Long shots (in theatre)

I've mentioned on a few occasions that I keep an eye out on future performances by looking at DPS and Samuel French.  Normally I just look at Toronto to see what will be playing (and I am still baffled that DPS says someone has snatched up the rights for Annie Baker's The Aliens in April, but no one seems to be about to put it on).

Occasionally, I will look up specific plays to see if it is running anywhere near me.  That's how I found out about A View from the Bridge in Buffalo, though I ultimately decided to pass.  I still think that Yankee Tavern has to land in Toronto one of these days, and probably Tanya Barfield's Bright Half Life (it is about to open in Chicago, but then will close too soon for me to catch it, but maybe Buddies will put it on).

I'm sort of interested in Nell Benjamin's The Explorers, and it will be playing in Ann Arbor in Jan. 2018.  It's quite unlikely I would make that trip in the winter, though one of these days I want to take the kids to Detroit and Ann Arbor.

Perhaps even more surprising is that Beckett's Happy Days apparently only has a single upcoming performance in the next year or so, and that is in Vancouver (at UBC) this Sept.  I don't think I can wangle a trip out there, but you never know.

Speaking of Beckett, there are two evenings left to catch The Beckett Shorts at UToronto.  They are doing 5 of the short plays: Not I, Act Without Words 2, That Time, Come And Go and A Piece Of Monologue.  Not I and Act Without Words 2 were probably the best.  A Piece of Monologue had some really powerful lines, but it did feel like it dragged a bit, or maybe I was simply too tired by that point.  A while back I was completely unimpressed by this actress who wanted to run through Not I at breakneck speed.  In this case, it is still taken at a pretty good clip, but 10 actresses perform this in unison!  That's pretty mind-blowing (and perhaps only students have the time to keep performing until they get it right).  It's worth going just for this alone.  It is interesting to me that the most profound stagings of Beckett's short works have usually been in university settings.  (Tickets for the last two nights are here, but there will probably still be some at the door.)