Courtesy graphic
It’s not every day that a Fayetteville-based professional theatre company makes the NY Times list highlighting the best theatre of the year.
It was yesterday. Tuesday, Dec. 1, to be exact.
That’s when the Times released their Best Theatre of 2020 list, which happened to include local company TheatreSquared’s (in association with TheaterWorks Hartford and Brooklyn-based Civilians) production of Russian Troll Farm on its list of the most compelling plays of the year.
From the New York Times story:
With no end to the pandemic in sight, theater-makers had to face the fact that repurposing existing stage works was not going to produce vibrant new ones for our changed world. Just in time, “Russian Troll Farm,” by Sarah Gancher, showed that digital-native productions could make the medium maximally expressive — in this case by exploring the world of online Russian election disrupters using an online aesthetic. It took two directors (Jared Mezzocchi and Elizabeth Williamson) and three companies (TheaterWorks Hartford, Theater Squared in Arkansas and the Brooklyn-based Civilians) to pull it off, but it was a key step forward and a wicked-smart ride.
It’s a pretty big deal. The list, which only includes 10 productions each year, is one of the most highly anticipated articles of the year among theatre professionals.
Chief theatre critic Jesse Green, who was among the authors of the list, said this year’s list featured shows that “matched the moment” in what has been a difficult year for the industry.
“As I looked back at 2020, even considering the disaster that divided it into before and after, I found that theater was still doing what it does at its best: showing us how we live right now, and how we might live better,” Green wrote.
TheatreSquared Executive Director Martin Miller and Artistic Director Bob Ford sent an email to supporters, and recognized the artists behind the production.
“The recognition is a credit to the remarkable artists who worked on the featured production of Sarah Gancher’s Russian Troll Farm along with our collaborators, Theaterworks Hartford and New York’s The Civilians,” the T2 leaders said in the email.
Russian Troll Farm’s run of virtual shows has been extended through Dec. 31. Tickets to stream the show for up to 24 hours are $22, and are available here.
