McCarter Theater
91 University Place, Princeton. 609-258-2787. www.mccarter.org.
Sarah Rasmussen, who took over for Emily Mann as McCarter’s artistic director at the height of the COVID pandemic, finally has an opportunity to put her mark on a full season of drama at the award-winning regional theater.
That season begins with “The Wolves,” a drama by Sarah de Lappe that premiered Off-Broadway in 2016 and was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play follows nine young women on a competitive high school soccer team preparing for the national championships and tells a story of life, love, and loss through the lens of gossip shared by the teammates during their Saturday morning warm-ups.
The Saturday, October 1, matinee is available with American Sign Language interpretation; the Sunday, October 2, matinee will be audio described with open caption accessibility. Due to strong language and adult themes, the show is appropriate for ages 12 and up. $45 to $60. September 17 through October 16.
A perennial favorite, the humor writer David Sedaris, also returns to McCarter this fall. His most recent book, “Happy-Go-Lucky,” was published in May. $60 to $70. Wednesday, October 12, 7:30 p.m.
Also returning this fall are “National Geographic Live” presentations, beginning with “Spinosaurus: Lost Giant of the Cretaceous with Nizar Ibrahim.” The paleontologist and anatomist is one of the youngest explorers ever to lead expeditions to the Sahara and has unearthed spectacular dinosaur bones, rare fossil footprints, giant prehistoric fish, crocodile-like hunters, and a new species of giant flying reptile with a 20-foot wingspan that lived 95 million years ago. $30 to $40. Sunday, October 16, 3 p.m.
Continuing with its family-friendly offerings, McCarter presents “Sugar Skull: A Día de Muertos Musical Adventure!” for ages 5 and up. Twelve-year-old Vita Flores thinks her family has gone loco planning a celebration for deceased loved ones. But when a spirited candy skeleton suddenly springs to life, Vita finds herself on a magical, musical journey to unravel the true meaning of Día de los Muertos. $35 to $45. Saturday, November 12, 3 p.m.
George Street Playhouse
732-246-7717. www.gsponline.org.
New Brunswick’s oldest theater kicks off its drama season with the directorial debut of its artistic associate Laiona Michelle. She directs “Her Portmanteau,” Mfoniso Udofia’s play about a Nigerian family in America centers around reconciliation, reinvention, and at its heart, the relationship between mothers and their daughters.
The show was originally scheduled for January, 2022, but was postponed until the fall due to high COVID cases at the time. The matinee on Saturday, October 22, is an open captioned performance. The Wednesday, October 26, show is audio described. Performances take place in the Arthur Laurents Theater at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. $25 to $70. October 11 through 30.
Crossroads Theater
732-545-8100. www.crossroadstheatrecompany.org.
Crossroads Theater, which also holds its performances at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, has not announced any fall main stage performances as of press time but is offering a free season preview performance on Saturday, September 10, at 5 p.m.
This festive event includes conversations with Crossroads’ artistic team, as well as actors working on the upcoming season, and a special performance by jazz vocalist April May and her band, Sounds of A&R, in a tribute to the late Sarah Vaughan. Registration is required.
Bucks County Playhouse
70 South Main Street, New Hope, Pennsylvania. 215-862-2121. www.bcptheater.org.
Bucks County Playhouse launched its 2002 season over the summer with performances of “American Jade” and “Kinky Boots.” The season continues with the current show, the musical “Dames at Sea” about a newly arrived Broadway actress who discovers her show’s theater is being demolished. $70 to $75. Through Sunday, September 11.
The season continues with “Evita.” In this all-new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic, the life of the former First Lady of Argentina is revisited through the eyes of her supporters, who have gathered in a tango club 10 years after her death to celebrate her life. $70 to $75. September 23 through October 30.
Bristol Riverside
120 Radcliffe Street, Bristol, Pennsylvania. 215-785-0100. www.brtstage.org.
The Pennsylvania theater has announced a four-show main-stage season, with two shows slated for this fall.
