Daily Rehearsal: Charles Strouse on Jay-Z’s use of ‘Annie’
By Kate Dries

Daily Rehearsal: Charles Strouse on Jay-Z’s use of ‘Annie’
By Kate Dries1. I love history, and you should too. A Doll’s House director Chris Maher has taken Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play and moved it to suburban America of 1962. How does it work? The struggles of the protagonist Nora as “a woman lost” are moved to the cusp of the feminist movement, and give Ibsen’s original conceit a whole new meaning. It’s at Theater at the Lake this Saturday night, which means let’s hope it doesn’t rain.

2. Field of Souls is still running at the eta Creative Arts Foundation; it follows Buddy Dixon, a former Korean War soldier who comes home and finds that racism still exists as he left it.
3. Closing this weekend at The Side Project is Ruckus’ 15 Minutes, which was brought through Side Project’s visiting artists series, and started at the beginning of June. You can also catch Little Black Book’s PHONE WHORE (“a one-act play with frequent interruptions”). Both productions focus on modern struggles, like meeting people over the internet, and being a phone sex operation, naturally.

5. David Henry Hwang will be on Worldview today talking about his new play Chinglish opening at the Goodman next week. He’ll discuss why he’s exploring US-Chinese relations after he already broached the subject in his Tony-winning play M Butterfly.
Questions? Tips? Email kdries@wbez.org.