We live in uncertain times. The AI technological revolution has many wondering (and worrying) about the future. One of the more optimistic speculations is that if AI becomes more widespread, theater will have a resurgence: people will long for a space away from screens in the company of other humans more than ever.
But a rosy future of financial security for the art form has not quite come yet. This season, many theaters are playing it safe (not in a bad way), turning to tried-and-true classics and newer shows that have been successful elsewhere. This fall is chock full of crowd pleasers, with a few off-the-beaten-path options thrown in for variety.
The Company Theatre will stage “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder, possibly one of the most widely produced twentieth-century American plays ever — and for good reason. Set in a small New Hampshire town in the early 1900s, the minimalist metatheatrical play hones in on the beauty of the everyday and makes the audience contemplate mortality. (Who doesn’t get chills at the line, “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it — every, every minute”?) Directed by the troupe’s technical director Brodie McPherson, the show runs Sept. 4-20 at The Company Theatre’s home behind Christ Church, 28 Lawn Street. Tickets start at $25, with a pay-what-you-wish performance on Sept. 10.
JCC CenterStage presents “Come From Away,” the feel-good 9/11 musical. While that sounds like an oxymoron, this rousing show about a small Canadian town that welcomes 7,000 stranded passengers from 38 planes forced to land after the terrorist attacks has been charming audiences since its Broadway premiere in 2017. CenterStage artistic director Ralph Meranto leads the first locally produced production of the show from Oct. 10–25 as part of the 50th anniversary season.
A more recent classic, “Topdog/Underdog,” gets the Geva Theatre treatment under the direction of their current artist-in-residence Jeffrey L. Page. A man named Booth; a man named Lincoln. You might walk in thinking you know how it ends, and yet this play grips and surprises like a three-card monte street con. Suzan Lori-Parks’ Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece about two Black brothers and what they inherit plays on the Fielding Stage from Oct 12.–Nov 22.
If you’re looking for something even less commercial, the Rochester Community Players are closing their 100th season with a rarely produced play by contemporary writer Sharyn Rothstein, “A Good Farmer.” The plot dramatizes a timely crisis, centering on a friendship between a farmer and an undocumented Mexican worker. First produced in 2007, the topic is even more relevant in an era of increasingly brutal ICE raids. Catch it at the Multi-Use Community Cultural Center with direction by Maria Scipione from Oct. 16–24.
If you want something socially relevant but a bit lighter, Blackfriars Theatre has your back with “Men on Boats” by Jacklyn Backhaus. Reminiscent of “Hamilton,” this new play enacts a white cis-male dominated historical moment onstage with … not white cis-men. Focused on an 1869 expedition to “discover” lands already inhabited by Indigenous populations, the satirical romp is a sendup of masculinity and Manifest Destiny. Plays under the direction of Rachel Solomon, Oct. 22-Nov. 1.
The Penfield Players, another community theater group, will stage Noël Coward’s canonical staple, “Blithe Spirit,” just in time for spooky season. The comedy about a séance gone wrong is delightfully theatrical, letting the audience see ghosts who are invisible to the living characters. Helmed by the board’s president Kaleab Wiggins, catch it at the Penfield Community Center from Oct. 23–Nov. 7.
Another feel-good musical coming to town is “Hell’s Kitchen,” Alicia Keys’ semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age musical about her journey as an artist in 1990s Manhattan. Biopic jukebox musicals can be a mixed bag in terms of plot, but if you’re an Alicia Keys fan (as you should be), know you’re in for a night of Broadway-ified bangers, from “If I Ain’t Got You” to “Empire State of Mind.” The national tour stops at West Herr Auditorium Theatre as part of the RBTL season Nov. 3–8.
Katherine Varga is a Rochester-based writer and arts educator. On an ideal day, you’ll find her biking to a library or theater.