The first is BRT producing director Ken Kaissar’s “A Leg Up.” The farce features Charles, whose family money is gone and whose rich wife wants a divorce. His future rests on the new XR3000, an intelligent prosthetic leg designed for the U.S. senator who is running for president. Unfortunately, the leg is malfunctioning. Designed to interact with the conscious mind, it’s interacting with the subconscious instead, randomly kicking people it doesn’t like and playing footsie with those it does. Meanwhile, Charles’ Ukrainian maid is threatening to quit, his gold-digging mistress announces she’s pregnant, his business partner has her eye on his wife, the senator is secretly having an affair with the leg designer, and it’s not even lunchtime yet. $45 to $56. September 20 through October 9.
The theater moves from slapstick to a comedic whodunit with its next production, “Clue.” The murder mystery starts at a dinner party on a dark and stormy night with seven unusual guests, a well armed butler, and a dead host. The play based on the classic film and board game was written by Sandy Rustin with additional material from Hunter Foster and Eric Price. $45 to $56. November 1 through 20.
Kelsey Theater
1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor. 609-570-3333. www.kelseytheatre.net.
It’s the 50th anniversary season at Kelsey Theater on the campus of Mercer County Community College, and it kicks off with a special production of the musical “Once.”
Set in the streets and pubs of present-day Dublin, “Once” tells the story of a pair of musicians — an Irish street musician and a Czech immigrant — with complicated pasts and similar dreams. The unique folk-rock score is played entirely by the onstage cast from Playful Theatre Productions. $24. September 23 through October 2.
Next up is “The Children’s Hour,” Lillian Hellman’s 1934 drama set in an all-girls boarding school run by two women, Karen Wright and Martha Dobie, whose lives and careers are ruined by an angry student’s accusation that the two are having a lesbian affair. The play was adapted into a 1961 film starring Audrey Hepburn. $22. October 7 through 16.
The musical comedy “Something Rotten” follows. The Tony Award-winning musical comedy is set in 1595 and follows two brothers trying to make it in the theater world as they compete with their extremely popular contemporary, William Shakespeare. $24. October 21 through 30.
The fourth play in Kelsey’s season was the first by prolific American playwright Neil Simon. “Come Blow Your Horn,” which premiered on Broadway in 1961 and later became a movie starring Frank Sinatra, tells the story of a 21-year-old virgin who goes to live in his playboy older brother’s bachelor pad. $22. November 4 through 13.
Kelsey’s final production before the holiday season is a holiday classic in itself. “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the story of a desperate businessman saved by an angel who shows him what life would be like without him, takes the stage just in time for Thanksgiving. $22. November 18 through 27.
Hopewell Theater
5 South Greenwood Avenue, Hopewell.609-466-1964. www.hopewelltheater.com.
“Somebody’s Daughter,” a one-woman show based on Zara Phillips’ book of the same, title features background music by Richard Thompson. Phillips is a singer-songwriter, author, and adoptee advocate. $25 to $30. Friday, October 21.
The theater also has two comedy offerings on its fall schedule: “Progressively Funny” starring John Fugelsang and friends, $25 to $30, on Saturday, October 8, and “Salami’s East Coast Comedy Presents Gemini & Friends,” $40, on Friday, November 25.
Actors’ NET
635 North Delmorr Avenue, Morrisville, Pennsylvania. 215-295-3694. www.actorsnetbucks.org.
The theater’s season kicks off in time for Halloween with Barbara Field’s 1989 play “Playing with Fire: After Frankenstein,” in which a dying Victor Frankenstein travels north to destroy the creature he created but instead is forced to grapple with a question he cannot answer: “Why did you make me?” $24. October 14 through 30.
Music Mountain Theater
1483 Route 179, Lambertville. 609-397-3337. www.musicmountaintheatre.org.
The Lambertville venue is in the midst of its year-round performance schedule. On stage now is “The Vagina Monologues,” Eve Ensler’s work based on interviews with more than 200 women. $25. Through September 11.
The season continues as follows:
“Thoroughly Modern Millie,” the story of a young woman from Kansas arriving in New York City in 1922 to reinvent herself. $25. September 16 through October 9.
“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” the story of a low-born man seeking an earldom by eliminating the seven relatives who stand before him in the line of succession. $25. October 16 through 30.
And the holidays come early with “A Christmas Story,” told through the eyes of 9-year-old Ralphie Parker, who wants nothing more than a BB gun for Christmas despite all adults’ warnings that “you’ll shoot your eye out.” $25. November 4 through 20.
