The Week in Theater

A quick post game party report before I get bogged down in all things BookExpo. Thursday, I had the chance to see Rapture, Blister, Burn staring Amy Brenneman.  This gem of a play is being performed off-Broadway at the Playwrights Horizon theater.  It tells the story of two women, Catherine (Brenneman) and Gwen (Kellie Overbey), friends in graduate school, who are reunited and coming to examine the life choices that have brought them to where they are.  Catherine finished her degree and became a rock star academic and published author.  Gwen did not finish her degree, married Don (Lee Tergesen) (who was Catherine’s boyfriend back in school) and started a family with him.  The discussion centers around the second-wave of American feminism in the context of Friedan and Schlafly with the women trying to decide whether the path they took was the right one.  They get input from two ends of the spectrum – Catherine’s mother Alice (Beth Dixon), whose recent heart attack has brought Catherine back home, and Avery (Virginia Kull), Gwen and Don’s college age babysitter, who is just now making the choices of where her life will lead.

I loved seeing the discussion about what it means to be a feminist and is a women more fulfilled being a wife and mother or having a career carried out in a thoughtful manner that is so lacking from the current “mommy wars” discussion.  The play doesn’t judge the choices that any of the three generations of women have made, so much as it presents them in a historical context and highlights the fact that we in fact as women have the opportunities to make such choices.  The performances from the actors were all terrific – I was especially impressed by Krull as Avery, as she could have come off as a cliched bratty millennial, and instead showed that the next generation is more thoughtful than we give them credit for.  Of course, Beth Dixon got ALL the best lines and she totally made the most of them.

On Friday, I’m going with another friend and our girls to see Peter and the StarCatcher.  Based on a beloved (at least in this house) book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, the play tells the story of the origins of Peter Pan.  Originally peformed off-Broadway, it moved to the great white way earlier this year and is currently up for 9 Tony awards including best play.  One of it’s stars is Christian Borle, currently in the show Smash.  After hearing Ridley himself talk up the play at Disney Social Media Moms, I knew we had to go see it.  Friends who have seen both versions say that it did a wonderful job of keeping the intimacy of an off-Broadway show in a larger venue.  I”ll be sure to tell you all about it next week.

In the meantime…

Rapture, Blister, Burn is playing through June 24. • Opening night: June 12

Special performances: • Playtime! childcare on Sun, May 20 @ 2:30 pm; Sat, June 2 @ 8pm; Sat, June 9 @ 2:30pm

Post-Performance Discussions with Gina Gionfriddo and Peter DuBois: Weds, May 23 @ 8pm; Tues, May 29 @ 7pm; Fri, June 1 @ 8pm

Open-Captioned Performance for the deaf and hard of hearing: Sat, June 2 @ 2:30pm

Blog Reader Discount: SAVE up to $30 on RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN with code PlayRBBlog!

Order by June 5 with code PlayRBBlog and tickets are just $40 (reg. $70) for performances May 18-27 $50 (reg. $70) for performances May 29-June 24.

Playtime! dates are often quite popular.  After you put in code PlayRBBlog, new seats will open up for you. Playtime! childcare dates! May 20 @ 2:30pm; June 2 @ 8pm; June 9 @ 2:30pm. Limit 4 tickets per order. Subject to availability.

Order at www.TicketCentral.com

Disclosure – My tickets to Rapture, Blister and Burn were obtained thanks to MamaDrama NY and come compliments of PLAYTIME!, the first ever child enrichment program that provides arts, culture and care for kids while their parents see an Off Broadway show.  My tickets to Peter and the Starcatcher were on my own dime.