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Coriolanus starring Tom Hiddleston, see June 4

Carousel with Nathan Gunn Kelli O’Hara. See June 5

Jonny Orsini and Nathan Lane in The Nance, See June 12

Heroes of the Fourth Turning see June 13

Aenid Moloney in “Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom” see June 16 (Bloom’s Day of course)

Click here for June 1 openings

Below is the calendar of “theater openings”* for June, 2020, with many online shows, series and festivals showcasing LGBTQ Pride Month, and the entire list demonstrating the perseverance and resilience of an art form that is adjusting to the shut-down of physical stages.

Among the one-time only star-studded spectacles in June: We Are One Public at the Public Theater (see June 1), two different Tony Awards celebrations (see June 7, the date that the Tony Awards would have taken place) and the New York Times’ “Offstage: Opening Night” (see June 11.) This last show launches a series that will feature performances from shows that opened (or should have opened) in the 2019-2020 season.

Pride Plays festival director Nick Mayo with producers Michael Urie and Doug Nevin

Among the other exciting new online series in June: Lincoln Center’s Dance Week (which continues every day through June 4th) and its Broadway Fridays (Carousel on June 5th, The Nance on June 12, Act One on June 19), and Pride Plays, a partnership between Playbill and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, which will present “a live streamed theatrical event from the LGBTQIA+ theatrical canon” every Friday in June (including Mort Crowley’s sequel to The Boys in the Band. See June 26) — plus 11 new LGBT plays by emerging writers at dates yet to be announced.

Also take note of The Civilians’ ninth annual Findings series, which for the first time is going online. The five offerings in this year’s groundbreaking documentary theater series share “a common thread of how humanity perseveres and seeks out joy through adversity.”

Since so many shows are being put together at the last minute — sometimes not announced until the very day of their launch — I will be updating/filling in this preview guide every day, and highlighting the offerings each new day with the link up top. This calendar as of this moment offers a glimpse of what’s in store. Come back day by day for a better look.

Here are some ongoing series that have proven to be reliable sources of art and entertainment.

Four offer live performances (often called readings) of original plays: The Homebound Project Livelabs: One Acts from MCC Play-PerView Viral Monologues from 24 Hour Plays

(Play-PerView makes an exception to its original plays with what counts as a coup — the live reading of the Pulitzer finalist play Heroes of the Fourth Turning. see June 13)

A fifth offers live readings of classics and recent favorites: Plays in the House, Stars in the House’s twice weekly matinees and now Plays in the House Teen Edition.

Three offer recordings of previous (glorious) stage productions.

Metropolitan Opera National Theatre at Home The Shows Must Go On from Andrew Lloyd Webber

For details about these and other ongoing series, check out my post Where To Get Your Theater Fix Online (which lists, for example, the many long-running online sites such as BraadwayHD and Marquee TV that offer video-capture recordings of shows that were on stage)

All performances are free unless otherwise noted, although almost all hope for a donation (either to themselves or to a designated charity.)

*My definition of theater for the purposes of this calendar generally does not extend to variety shows, cast reunions, galas, panel discussions, documentaries, classes, interviews — all of which are in abundance this month, many worth checking out, but it would be too Herculean a task to list them all in a monthly calendar. My focus here is on creative storytelling in performance. (I make an occasional exception for a high-profile Netathon,involving many theater artists.)

June 1

We Are One Public The Public Theater Live beginning at 8 p.m. A 90-minute Netathon (my term for the starry online fundraising concerts of the pandemic era) featuring “cameo appearances” by Jane Fonda, Alicia Keys, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Meryl Streep, and “stories and songs” by Antonio Banderas, Laura Benanti, Kim Blanck, Ally Bonino, Danielle Brooks, Glenn Close, Jenn Colella, Elvis Costello, Claire Danes, Holly Gould, Danai Gurira, Anne Hathaway, Stephanie Hsu, Oscar Isaac, Nikki M. James, John Leguizamo, Audra McDonald, Grace McLean, Sandra Oh, Mia Pak, David Hyde Pierce, Phillipa Soo, Trudie Styler & Sting, Will Swenson, Shaina Taub, Kuhoo Verma, Ada Westfall, Kate Wetherhead.

The Revenger’s Tragedy Red Bull Theater Launches 7:30 p.m. Jesse Berger’s adaptation of Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean thriller, written a few years after Hamlet, is a searing examination of humankind’s social need for justice and our animal desire for vengeance. Vindice, the “Revenger,” sets off a chain reaction of havoc in a corrupt and decadent Venice.

