Center Of It All
CENTER OF IT ALL: One of Off-Broadway’s finestcompanies, Signature Theatre, is moving to a fabulous new home. On January 30, the ribbon will be cutand the champagne passed around for the Signature Center Opening GalaCelebration at Signature Center,the brand new Frank Gehry-designedspace at 480 West 42nd Street between Dyer and 10th Avenues. the new facility features threeintimate theaters connected by a lobby with a café, bar and bookstore, a studiotheater, a rehearsal studio and the Company’s administrative offices. also that evening, the company willhonor stage and film actor Edward Norton with their Playwrights’ Award, created to recognize those individualsand organizations who, through their vision and leadership, have placed theirown signatures upon American theater. (Mr. Norton made his professional debut at Signature Theatre in EdwardAlbee’s Fragments.) the first performances at SignatureCenter takes place the following day (January 31) with Athol Fugard’s BloodKnot inaugurating The Alice GriffinJewel Box Theatre. Hearty congratulations to everyone at Signature—long may you stand onWest 42nd Street. www.signaturetheatre.org
YOU’RE THE POETRY MAN: John Grier has acharmed career—this professor of literature at a renowned university is aboutto be named Poet Laureate. Butwhen his daughter and new boyfriend return home from the weekend, hiddensecrets are revealed that threaten to destroy the professor’s career. A biting drama that explores thefallout from the cutthroat “publish or perish” world of academia, JackCanfora’s Poetic Licensefeatures a cast that includes Ari Butler, Geraint Wyn Davies, Natalie Kuhn, and Liza Vann, under Evan Bergman’s direction. Performances begin February 9 at 59E59 Theaters. www.59e59.org
MARVELLOUS MARVELL: An eye-catching season at MarvellRep kicks off for 2012 with a productionof Arthur Schnitzler’s controversial play Professor Bernhardi,which was banned in Europe and is still rarely performed in the US. Schnitzler, who wrote another hot buttonbut more oft-seen drama, La Ronde, wasthe first German author to confront head-on the anti-Semitism of the time. the story of ProfessorBernhardi takes place in Vienna, 1900,where a young woman is dying of septic poisoning from a backstreet abortion. yet, she’s in a complete state ofeuphoria due to the camphor injection she received at the hands of herdoctor. Trouble arises when thedoctor, a Jew, and a priest clash over her condition. the cast features veteran actor Sam L. Tsoutsouvasas Dr. Bernhardi, and performances begin January 31 at TBG Theatre on West 36th Street. www.marvellrep.com
GIVES GOOD HEADSHOT: The upcoming NBC series Smash (which you’ve surelyheard about, given the network’s surprisingly vigorous campaign for a show aboutthe theatah) is not the only TV productthat aims to look at life on the boards. Submissions Only is agrassroots web sitcom that shows viewers what really goes on off stage. created by New York actors Kate Wetherhead andAndrew Keenan-Bolger, SO beginsits second season on January 27. the show follows the friendship between two theater professionals, anactress (Ms. Wetherhead) and a casting director (Colin Hanlon) as they try to build careers in the notoriouslytricky world of New York theatrics. to tune in, log onto www.submissionsonly.com
SMART ALEC: He’s practically a stage and television staplein Hollywood, but New York only gets an occasional chance to see the divinelyfunny actor/comedian Alec Mapa, (whotriumphed here in M. Butterfly once upon a time) live and in theflesh. Taking a brief time-outfrom toiling on such shows as Desperate Housewives. Ugly Betty, and RuPaul’s Drag Race,Mapa returns to New York in his acclaimed new one-man extravaganza AlecMapa: Baby Daddy, which plays for threeperformances only, February 9-11 at The Laurie Beechman Theater. AM: BD is an outrageous evening of stories and stand-up comedy, as ourself-proclaimed “America’s Gaysian Sweetheart” holds forth on what it means tobe a father (with husband Jamison Hebert) of an adoptedfive-year-old boy. from RuPaul’sRunway to the Tarrytown P.T.A. (to steal a line from How to Succeed, thank you) Mapa will take audiences on a fast-paced ride with sudden dips andturns. and maybe he’ll spill a few red carpet secrets, too. Oh, Baby! Oh, Daddy! 212-352-3101.
FRINGE WATCH: It’s only cold January, but it’snot too early to talk about hot August’s hottest theater event, TheNew York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC), especially since February 14 is the date that applications for inclusion in this year’s festival aredue. General FringeNYCapplications are being accepted for participants in all genres (theatre, dance,puppetry, performance art, multi-media, etc.) and you have until Valentine’sDay to get them in. Submit,submit! Get all the info online at www.fringenyc.org