Here's what they're serving up down Sarasota way, staring in June.
The summer series includes Nick Payne's Incognito (Jun. 8-Jul. 8) and Wakey, Wakey by Will Eno (Aug. 3-Sept. 2). Incognito, a New York Times' Critic's Pick, deals with Albert Einstein's brain. Specifically, after Einstein died (true story); Wakey, Wakey takes you along for the last hour of a man's life as that man looks back on life.
In October, Urbanite will present the Modern Works Festival (Oct. 2-14), which will celebrate new works from female playwrights. Submitted plays rated highest by judges will comprise this 12-day extravaganza of staged readings, at the end of which one female playwright will go home with a $5,000 honorarium.
As for the main series, Urbanite has yet to announce its first play of the season, which will run Nov. 9-Dec. 16, but Henry Naylor's Angel, inspired by the story of a Kurdish sniper, follows the story of a teenage pacifist as she evolves into the Angel of Kobane. We loved Urbanite's production of Naylor's Echoes this season — if you did, too, you'll probably love Angel (Jan. 11-Feb. 17).
Finally, Urbanite wraps up its 2018-19 season with Lauren Yee's In A Word (Mar. 8-Apr. 14), a play about… well, language. And a lost child — or a snatched child, actually. Believe it or not, it's also humorous. The New York Times calls it "sad and breathless and often pretty funny play about the ways in which loss mangles our world and garbles our speech."
That last one may feel hard to believe, but remember, this is Urbanite's world, and if anyone can make that work, they can.
This article appears in Mar 22-29, 2018.