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey 92nd Y Recording launches at 8 p.m, available through June 30 Donation to 92nd Street Y required A recording of the one-man show written and performed by James Lecesne, whose short film “Trevor” spawned The Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ youth. I liked this show when I saw it Off-Broadway in 2015. From my review: “A 14-year-old boy is reported missing, and eventually found dead. Chuck DeSantis, who worked the case as a tough-talking detective “in a half-ass town down the Jersey shore,” begins to tell us the story as if it’s a murder mystery, a film noir on stage (“The dark side is my beat.”) But “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey”…is not really a murder mystery. It is, above all, a showcase for the impressive theatrical talents of James Lecesne, who portrays the detective and eight other characters, male and female, young and old. He does this without props or a change of costumes — just precise, spot-on gestures; a shift in accent and manner of speech.”

Ten Stories: A Decameron The Builders Association https://www.buildersdecameron.com/

Throughout the month of May, The Buildings Association theater company presented five live half-hour episodes inspired by the Decameron, Boccaccio’s 14th-century plague-story. Starting today, all will be released for viewing

Burst Playground Zoomfest Launches 5 p.m. ET As part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the San Francisco Playground Festival of New Works (this year completely digital), this play by Rachel Bublitz focuses on Sarah Boyd, the head of one of the fastest growing tech companies in history, at a moment before everything bursts.

June 2

Coppélia Lincoln Center Part of Dance Week, the New York City Ballet presents the 19th century comic ballet of a mad inventor and the life-like doll he creates.

June 3

Pues Nada MCC Launches at 5:30 This latest play in the LiveLabs One Acts series is written by Aziza Barnes, and features Karen Pittman as St. Francis and Samira Wiley as Sunny

The Homebound Project #3 Launches at 7 p.m. Available through June 7 $10 donation to No Kid Hungry required (free to frontline and essential workers) This third edition of original plays fundraising for No Kid Hungry, on the theme of “champions,” features: Jennifer Carpenter and Thomas Sadoski in a work by John Guare, directed by Jerry Zaks; Ralph Brown in a work by Donnetta Lavinia Grays, directed by Jenna Worsham; Diane Lane in a work by Michael R. Jackson; Paola Lázaro in a work by Gina Femia, directed by Taylor Reynolds; Joshua Leonard in a work by Mara Nelson-Greenberg; Eve Lindley in a work by Daniel Talbott, directed by Kevin Laibson; Arian Moayed in a work by Xavier Galva; Ashley Park in a work by Bess Wohl, directed by Leigh Silverman; Will Pullen in a work by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Jenna Worsham; Phillipa Soo in a work by Clare Barron, directed by Steven Pasquale; and Blair Underwood in a work by Korde Arrington Tuttle.

June 4

Coriolanus National Theatre Available through June 11 Tom Hiddleston (Betrayal, The Avengers, The Night Manager) plays the title role in Shakespeare’s searing tragedy of political manipulation and revenge.

AAADT_Revelations

Alvin Ailey Lincoln Center This last show in Dance Week is a 2015 broadcast featuring Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performing Chroma, Grace, Takademe, and its signature dance, Revelations

June 5

Carousel Lincoln Center Launches at 8 p.m. The first of Lincoln Center’s Broadway Fridays features a free digital stream of its concert production of this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical featuring the New York Philharmonic and starring Kelli O’Hara, Nathan Gunn, Stephanie Blythe, Shuler Hensley, Jason Danieley,Jessie Mueller, Kate Burton, Tony winner John Cullum, and New York City Ballet dancers Robert Fairchild and Tiler Peck.

Brave Smiles…Another Lesbian Tragedy Pride Plays Launches at 7 p.m. The Five Lesbian Brothers (Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey, and Lisa Kron) directed by Leigh Silverman.

Julius Caesar Irondale The second of four installments of a revised version of its 2016 show “1599” nspired by the book “A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599” by James Shapiro.

Candidate X The Civilians Launches at 3 p.m. Part of the Civilians “Findings” series, the show is “a dynamic cross between testimonial-based theatre and dance theatre,” celebrating “the risk-takers who challenge and defy the gendered expectations our country has of those who lead.”

The Nesting Instinct Playground Zoomfest Launches 5 p.m. E.T. Part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the San Francisco Playground Festival of New Works (this year completely digital): Two siblings in a house in a Florida flood zone, a pair of blue-footed boobies (those are birds) on a shrinking island are the characters in two of the intertwined stories in this play by Tom Bruett that explores parenthood, identity and the steadfast power of home in a world that is changing drastically.

June 6

The Rendering Cycle Playground Zoomfest Launches 5 p.m. ET As part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the San Francisco Playground Festival of New Works (this year completely digital), Genevieve Jessee’s ten interwoven short plays present a theatrical journey through 400 years of the African Diaspora. Directed by Margo Hall

June 7

Tony Awards Celebration Broadway on Demand and TonyAwards.com Launches 6 p.m. A Netathon for American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League, co-producers of The Tony Awards (which would have taken place tonight), the hour-long even will celebrate “the Broadway community, the Tony Awards®, and the global impact that Broadway has as a cultural touchstone around the world.”

