2006 Off-Broadway Fall Preview
Get ready to Ti-Vo Grey's Anatomy and Dancing with the Stars: With more than 40 shows to choose from in our off-Broadway preview, you'll be too busy going to the theater to watch TV this fall. There's a full menu available of comedies, dramas, musicals and one-person shows. So pull out your calendar and fill it up!
The Treatment—Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues, brings her new political drama to the Culture Project, about a traumatized soldier who seeks redemption from a military psychiatrist. Dylan McDermott and Portia star. In Performance, 45 Bleecker Theater. 
The Pain and the Itch—It's an average Thanksgiving for one privileged family in Bruce Norris's play until things start to unravel and expose disastrous choices and selfish motives. Tony nominees Jayne Houdyshell and Reg Rogers head the cast. In Performance, Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Theatre.
Esoterica—Magician and mentalist Eric Walton takes the audience on an exploration of the human psyche in a multimedia theatrical event that includes metaphysics, philosophy and a magician's favorite tool: card tricks. In Performance, DR2 Theatre.
Theophilus North—In Matthew Burnett's adaptation of the final novel by Thornton Wilder, the title character decides to quit his teaching job in New Jersey in the spring of 1926 and see the world—until his car breaks down in Newport, RI, home of the idle rich. In Performance, Keen Company/Clurman Theatre.
The Man Himself—When alienation and hate take over a Denver man's secure and stable world, he snaps, finding comfort in the Christian right. Ami Dayan stars in his own contemporary adaptation of Alan Drury's 1975 play about the drift toward extremism. In Performance, 59E59 Theater.
WASPs in Bed—When three college friends reunite over a July 4th weekend 10 years after graduation, comic sparks fly. And no wonder: One on the verge of becoming a husband, another is married with kids and the third is vehemently opposed to the institution of marriage. In Performance,Beckett Theatre.
Richard II—A year after tackling Hamlet, Michael Cumpsty will play the title role in Shakespeare's chronicle of the power struggle between Richard II and King Henry IV. CSC artistic director Brian Kulick directs. In Performance, Classic Stage Company.
SubUrbia—Eric Bogosian's fondly remembered 1994 play charts a day in the life of seven aimless 20-somethings who hang out in the parking lot of a Pakistani family's convenience store. The playwright's wife, Jo Bonney, directs this revival, with Kieran Culkin and Jessica Capshaw. In Performance, Second Stage Theatre.
John Ferguson—The Mint Theater Company revives Irish dramatist St. John Ervine's 1919 play, the tragic story of a poor and pious Irish farmer and his children, threatened with eviction because they can't pay the mortgage. In Performance, Mint Theatre.
Sisters—Tony Award winner Anna Manahan The Beauty Queen of Leenane stars in a solo show about two elderly sisters in 1950s Ireland, described as the story of resentment, regret, love and secrets. Starts September 12, 59E59 Theater.
Birth and After Birth—In this long-awaited New York premiere of Tina Howe's provocative play written in 1972, a four-year-old's birthday party spirals out of control when childless anthropologists Jeffrey and Mia, who study primitive children, arrive as guests. Starts September 13, Atlantic Theatre Company.
Machiavelli—Written in commedia style, Richard Vetere's play tells the story of how Machiavelli used his genius to outsmart the ruthless Medicis and bring democracy to Florence during the Renaissance. Starts September 13, Arclight Theatre.
Southern Comforts—Penny Fuller and William Biff McGuire share the stage in Kathleen Clark's tale of a longtime widow and a cantankerous widower who come together to find romance. Actress Judith Ivey directs. Starts September 19, 59E59 Theatre.
Nixon's Nixon—Russell Lees' play—returning with original stars Gerry Bamman and Steve Mellor for MCC Theater's 10th anniversary revival—imagines the scene when President Richard Nixon summoned Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to the White House on August 7, 1974, the night before he resigned. Starts September 20, Lucille Lortel Theatre.
¡El Conquistador!— Described as a combination of foreign film, theater play, epic history and telenovela, Thaddeus Phillips' multimedia theater piece centers around Polonio, a peasant who flees his war-ravaged village in Colombia in hopes of becoming a soap opera star. Starts September 20, New York Theatre Workshop.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie—Tony winner and former Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon plays a charismatic, controversial teacher at an Edinburgh girls' school in the 1930s who decides to transform a group of students into the crème de la crème. Scott Elliott directs The New Group's revival. Starts September 20, Acorn Theatre.
Wrecks—Neil LaBute directs his newest play, starring Ed Harris in the story of one man's unique love for his recently deceased wife. Starts September 26, Public Theater/Anspacher Theatre.
25 Questions for a Jewish Mother—Comedian Judy Gold stars in a one-woman show about her journey to becoming a parent while learning to be a daughter to her own nagging Jewish mom. Starts September 27, St. Luke's Theatre.
Blue Door—When a prominent African-American mathematician in crisis begins to lose his grip on reality, the ghosts of his ancestors break the silence of his insomnia-filled night. Reg E. Cathey and Andre Holland star in Tanya Barfield's theatrical exploration of the black American male experience. Starts September 28, Playwrights Horizons Peter J. Sharp Theater.
Evil Dead—One of the most popular cult horror film series, about a boy and his friends spending a weekend in an abandoned cabin, has been transformed into a musical: Boy expects to get lucky, boy unleashes ancient evil spirit, friends turn into Candarian Demons and boy fights until dawn to survive, chainsaw in hand. Starts October 2, New World Stages.
The Clean House—Lane Blair Brown is a high-powered doctor who has everything—except a clean house. Sarah Ruhl's play shows what happens when a crisis strikes and Lane's life truly spins out of control. Jill Clayburgh plays Brown's sister; John Dossett is her husband. Starts October 5, Lincoln Center Theatre/Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre.
