Shows Category: 2020s

Celebrated author John D’Agata has just written a sublime and shattering magazine essay. But is his story true? And how negotiable are the facts? When the world’s most neurotically precise fact-checker appears on the author’s Las Vegas doorstep and starts dissecting his work, the ultimate showdown between “truth” and “accuracy” begins. As the deadline looms, the high-stakes world of publishing becomes a battle royale in this brand new comedy of conflict. Timely and terrific, this brainy Broadway hit wrestles with truth, what constitutes it, and who gets to decide.

In The Niceties, Zoe, a Black student at a liberal arts college, is called into her white professor’s office to discuss her paper about slavery’s effect on the American Revolution. What begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into an urgent debate about race, history, and power.

In Lewiston, Alice is an aging descendant of Meriwether Lewis, who sits at her roadside stand selling cheap fireworks while developers swallow the land around her. Enter Marnie, Alice’s long-lost granddaughter, proposing to buy the land and save her family’s legacy.

In Clarkston, Jake is a descendant of William Clark, who has made the journey out west from his home in Connecticut, anxious to find meaning in his own history. He meets Chris during a late-night shift at Costco, forming an awkward bond.

Can these individuals learn to help each other as they struggle to make a home in the vastness of the American landscape?

Forty-six plays. Forty-six First Ladies. This 110-minute journey through American history utilizes comedy, drama, music, dance and more as it surveys the lives of the women who have served (and avoided serving) as First Lady. 46 Plays… is a biographical, meta-theatrical, genre-bending look at gender, race, and everything else your history teacher never taught you about the founding (and the confounding) of America.

It can mean something different for everyone. For some it is a place, or people, or simply memories made over time. But “home” defines us all in one way or another, and this evocative word serves as the inspiration for FTC’s sixth monologue festival, featuring original pieces written just for us by playwrights from across our community and around the nation. A collection of stories in places borrowed and possessed, offering a thoughtful look at what it means to belong.

Esther and Schmuli are young Orthodox Jews whose future is written in scripture. Abe and Sophie believe they can write their own destiny. On the surface, these two couples couldn’t seem more different. But when a Hollywood actress upends Abe’s world, the hidden connections between all of them start to appear. This funny and mysterious drama explores the question of whether happiness lies in what we have, or on the road not taken.

June and Lurie are the proud new owners of an old gothic home that takes “fixer-upper” to a whole new level. For starters, they have a haunting new houseguest – and she’s ravenously hungry. They do their best to keep her fed and happy, but the insatiable Beatrice demands more, burrowing deeper into their lives. As she unearths secrets with explosive consequences, this young couple must decide what they are willing to do to exorcise Beatrice forever.

A creepy, dark comedy that evokes the terror of Jordan Peele’s Get Out and the suspense of Hitchcock’s Psycho, Feeding Beatrice deftly explores questions of race, class and the American Dream.

When Nina enters her first air guitar competition, she thinks winning will be easy. But as she befriends a group of charismatic nerds all committed to becoming the next national champion, she discovers that there’s more to this art form than playing pretend – it’s about finding yourself in your favorite songs, and performing with raw joy. Will Nina be able to let go and set herself free onstage?

Following Nina’s quest to shred or be shredded, Airness is an exuberant reminder that everything we need to rock is already inside us.

Forward Theater is proud to present the World Premiere of Artemisia, a new play by Lauren Gunderson (author of Silent Sky and I and You). Artemisia Gentileschi was the most celebrated female painter of the 17th century, yet her name is remembered by few. A work of humor and warmth that celebrates the courage, artistry, and humanity of a woman who attacked the glass ceiling with every brush stroke.

They say that traveling leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller. FTC’s seventh monologue festival, Out in This World, presents twelve storytellers whose tales will take you on journeys both familiar and unexpected. Whether venturing to faraway places or making discoveries closer to home, this collection of original monologues will transport you. Who knows where the path might lead?