Show of Shows: Broadway.com Salutes the Tonys Broadway.com Launches 7 p.m. Also a benefit for the Wing and the League, this one is produced by Paul Wontorek, who produced the 90th Sondheim celebration

June 9

Criminal Queerness Festival Dixon Place The first day of a festival that runs through June 29th, showcasing queer and trans artists from countries that criminalize or censor LGBTQ+ communities.

June 10

Black Feminist Video Game, African.Isch The Civilians Launches at 7 p.m. Part of the Civilians “Findings” series, the show presents a tapestry of theatrical narratives created from ethnographic interviews within the black community of Berlin, Germany.

June 11

Offstage: Opening Night Patti LuPone and Katrina Lenk and the cast of Company performing the show’s opening number; Tony winner Mary-Louise Parkerperforming a monologue from The Sound Inside; a chat with Slave Play scribe Jeremy O. Harris and a sing-along with Elizabeth Stanley from Jagged Little Pill. Times writers will also discuss some of their favorite moments from the truncated season. 7 p.m. Free, but need to register in advance

As You Like It Irondale The third of four installments of a revised version of its 2016 show “1599” nspired by the book “A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599” by James Shapiro.

June 12

The Nance Lincoln Center Launches at 8 p.m. A free digital stream of Lincoln Center Theater’s 2013 Broadway production of Douglas Carter Beane’s dark comedy starring Nathan Lane as a gay burlesque entertainer in the 1930s. ( My review)

One in two Pride Plays Donja R. Love’s portrait of what it means to be black and queer in America today.

June 13

Heroes of the Fourth Turning Play-Perview Launches at 8 p.m. Required $5 minimum donation A live one-time Zoom reading of this much-praised (and 2020 Pulitzer finalist) play by Will Arbery “It’s nearing midnight in Wyoming, where four young conservatives have gathered at a backyard after-party. They’ve returned home to toast their mentor Gina, newly inducted as president of a tiny Catholic college. But as their reunion spirals into spiritual chaos and clashing generational politics, it becomes less a celebration than a vicious fight to be understood.” My review when it was a Playwrights Horizons

In These Uncertain Times Source Material Launches 7:30 p.m. A digital performance piece that uses drinking competitions, sad Chekhov monologues, and corona-virus meme collages to contemplate the impossibility of theater as we’ve known it, and forge a new path in the art form, while grieving for the past.

Best of Playground 24 Playground Zoomfest the top 10-minute plays from the 2019-20 season of the Playground Festival.

June 15

This Show Is Money The Civilians Launches at 8 p.m. A musical about the 1 and 99 percent, exploring how our choices with this fictional creation called money affect people around us in ways we find difficult to see.

June 16

Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom Irish Rep The solo show excerpting the last chapter of “Ulysses” offered online on Bloom’s Day.

Looking for Leroy New Federal Theatre featuring AUDELCO Award winning actors Tyler Fauntleroy and Kim Sullivan, directed by Petronia Paley

June 18

Hamlet Irondale The third of four installments of a revised version of its 2016 show “1599” nspired by the book “A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599” by James Shapiro.

June 19

Act One Lincoln Center Broadway Fridays brings James Lapine stage adaptation of Moss Hart’s memoir for the stage, starring Tony Shalhoub, Andrea Martin and an especially winning Santino Fontana. My review from 2014

Masculinity Max Pride Plays A play by MJ Kaufman, directed by Will Davis

June 22

Against Women and Music The Civilians Launches at 3 p.m. Part of the Civilians’ Findings series, an anachronistic chamber musical that explores the notions of privilege, ambition and morality through the eyes of a female piano tuner in the 1800s. At that time, music was considered dangerous for women to play or even hear.

June 24

The Homebound Project #4

June 26

The Men from the Boys Pride Plays Mort Crowley’s sequel to The Boys in the Band, showing what happens to the characters

June 28

Pride Spectacular Concert Playbill

June 30

Two Can Play New Federal Theatere Written by Trevor Rhone featuring Ron Bobb-Semple and Joyce Sylvester, directed by Clinton Turner Davis.

June 2020 Online Theater Openings: Pride and Perseverance. What’s Streaming Day by Day Click here for June 1 openings Below is the calendar of “theater openings”* for June, 2020, with many online shows, series and festivals showcasing LGBTQ Pride Month, and the entire list demonstrating the perseverance and resilience of an art form that is adjusting to the shut-down of physical stages.

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