THIRTY -SOMETHING Joan Evans's Decade at a Glance revisits the Great Depression (photo: Julie Lemberger).

INSIDE INK

By John Rowell

‘ZERO’ IS A TEN

It’s nice, in these uncertain economic times, to report on a surprise hit. The acclaimed new play Zero Hour, about the life of theater legend Zero Mostel, has been successful enough to rate a transfer to the off-Broadway house DR2, with performances beginning Feb. 24. The great stage and screen star of “Forum,” “Fiddler,” “Rhinoceros” and “The Producers” is brought to life in all his complicated and volcanic glory by actor Jim Brochu, under the direction of three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie. If you missed it the first go round, here’s your chance. Check out www.ZeroHourShow.com.

 

GET YOUR ‘CLOTHES’ON

I’m often wondering, in our revival-obsessed theater world, what the playwrights themselves would think of the new productions of their old works. Would Thornton Wilder be as excited by David Cromer’s revelatory, but unusual, staging of Our Town as the rest of us were? Would Noel Coward approve of Victor Garber’s turn in the role he wrote for himself in Present Laughter? Would Shakespeare even recognize some of his plays in the various wild incarnations his work regularly receives? Well, we’ll never know, but I would like to think that the late, great Tennessee Williams would be pleased that the White Horse Theater Company was all set to revive his unsuccessful 1980 play Clothes For A Summer Hotel (the last play he opened on Broadway) which starred Geraldine Page in its original staging. Clothes, which Williams called a “ghost play,” imagines a meeting between the restless ghosts of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, set near the gates of the North Carolina asylum where Zelda was institutionalized before her death by fire in 1948. The White Horse production will be directed by Cyndy A. Marion, and performances begin Feb. 5 at the Hudson Guild Theatre. For more info, visit www.WhiteHorseTheater.com.

 

JUMP ON THIS

Young actors, listen up: SpringboardNYC is an intensive summer boot camp for student actors sponsored by the American Theatre Wing, and one of the most exciting-sounding programs of its kind that I’ve heard about. Designed as a transitional program, SpringboardNYC offers young adults information and contacts that would otherwise take years to develop, and is intended for serious students looking to take the plunge into the New York theatre world—a leap that seems to become harder and harder all the time (and it’s always been hard—I mean, look at Stage Door! From the 1930s!) Applications are now being accepted through April 1; open to college students currently in their junior or senior year. Visit www.americantheatrewing.org/springboardnyc.

 

WHEN THE DUST SETTLES

And speaking of the 1930s, the renowned Stella Adler Studio has an interesting project on its boards in Decade at a Glance, a World Premiere written and directed by Joan Evans, which blends theatrical documentary, movement-theater and elements of the folk musical, all inspired by the Depression-era photographs of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange. It’s an epic story of a few families in the Dustbowl circa 1936 who become uprooted from their farmland by drought, dust storms and mortgage foreclosures. Evans directs a cast of 15, and performances begin Feb. 11 at the Adler Studio on West 27th Street.

 

COUPLES RETREAT

The intersecting lives of two couples over a lifetime—their good fortune, their bad choices, from the cradle to creeping decrepitude—is the subject of Daniel Meltzer’s unusual new comedy entitled A Cable From Gibraltar, which receives its Off-Off-Broadway premiere at Medicine Show Theatre beginning Feb. 6.

The play might be described as “a marriage between Coward and Shaw, officiated by Ionesco, and witnessed by Thornton Wilder.” There it is! Robert Kalfin directs the four-member cast, which includes Roger Clark, David Csizmadia, Deborah Radoff and Jeannine Taylor.

 

WHEN THE ‘SAINT’GOES MARCHING...

...down the red carpet! In front of the klieg lights! Up and down Sunset Boulevard! Wait, what kind of a saint does that?! Why, Saint Hollywood, of course, which happens to be the title of comedian Willard Morgan’s one-man multimedia musical, opening Feb. 4 at Ideal Glass Gallery on East 2nd Street. The show details Morgan’s wild ride chasing Hollywood stardom which ends up being a descent into the belly of the show business beast. Told with digital video projection and a live five-piece rock band, Saint Hollywood premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and comes to New York courtesy of Minetta Street Productions. Jim Milton directs, and performances continue through Feb. 20. Visit www.sainthollywood.com.