Little Island

The very busy Shayok Misha Chowdhury (Public Obscenities) directs the first major New York restaging of this 1985 Pulitzer Prize finalist: a Pentecostal gospel retelling of Sophocles's Oedipus story by librettist Lee Breuer (of the venerable avant-garde troupe Mabou Mines) and composer Bob Telson. "Duke of Gospel" James Hall is the music director and choir leader; the cast includes Stephanie Berry (in the preacher role originated by Morgan Freeman), Davóne Tines and Frank Senior as Oedipus, gospel singer Kim Burrell as Theseus, Samantha Howard as Antigone, Ayana George Jackson as Ismene, Jon-Michael Reese as Polyneices, Dr. Kevin Bond as Creon, Brandon Michael Nase as Balladeer and R&B artist Serpentwithfeet as Friend. 

The Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog) and her band, the Joyful Noise, share original songs and short plays in a Little Island summer hangout billed as "a punk-couture medicine show for the people." Frequent Parks collaborator Niegel Smith directs; guests at the party include Rona Figueroa, Leland Fowler, Danyel Fulton, Lance Coadie Williams and tap queen Ayodele Casel.

The internationally acclaimed operatic countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo (Akhnaten) plays the titular demented opera diva in a rare revival of a 1983 comic melodrama by Ridiculous Theatrical Company's queer auteur Charles Ludlam. Eric Ting (The Comeuppance) directs this outdoor production, which is the final major offering of Little Island's ambitious 2025 summer season.