This week, the Lit Hub crew is savoring a storytelling diet that goes beyond the usual shelves. October invites a fresh appreciation for things that exist for a season, emphasizing art you can savor from your sofa or in a snug, welcoming theater.
James Folta has been savoring live theatre lately. He recently saw ANON: A Tempest at Our Kitchen Table, a new collaboration from Anne Washburn—one of the most insightful and wonderfully strange playwrights working today.
This new work follows two Texas households who end up on opposite sides of a culture clash. Yet the premise alone doesn’t convey the razor-sharp dialogue and uncanny stagecraft Washburn is renowned for.
“I was skeptical of something so pulled from current headlines,” James admitted. “But it proved excellent, and a fascinating dramatization of the moment.” Kudos to the staging by director Anne Kauffman and to the performances—Crystal Finn and Izabel Mar stand out in particular.
ANON is running Off-Broadway at MCC from now through November 1.
Dan Sheehan is also headed to the theater this weekend. He and his father will be joining the Dublin Theatre Festival for a production of Eugene O’Neill’s A Moon for the Misbegotten.
O’Neill’s timeless portrait of an immigrant Irish family trying to carve out a life in rural Connecticut clocks in at over three hours. Our sleep-deprived editor worries about nodding off and possibly snoring through it.
I’m betting Garry Hynes’s seemingly indispensable direction will keep the pace lively. Still, a few wakeful prayers wouldn’t hurt, just in case.
Molly Odintz, however, isn’t troubled by weariness. Ahead of Simchat Torah, she’s been spinning a certain Klezmatics track, and “Simkhes-Toyre” still hits with the same youthful enthusiasm she remembers.
On the subject of celebrations, I, Brittany Allen, have been tagging along with a friend to a number of New York Film Festival screenings this week.
The energy at Lincoln Center’s annual spree is palpable in itself, since any given attendee among hundreds of cinephiles will have a sharp take on Richard Brody, the Criterion Closet, or Korean New Wave. (And yes, the covert listening is almost its own entertainment!)
My favorite festival titles so far are warm-hearted tributes to human closeness, intellect, and grace. The documentary Once Upon a Time in Harlem drops viewers into the middle of a salon brimming with luminaries.
Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care centers on quiet, daily acts of care within families, friendships, and institutions. And Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love anchors a bracing social critique with two incredibly human leads.
Please keep an eye out for all of these films when they reach broader release later this year.
Podcasts editor Drew Broussard squeezes back into the circle just in time to reassemble the crew. Like our columnist Maris Kreizman, he’s excited by this year’s crop of literary prize lists—despite the usual grumbling from media circles.
The Cercador Prize list and the Booker Prize shortlist, in particular, are bringing him a great deal of joy. He’s especially thrilled to see favorites like Mike Harrison’s The End of Everything and Rebecca Perry’s May We Feed the King receiving recognition.
“I just feel like it’s a fun time to be reading, you know?” says Drew.
If this is a promising moment for theatre, film, music, and literature—could it be that it’s simply a good time in general? May your weekend stay wide awake to every form of art.
