Thinking Theater NYC

The Jackson C. Frank Listening Party w/ Special Guests Written by Michael Aguirre Directed by Sarah Norris Presented virtually by New Light Theater Project as part of 59E59 Theaters' Plays In Place March 29-April 11, 2021 Michael Aguirre. Courtesy New Light Theater Project. As restrictions for in-person events begin to loosen in New York, the virtual theater scene that has developed over the past year continues to assume intriguing variations. The Jackson C. Frank Listening Party w/ Special Guests anchors its storytelling in, as the title suggests, the communal experience of music. By the end of the play, audiences will have listened to the entirety of Jackson C. Frank's self-titled 1965 folk album, interwoven with narrative threads focused on Frank himself and on the relationship of listening party host Allen (playwright Michael Aguirre) with his brother, Rob. Audience members access the album themselves through their preferred platform (we used a copy on YouTube, which, i...

Letter to My Father Written by Franz Kafka; translated by Hannah Stokes and Richard Stokes Developed by James Rutherford and Michael Guagno Directed by James Rutherford Presented by M-34 via Multistre.am February 19-March 28, 2021 [UPDATE: 30 Mar. 2021: Run extended through April 2, 2021] Michael Guagno. Photo credit: Eileen Meny Photography M-34's Letter to My Father represents a thoughtfully conceived and wonderfully acted example of the innovative forms that virtual theater can take. The production takes Franz Kafka's 1919 nearly 50-page letter to his father, returned to him by his mother rather than delivered to its intended recipient, as the text for a captivating live solo performance that allows audience members to shift at will among multiple views of the performance space. The browser-based livestream presents viewers with a trio of video feeds—one the sort of medium close-up that would be typical of a Zoom play; one a small portable camera that can be moved by actor...