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Next up at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre is New Born- an evening of theater exploring relationships, identity, and change from acclaimed British playwright Ella Hickson. The play is directed by Ian Rickson and led by Marianna Gailus, Sepideh Moafi, and Audible x Together co-founder Hugh Jackman.
A tree surgeon falls in love. A young woman searches for her lost friend on the prairie.
A new mother is consumed by an unlikely celebrity friendship. In three monologues, unrelated individuals find their smallest choices ripple into seismic changes that connect them across centuries and continents. An unforgettable e
“[Ella]’s play blew me away,” Moafi told BroadwayWorld’s Richard Ridge. “There’s something so precise and alive and vulnerable and true. All of these characters are exploring this wild labyrinth, and they come out anew and they go into the depths of their psyche and take the audience with them. There’s something so raw and intimate and beautiful and glorious and lifelike about it.”
“I hadn’t read the other two pieces until we got the rehearsal script. And so that was so special,” added Gailus. “I had just worked on this little, very closed in, sort of snow globe ecosystem of my own little piece and then just to see the other pieces and how they sort of sit next to each other… and we keep discovering the resonances and the subtle repetitions and just the expansion and the contraction of all of the pieces.”
The show is a product of Audible Theater and TOGETHER, who have partnered for a repertory season that also featured Ella Beatty and Hugh Jackman in Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (which just concluded on April 30), and Corey Stoll and Cecily Strong in What Happened Was… (running through June 14).
Driven by a shared commitment to accessibility, 25% of the house for every performance will have $35 tickets, available only on the day of show through TodayTix or in person at the Minetta Lane box office.
“Sonia [Friedman], Ian Rickson and I were walking around Hyde Park in London and I said, ‘I first of all, selfishly, want to act more!’ I think that year I’d spent more time promoting than I had actually acting. And I was like, ‘Something’s off’,” Jackman explained.
“So how do we do it? Really what we wanted to create was a community of artists that made really as good work as we can, as vital as we can, that is accessible to everybody. And that means ticket prices, that means everything and sort of build a community in that way. So we started this collaboration last year and it went better than I could have imagined. I’m so excited to be back. We did two productions last year. This year we’re three… and it just feels like it’s growing and the trust in the community is growing in us and it’s just been heaven.”
Watch in this video as the trio chats more about what audiences can expect from the new play!
What Happened Was and New Born will be recorded and released on Audible at a later date, extending their reach to millions of listeners around the world. Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes is available now on Audible.
Stoll admits that the magic of performing live isn’t something that can be replicated onscreen. “You can create beautiful sublime moments and film and TV, but you’re never going to get the immediate connection to the to the audience. And that is that’s really magical.”
Watch in this video as both chat more about what audiences can expect from the play!
Photo Credit: Emilio Madrid
