Playwright Releases New Production From His Hudson Valley Home

The show must go on.

With Broadway productions shut down through at least through Labor Day, theater fans have been left in the dark. However, one Tony-winning playwright has taken the opportunity to not only write a new play, but he also staged and produced it to show to the entire world.

Richard Nelson has been crafting plays at the Public Theater for the past decade. The Rhinebeck Panorama is a series of plays set in Nelson's hometown in the Hudson Valley. The productions center around different families dealing with life and the world around them. What makes these shows unique, however, is that the stories all take place on the actual opening date of the play. Presented on important days like elections or the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the plays work the headlines of the day into the narrative of the script.

With the COVID-19 shutdown underway, Nelson is back at the Public Theater, but working from home. The playwright has penned a brand new production written from his home in Rhinebeck to be performed live on Zoom. What Do We Need To Talk About? was originally broadcast on April 29 and released for a limited four-day run.

Due to public demand, the Public Theater has brought the play back. So if you missed it the first time around, you can watch it now for free. According to Broadway World, the production will be available through June 29. Here's the YouTube stream:

The play reintroduces the audience to the Apple family, who was last seen as the subjects of a Rhinebeck Panorama production in 2013. Now they've reunited over Zoom to discuss their lives during the stay-at-home orders.

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