The Very Best of NYC Theater

As You Like It, Chimichangas and Zoloft, Take What Is Yours, A Midsummer Night’s (Queer) Dream, At the Other Side of the Earth (a Riot Girl Opera)

New York City’s acclaimed all-female classical theater company, The Queen’s Company, presents Shakespeare’s dark comedy As You Like It at the Walkerspace May 4-20. The play is set during the aftermath of a violent South American coup which drives the rightful ruler, lovers, philosophers and fools to flee the dangerous court in search of safety. Provocative and playful, the comedy explores the paradoxical powers of love, domination, revenge and forgiveness. Featuring The Queen’s Company’s critically acclaimed all-female cast, the group promises a surprising and refreshing retelling of one of Shakespeare’s most beloved works.

Don’t miss Latina-playwright Fernanda Coppel’s newest comedy, Chimichangas and Zoloft, at the Atlantic Theater Company May 23-Jun 24. Sonia, a woman on Zoloft overdrive, leaves her family with secret plans to end her life. Unknowingly, her lesbian teenage daughter Jackie and her best friend Penelope conspire to bring Sonia back home. Meanwhile, Sonia’s husband has been secretly exploring sex with Penelope’s dad. The noose tightens as the girls’ plan backfires. Will they be able to keep their families intact or will Sonia go on as she intended?

Take What Is Yours, the too-little-known true story of how American women fought and won the right to vote, runs at 59E59 Theaters May 3-27. Composed from the words of suffragist Alice Paul, the National Woman’s Party, and documents of the time, this stunning new production weaves virtuosic performances with striking visuals and a richly-layered score into a moving and inspiring story. Special performances will feature a post-performance talkback, giving audience members a chance to join in discussions with special guests.

Theater for the New City presents an encore engagement of the critically acclaimed, gender-bending production of A Midsummer Night’s (Queer) Dream Apr 25-May 19. This is not your grandmother’s Shakespeare—it’s a modern reimagining of the Bard’s classic, in which Hermia and Lysander are lesbian lovers and Demetrius and Helena are a gay couple. Exposing contemporary America’s sexual hang-ups and resistance to gay marriage, the play explores gender, sexual orientation and power. The result is a bacchanal of every fetish imaginable—filled with delectable and dangerous fairies straight out of everyone’s fantasies.

Marie Incontrera will conduct the premier of her chamber opera At the Other Side of the Earth (a Riot Girl Opera) at the Center May 18. The story follows Aurora, a by-the-rules kind of girl; and Layla, an out-and-proud riot grrrl with a bold and brazen demeanor. When the two women begin their affair, their love clashes with an oppressive, conservative society where same-sex relationships are against the law. Their struggle with an Orwellian law enforcer, appropriately named The Man, is both terrifying and hilariously futile as the two women attempt to follow their hearts to great risk. Shedding light upon queer issues that are relevant to today’s world, the opera is a painfully serious yet darkly humorous view of the oppression of LGBT people.


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