Timely Tales, Terrific Tunes & More! 5 Must-Do Events for the Week of October 21 to 27

A trio of ripped-from-the-headlines dramas dominates the coming week on New York stages, plus the Broadway return of a talented Tony nominee and a cabaret evening with the composers of Legally Blonde. Omigod you guys, check out our must-do events for the week of October 21 through 27.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21
BACK TO REALITY
The true story of Reality Winner, a 25-year-old Air Force linguist sentenced to prison for leaking a report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, gets a well-timed stage adaptation in Tina Satter’s Is This a Room. The Obie winner created a real-life thriller based on the surreal transcripts of Winner’s 2017 interrogation by FBI agents in her Georgia home. (The play’s title comes from a random comment one of the agents made on tape.) After winning raves at The Kitchen, Is This a Room reopens at the Vineyard Theatre on October 21 for a limited engagement, directed by Satter and starring Emily C. Davis as Reality and Pete Simpson as Agent Garrick.
INFO:  Limited run through November 10 at the Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street). Tickets start at $35.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21
FEEL THE POWER
It’s a busy season for playwright Sylvia Khoury, with two works being produced off-Broadway in the next six months while she completes her fourth year as a medical student (!) at Mount Sinai Hospital. A New Yorker of French and Lebanese descent, Khoury writes about the human cost of conflicts in the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan. First up: Power Strip, which centers on a young Syrian woman (Dance Nation's Dina Shihabi) stuck in a Greek refugee camp after her life is turned upside down by civil war. Opening night of this LCT3 production is set for October 21 at the intimate Claire Tow Theater, to be followed next March by Playwright Horizons’ production of Khoury’s award-winning drama Selling Kabul.
INFO: Limited run through November 17 at Lincoln Center Theater’s Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65th Street). All tickets $30. Click for more info.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21
HIT PARADE
Separately and together, husband and wife theater pros Nell Benjamin and Laurence O’Keefe have had a hand in crafting smart and funny musicals such as Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, Heathers and Bat Boy. A fab roster of their current and former cast members will join the couple at 54 Below on October 21 for two performances of “I Remember It Differently.” Join Broadway stars Patti Murin, James Snyder, Kate Rockwell, Kristolyn Lloyd and more for a fun-filled evening of song and storytelling, celebrating Benjamin’s Mean Girls on Broadway, O’Keefe’s Heathers in London’s West End, and still-in-development shows such as Dave and Because of Winn-Dixie. These two can do it all!
INFO: 7PM and 9:30PM on October 21 at 54 Below (254 West 54th Street). Tickets start at $35, plus $25 food and beverage minimum. Click for more info.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22
PLAYING WITH FIRES
"Words have always held a particular power for me," playwright and actress Anna Deavere Smith wrote in an introduction to Fires in the Mirror, her groundbreaking 1992 solo show about racial conflict in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. This still timely drama is back to educate and entertain a new generation, with Michael Benjamin Washington (The Boys in the Band) performing the words of the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rabbi Joseph Spielman, activist Angela Davis and 18 other real-life characters interviewed by Smith. Off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre smartly chose Smith as a focus of its current season, with Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 on deck next spring. Don’t miss these riveting works of documentary theater.
INFO: Limited run through November 24 at The Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street). Tickets start at $41.50.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22
MOTHER'S DAY
Ten years after her Tony-nominated performance as Mother in Ragtime, and seven years after playing the title character’s mother in Chaplin, Christiane Noll is headed back to Broadway as grieving mom Cynthia Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen. Noll spent a year on the road as Cynthia, and now New York audiences get to see this compelling leading lady deal with Connor’s death, Larry’s anger, Zoe’s angst, Heidi’s envy and Evan’s lies. (It’s a lot!) During her Ragtime run, Noll spoke about playing mothers on stage in a Broadway.com Q&A that remains relevant a decade later. We can’t wait to see her sing about that elusive map to parenthood in her long overdue return to the Great White Way.
INFO: Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street). Tickets start at $89.

Illustrations by Tug Rice for Broadway.com