The Thugs—Adam Bock's new dark comedy is described as being about work, thunder and the mysterious things that are happening on the ninth floor of a big law firm. Starts October 5, Soho Rep.
My Name Is Rachel Corrie—Compiled from writings left by a 23-year-old protester who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, My Name Is Rachel Corrie traces the life of a young activist in the Middle East. A year after one production was cancelled, this controversial drama arrives in New York with original London star Megan Dodds, directed by Alan Rickman. Starts October 5, Minetta Lane Theatre.
A Small, Melodramatic Story—LABrynth Theater Company begins its season with Stephen Belber's drama about a Washington D.C. widow trying to figure out if life is worth re-engaging with. In her path are the 1968 riots, the first Gulf War, and facts uncovered by the Freedom of Information Act. Starts October 10, Public Theater.
Emergence-See—Using slam poetry and song in a one-man show, Daniel Beaty imagines what would happen if a slave ship rose from the Hudson River in front of the Statue of Liberty in 2006. Starts October 10, Public Theater/LuEsther Hall.
Mimi le Duck—Annie Golden stars in this new musical comedy as Miriam, a dissatisfied Mormon housewife from Idaho who impulsively moves to Paris, leaving behind her husband and her successful career painting duck canvases for the QVC Network. The cast also includes Eartha Kitt. Starts October 11, New World Stages.
Tale of 2Cities—An ensemble cast performs this two-part tale of urban erasure and renewal in the wake of the Brooklyn Dodgers' move to Los Angeles, written by solo artist Heather Woodbury. Starts October 12, P.S. 122.
My Deah—Freely adapted from Euripedes' Medea, John Epperson's new play tells the story of My Deah Hedgepeth, who confronts her husband, Gator, her friends and the Governor of Mississippi on her path toward revenge.Starts October 13, Abingdon Theatre Company/June Havoc Theatre.
Postmortem—In their fourth collaboration at the Flea Theater, Jim Simpson directs A.R. Gurney's new play, set in the not-too-distant future and examining the validity of theater as a social force in a society rankled by political conservatism and the evangelical right. Starts October 18, Flea Theater.
The Internationalist—In Anne Washburn's new play, Zak Orth plays an ambitious young American businessman living abroad, whose life takes a mysterious turn when he meets a beautiful woman Annie Parisse of Law & Order. Starts October 19, Vineyard Theatre.
Regrets Only—Comic playwright Paul Rudnick is back with his take on modern marriage Park Avenue-style, with a world-famous fashion designer thrown into the mix. The cast includes Christine Baranski, George Grizzard and Sian Phillips. Starts October 19, Manhattan Theatre Club/City Center Stage I.
Suddenly Last Summer—Blythe Danner tackles Tennessee Williams' formidable matriarch Mrs. Venable, who's distraught over the mysterious death of her son. Carla Gugino plays the young cousin who was traveling with him and raises scandalous allegations on returning home. Starts October 20, Roundabout Theatre Company/Laura Pels Theatre.
Bhutan—Frances dreams of Bhutan as her life is falling apart: Her mother is driving her crazy, her aunt is stalking a married man and her brother is in prison. Second generation playwright Daisy Foote daughter of Horton is the author; second generation actor Amy Redford daughter of Robert is among the cast. Starts October 24, Cherry Lane Theatre.
The Sunset Limited—Master novelist Cormac McCarthy All the Pretty Horses won fresh acclaim as a playwright with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's recent production of this new drama, about an ex-con from the South who saves the life of an intellectual atheist attempting suicide on a New York subway platform. Austin Pendleton and Freeman Coffey star. Starts October 24, 59E59 Theater.
The American Pilot—An American pilot crashes down in a war-torn, rural village in British playwright David Greig's play. Do the villagers help him, murder him or use him as a pawn in a game with the enemy? Starts November 2, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City Center Stage II.
Durango—In this world premiere by Julia Cho BFE, single father Boo-Seng, who left Korea to pursue the American dream, hashes out family secrets with his two teenage sons during a road trip to Durango, Colorado. Starts November 7, PublicTheater/LuEsther Hall.
Two Trains Running—August Wilson's 1990 drama will be the second production in the Signature Theater's August Wilson series. Set in 1969 Pittsburgh, the play follows local residents as they fight to hang on to their sense of community in the face of a depressed economy. Starts November 7, Peter Norton Space.
Dark Matters—Something beyond belief is happening to the Cleary family in this new comedy by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa: A woman disappears, but later returns talking of otherworldly beings. Is she lying, or are dark forces threatening to destroy the family? Starts November 8, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre.
My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish & I'm In Therapy—Yet another autobiographical solo show: This one with its complete and descriptive title stars Steve Solomon. Starts November 3, The Little Shubert.
Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky—In this new musical by solo artist David Cale, burned-out country-western star Floyd Duffner forms an unlikely friendship and musical partnership with a 20-year-old beauty. Starts November 10, Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Theatre.
Pirandello Project—Martha Clarke's still-tentatively-titled new project uses dance, music, text and visual imagery to re-tell four Luigi Pirandello stories of common people in mystical situations in turn-of-the-century Sicily. Starts November 10, New York Theatre Workshop.
The Voysey Inheritance—Atlantic Theater Company co-founder David Mamet has written a new adaptation of Harley Granville-Barker's classic play, which explores issues of morals versus money as a family goes to pieces when it's revealed that the patriarch has amassed the family fortune by embezzling money from his clients. Starts November 15, Atlantic Theater Company.
Two September—Set in Vietnam post-World War II, Mac Wellman's latest recalls the period when Ho Chi Minh had visions of a free country and a newly formed House Un-American Activities Committee blacklisted a young female American writer who believed in truth, justice and a humane social order. Starts November 19, The Flea Theater.
