Available Light returns live onstage this fall in Columbus with trio of American plays
After a 2½ -year pandemic-driven hiatus, Available Light Theatre will return to live productions this fall with a three-show season of newer American plays.
“We’re so excited to be back with artists in the room, connecting with audiences and the community in live theater,” Artistic Director Eleni Papaleonardos said.
“Although we didn’t perform during the pandemic, we got together and created work together as a company, waiting to share it with audiences until we could make it the priority,” she said.
Summer fun: Columbus Summer Fun 2022: World premieres, classic favorites and more on theater stages
The semi-professional troupe, founded in 2006, suspended its 13th season in March 2020 during the first COVID wave.
“Nationwide, quite a few small nonprofit arts groups haven’t come back yet... For us, with half of our ensemble members working as educators and teachers, waiting this long was the right choice,” Papaleonardos said.
All three 2022-23 productions of the ensemble company’s 14th season have not been seen before in Greater Columbus.
“These are playwrights with young, vibrant, vital voices that we’ve been tracking for a long time,” Papaleonardos said.
July events: July heats up with fairs, festivals, concerts, theater and more
Except where noted, all performances will take place at the Riffe Center’s Studio Two Theatre, 77 S. High St.
• “Witch” (Sept. 29 to Oct. 15): Jen Silverman’s one-act dark comedy, about an old woman shunned by neighbors who gets revenge by selling her soul to the Devil, updates the language and transforms William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford’s 1621 British Jacobean domestic tragedy, itself inspired by the real-life story of Elizabeth Sawyer, executed in 1621 for witchcraft.
• “Everybody” (Feb. 9-25): The drama, by Available Light favorite writer Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins (“Appropriate,” “An Octoroon”), adapts the 15th-century morality play “Everyman,” about God summoning Death to get Everybody to make an accounting of their lives, with an onstage lottery determining which of five actors will play Everybody at each performance.
• “Cry it Out” (June 2-18, 2023): The Wellington School, Blanchard Performing Arts Center, 3650 Reed Road): Molly Smith Metzler’s comic drama, a 2017 hit at the 41st Humana Festival of New American Plays, revolves around three new mothers from different backgrounds who connect over common struggles but are divided by socio-economic differences. (For greater accessibility, and given the play’s motherhood themes, the production will be staged with earlier show times and will offer child care during performances.)
Subscriptions, available now, cost $75, or from $100 to $5,000 for seasonal “Championships.”
All single tickets are "pay what you want at the door", or $25 if reserved online in advance at avltheatre.com. For more information, email avltheatre@gmail.com.
@mgrossberg1
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Available Light to stage 3 plays in Columbus during 2022-23 season
