DUE TO COVID-19, ROUNDABOUT MOVES SEASON TO 2021
Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that the current theatrical season will resume in Spring 2021, and has added the Broadway debut of Alice Childress’s Trouble in Mind, directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, to its roster of upcoming shows. Childress was a Founding Member of the American Negro Theatre and the first African-American woman to be produced professionally in New York (Gold Through The Trees in 1952); Randolph-Wright is a celebrated director and writer whose play Blue had an acclaimed run at Roundabout in 2001. Trouble in Mind will premiere on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre in Winter 2021/22.
“With the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic and with concern for our artists, staff, and audiences, we have determined that we will not be able to reopen our theaters this fall,” said Roundabout Artistic Director/CEO Todd Haimes. “While this decision brings tremendous financial challenges — and is genuinely heartbreaking — our artistic team is continuing to build and evolve our work for the future.”
Following an experienced Black stage actress through rehearsals of a major Broadway production, Childress’s wry and moving look at racism, identity, and ego in the world of New York theater opened to acclaim off-Broadway in 1955. At the forefront of both the Civil Rights and feminist movements, the prescient Trouble in Mind was announced to move to Broadway in 1957…in a production that never came to be.
Roundabout’s previously scheduled Spring 2020 productions sidelined by COVID-19, will return in 2021.
In Spring 2021, Caroline, Or Change, by Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner, starring Sharon D Clarke, will open on Broadway at Studio 54, directed by Michael Longhurst. ’¦what the end will be, by Jiréh Breon Holder, will open at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold & Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, directed by Margot Bordelon. Exception to the Rule, by Dave Harris, will also open at the Steinberg Center, directed by Miranda Haymon.
In Fall 2021, Birthday Candles, by Noah Haidle, starring Debra Messing, will open on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre, directed by Vivienne Benesch.
1776 will open as planned in Spring 2021 at the American Airlines Theatre, directed by Diane Paulus.
The effects of the theatre shutdown have been staggering to Roundabout and the hundreds of actors, students, writers, technicians, designers, directors, and staff members who rely on them; Thus, The Road Back to Roundabout Fund has been launched to support artists and staff, continue to provide world-class education programs to thousands of NYC students, teachers, and community members, and prepare for theatres to reopen, while enduring many more months without ticket sales.
