad, please don’t—”

I pin my gaze on him, remembering how he cowered on the bench as Ostrowski went off, how he didn’t even try to approach me. “Don’t even bother,” I snap.

I shove a to-go bag into his dad’s arms, relieved it’s prepaid, and storm off to the break room.]

Amy finds me head in my arms a minute or two later. I look up, rubbing my eyes. “Please spare me the pity.”

She snorts and hands me a milkshake. Mint chocolate chip. “Wouldn’t dare.” She takes a seat and rolls her shoulders and neck, cracks sounding through the tiny room. “Do you want a distraction or a shoulder to cry on?”

For more information, and to purchase your copy of Time Out, click here.

‍

Reframing the COVID-19 Pandemic Through a Stage Manager’s Eyes

By: Kaitlyn Riggio

5 July 2022

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in the United States in March 2020, Broadway veteran stage manager Richard Hester watched the nation’s anxiety unfold on social media.

“No one knew what the virus was going to do,” Hester said. Some people were “losing their minds in abject terror, and then there were some people who were completely denying the whole thing.”

For Hester, the reaction at times felt like something out of a movie. “It was like the Black Plague,” he said. “Some people thought it was going to be like that Monty Python sketch: ‘bring out your dead, bring out your dead.’”

While Hester was also unsure about how the virus would unfold, he felt that his “job as a stage manager is to naturally defuse drama.” Hester brought this approach off the stage and onto social media in the wake of the pandemic.

“I just sort of synthesized everything that was happening into what I thought was a manageable bite, so people could get it,” Hester said. This became a daily exercise for a year. Over two years after the beginning of the pandemic, Hester’s accounts are compiled in the book, Hold Please: Stage Managing A Pandemic. Released earlier this year, the book documents the events of the past two years, filtering national events and day-to-day occurrences through a stage manager’s eyes and storytelling.

When Hester started this project, he had no intention of writing a book. He was originally writing every day because there was nothing else to do. “I am somebody who needs a job or needs a structure,” Hester said.

Surprised to find that people began expecting his daily posts, he began publishing his daily writing to his followers through a Substack newsletter. As his following grew, Hester had to get used to writing for an audience. “I started second guessing myself a lot of the time,” Hester said. “It just sort of put a weird pressure on it.”

Hester said he got especially nervous before publishing posts in which he wrote about more personal topics. For example, some of his posts focused on his experiences growing up in South Africa while others centered on potentially divisive topics, such as the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Despite some of this discomfort, Hester’s more personal posts were often the ones that got the most response. The experience offered him a writing lesson. “I stopped worrying about the audience and just wrote what I wanted to write about,” Hester said. “All of that pressure that I think as artists we put on ourselves, I got used to it.”

One of Hester’s favorite anecdotes featured in the book centers on a woman who dances in Washington Square Park on a canvas, rain or shine. He said he was “mesmerized by her,” which inspired him to write about her. “It was literally snowing and she was barefoot on her canvas dancing, and that seems to me just a spectacularly beautiful metaphor for everything that we all try and do, and she was living that to the fullest.”

During the creation of Hold Please, Hester got the unique opportunity to reflect in-depth on the first year of the pandemic by looking back at his accounts. He realized that post people would not remember the details of the lockdown; people would “remember it as a gap in their lives, but they weren’t going to remember it beat by beat.”

“Reliving each of those moments made me realize just how full a year it was, even though none of us were doing anything outside,” he adds. “We were all on our couches.” Readers will use the book as a way to relive moments of the pandemic’s first year “without having to wallow in the misery of it,” he hopes.

“I talk about the misery of it, but that’s not the focus of what I wrote... it was about hope and moving forward,” Hester said. “In these times when everything is so difficult, we will figure out a way to get through and we will move forward.”

‍

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