Goings On About Town's Best Off Broadway Theatre Shows of 2009 Posted by Shauna Lyon

December 18, 2009
Goings On About Town's Best Off Broadway Theatre Shows of 2009 Posted by Shauna Lyon

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This year, Off Broadway (and Off Off Broadway) theatre yielded myriad pleasures, as well as some pain, from reconceived classics to star-driven spectacles to truly heart-wrenching dramas to elaborately offbeat displays of inventiveness. The bar was set high by several up-and-coming companies, and more than a few lesser-known writers and directors broke out with remarkable work. We culled the favorites of several Goings On About Town contributors; some shows, such as "Our Town," "Telephone," "This Beautiful City," and "Circle Mirror Transformation," got several votes. In no particular order, here are our top twelve.

Ruined

In Lynn Nottage's incandescent Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, a group of physically and spiritually wounded Congolese women survive the ravages of their country's civil war by working at the tough Mama Nadi's brothel. Partly based on interviews with women who endured similar horrors in the Congo, Kate Whoriskey's production (for Manhattan Theatre Club) exhibited truth, compassion, and pathos in paying tribute to those who have suffered—thanks in no small part to the brave, standout performances of Portia, Russell Jones, and Condola Rashad. (Shauna Lyon)

Telephone

The Foundry Theatre staged this feverish, visually searing piece, by the poet Ariana Reines, about Alexander Graham Bell and the distorting effects of the telephone. Birgit Huppuch won an Obie for her role as a mad seamstress who delivers a long, nonsensical, completely unforgettable soliloquy. (Michael Schulman)

This Beautiful City

Basically, whenever the Civilians do something, see it. The documentary-theatre troupe's investigation into Ted Haggard and the underpinnings of faith was shrewd, funny, and humane. Next up: an exploration of the porn industry. (M.S.)

Our Town

The director David Cromer turned Thornton Wilder's chestnut into something breathtakingly new, thanks in part to a bacon-assisted coup de théâtre. The production is still running at the Barrow Street Theatre, although Cromer is no longer starring as the Stage Manager. Go! (M.S.)

Circle Mirror Transformation

An under-enrolled community-center drama class was the ingenious setting for Annie Baker's clever and endearing sophomore outing. Add a stellar cast of New York theatre all-stars—Reed Birney, Heidi Schreck, Deirdre O'Connell, Peter Friedman, and Tracee Chimo—and Sam Gold's virtuosically detailed direction, and what you have is the word-of-mouth hit of the season. In fact, it's already being revived: Playwrights Horizons has brought it back for a virtually unheard of return engagement, through Jan. 17. (Branden Jacobs-Jenkins)

The Lily's Revenge

Taylor Mac's extravaganza—five hours long! a cast of forty!—was about a lovelorn lily (played by Mac) on a quest for self-acceptance (at HERE Arts Center). You don't often see downtown theatre this ambitious, either in size or in spirit. And the flower costumes were fierce. (M.S.)

Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines

The most inventive thing I saw all year (at HERE Arts Center), and one of the giddiest. Quinn Bauriedel, Trey Lyford, and Geoff Sobelle wrote and starred in this clown fantasia, which featured incredible Rube Goldberg-inspired contraptions. Probably the most animated set since "Pee-Wee's Playhouse." (M.S.)

Twelfth Night

Seeing almost anything at the Delacorte on a warm summer night is a pleasure, but Daniel Sullivan's Shakespeare in the Park production, which featured Hamish Linklater, Julie White, and Anne Hathaway (the movie star, not Shakespeare's wife), was one of the best in years—even in the rain. (M.S.)

Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage

In April, Banana Bag & Bodice brought us a staging of the Beowulf legend that featured a propulsive, oompah-inflected score (by Dave Malloy), sets reminiscent of "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome," and, improbably, fresh insight into Grendel (he's a lovable dope). They also wisely handed out soundtrack CDs to critics, insuring that brilliant tunes like "Heorot," "Hrothgar," and "Beowulf Arrives" would be stuck in their heads for the duration of 2009. "Beowulf" had a limited run, but the company's "A Very Sandwich Christmas" is playing at Abrons Arts Center, through Dec. 19. (Sarah Larson)

Angela's Mixtape

It's lucky for us that Eisa Davis grew up to be an actor and a playwright (and a singer and a dancer) rather than a radical like her aunt Angela; otherwise we wouldn't have been so thoroughly entertained by her play (presented by New Georges at the Ohio in April), a wacky depiction of growing up an innocent around sixties revolutionaries. (Trish Deitch)

CHAUTAUQUA!

There is no theatre company in New York quite like the National Theatre of the United States of America, and there was no other show this past season quite like this one. Modelled on the historical lecture circuit of the late nineteenth century, "CHAUTAUQUA!" (which played at P.S. 122) was part history pageant, part public service, part farce, and part Pirandellian theatrical experiment that earnestly sought to engage its local audiences not just with its past but with its present—a slick, ambitious, rigorous, and big-hearted celebration of all things theatrical and democratic. If you missed it the first time, don't fret: it returns in January as part of the Public's "Under the Radar" festival. (B.J.J.)

The Winter's Tale / The Cherry Orchard

The first year of the Bridge Project, Sam Mendes's globetrotting brainchild, had an extraordinary cast (Simon Russell Beale, Rebecca Hall, Ethan Hawke, Richard Easton) and alternated between Chekhov and Shakespeare at BAM. Both were ravishingly elegant and sad. Mendes's Bridge Project returns to BAM in January with a new cast to perform "As You Like It" and "The Tempest." (M.S.)

Honorable Mention: Willem Dafoe's astute idiot in Richard Foreman's "Idiot Savant," at the Public; and Mamie Gummer's delicately lovelorn Sonya in "Uncle Vanya," at Classic Stage Company.
Goings On About Town’s Best Off Broadway Theatre Shows of 2009: The New Yorker Blog : The New Yorker (26 December 2009)
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/tny/2009/12/goings-on-about-town-best-off-broadway-theatre-shows-of-2009.html
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