Playhouse 22
721 Cranbury Road, East Brunswick. 732-254-3939. www.playhouse22.org.
“Grey Gardens” tells the story of Edith Bouvier Beale and Little Edie, the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, as they revisit and come to terms with their past. $24. November 4 through 20.
State Theater
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick. 732-247-7200. www.stnj.org.
The theater’s Broadway series gets going in November with the comedy “Tootsie,” the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime. Friday, November 4, and Sunday, November 6.
STNJ also includes several comedians in its fall lineup. Performers include Louis C.K., Wednesday, September 21; Tracy Morgan, Saturday, October 15; Lewis Black, Friday, November 18; Anthony Rodia, Saturday, November 26; and Penn & Teller, Friday, December 9. All shows start at 8 p.m.
Somerset Valley Players
689 Amwell Road, Hillsborough. 908-369-7469. www.svptheatre.org.
The theater’s 55th season continues with the story of six eccentric contestants in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” $22. September 9 through 25.
Following is “Bad Seed,” based on the novel by William March. The scene is a small Southern town where Colonel and Christine Penmark live with their daughter, Rhoda, who is the evil queen of the story. $22. October 21 through November 6.
Pegasus Theatre
St. Mary’s School, 45 Crosswicks Street, Bordentown. 609-759-0045. www.pegasustheatrenj.org.
The theater company that is launching a new season in a new home in Bordentown City gets started with “God of Carnage,” Yasmina Reza’s Tony and Olivier Award-winning comedy in which two sets of parents meet to discuss how to handle a playground altercation between their sons. Producing artistic director Peter Bisgaier directs. $28. October 7 to 23.
Seuls en Scène Returns
The Seuls en Scène French Theater Festival returns to the Princeton University campus to introduce celebrated French actors, directors, and promising early-career artists to American audiences. The festival runs from September 9 through 23 in collaboration with the 51st Edition of Festival d’Automne in Paris.
Performances take place in various venues on the Princeton campus. Shows are in French, some with English supertitles. Performances are free, but registration is required. The schedule includes:
Stallone. Lise is a 25-year-old medical secretary leading a quiet existence. Everything changes for her after a trip to the cinema: seeing Rocky III is truly an epiphany. Friday, September 9, 8 p.m., and Saturday, September 10, 5 p.m. Wallace Theater.
La Nuit juste avant les fôrêts. A city, at night. It rains. A man, not really from here, not quite a foreigner, speaks to a passerby. He asks for a light, a cigarette, he’s looking for a room for the night … he can’t stop talking, but the passerby remains silent. Saturday, September 10, 8 p.m., and Sunday, September 11, 5 p.m. 185 Nassau Street.
Moi fardeau inhérent. This text by celebrated Haitian playwright Guy Régis, Jr. invites us to listen to a woman freeing herself from her burden through the release of words. Tuesday and Wednesday, September 13 and 14, 8 p.m. Wallace Theater.
Radio Live – La relève. A new episode of Radio Live featuring young Rwandan activist Yannick Kamanzi. Friday and Saturday, September 16 and 17, 8 p.m. Wallace Theater.
8 ensemble. Pascal Rambert’s recent production showcases 8 early-career actors who recount their life journey and discovery of theater. Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18, 3 p.m. Hearst Dance Theater.
2 amis. Pascal Rambert writes about ardent masculine love in 2 amis; a text anchored on the voices and bodies of Stanislas Nordey and Charles Berling, who are battling with their art, profession, madness, and love. For ages 16 and up. Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18, 5 p.m. Hearst Dance Theater.
Traces. Based on the life of Senegalese academic, philosopher and poet Felwine Sarr, this lyrical text is captivatingly performed by Burkinabe actor Étienne Minoungou as an inspiring and imaginative storyteller speaking to his African brothers to sow the seeds for a better future. Monday and Tuesday, September 18 and 19, 8 p.m. 185 Nassau Street.
Angela Davis une histoire des États-Unis. Mixing narration, speeches, video, and rap music, actor Astrid Bayiha tells the story of Angela Davis, American Black activist, professor and author, who faced a turbulent life during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and ’70s. Thursday and Friday, September 22 and 23, 8 p.m. Class of 1970 Theater at Whitman College. arts.princeton.edu/frenchtheater.
Please note that some venues are continuing to require mask wearing and/or proof of vaccination. Check venues’ websites for updates on COVID-19 policies.
