As the theater world begins to rebuild, we explore early signs of New York City’s renewed cultural life in the latest episode of “Offstage.”
For a year we’ve been following theater through a shutdown. Now we’re looking at its rebound. Join us as we explore signs of hope in a changed city with Lin-Manuel Miranda, at Shakespeare in the Park and more.
In New York, coronavirus cases are going down. Vaccination rates are going up. And theater artists are stepping out of grid view and onto the stage.
For the next episode of “Offstage,” our digital series about theater making during the pandemic, we visit Lin-Manuel Miranda at the Drama Book Shop — which he now co-owns — to talk about “In the Heights,” “Hamilton,” race and recovery.
We also consider the return of Shakespeare in the Park with the playwright Jocelyn Bioh and the director Saheem Ali, who will talk about their new adaptation of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” — set in Harlem, imagining many characters as immigrants from West Africa, and called, simply, “Merry Wives” — which will be staged from July 6 to September 18.
Can’t wait? We’ll have a preview of the show, performed by the actors Susan Kelechi Watson (“This Is Us”) and Pascale Armand (“Eclipsed”) on the outdoor stage of the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
The entire event, which is viewable by New York Times subscribers, will be our sixth “Offstage” episode, and you can catch up on the full series on YouTube. In previous episodes, we explored the return of theater in Australia and the adaptation of stage shows for streaming; we interviewed Hillary Rodham Clinton about her lifelong theater passion; we checked in with “Suffragist,” a musical in development; and we considered the season cut short, as well as concerns over racial justice, on our Opening Night.
Source: Theater - nytimes.com
