A double volume that collects two of the final installments from Tony Award-winning playwright and director Richard Nelson’s critically-acclaimed “Rhinebeck Panorama” play cycle.
Begun over 12 years ago, each play in Nelson’s intricate and moving play cycle captures a specific snapshot in time in the lives of three families from a small upstate New York village, from the Apple family, to the Gabriels, and now the Michaels—a family with deep roots in the world of modern dance.
The Michaels: Conversations During Difficult Times takes place in the kitchen of Rose Michael, a celebrated choreographer. A meal is prepared, modern dances are rehearsed, and dinner is eaten—all amidst conversations about art, death, family, politics, and the state of America.
What Happened?: The Michaels Abroad brings the cycle to a close as the Michaels find themselves in Angers, France in September 2021, attending a student dance festival and crawling out from under the deadly pandemic, which turned life as they knew it upside down.
“Truly moving…The Michaels is as hopeful as it is heartbreaking.” —New York Times on The Michaels
“[A] spare, deceptively simple but ultimately heart-wrenching play.” —The Hollywood Reporter on The Michaels
“A beautifully written, finely directed piece of theater…you will leave feeling marvelously full.” —The Daily Beast on The Michaels
“These extraordinary plays have left us scrambling with each new visit to recall how things stood 'when last we left them,' and wondering what will happen next.” —The New York Times on What Happened?
“Without pedantry or pretense, What Happened? shines a fierce light on COVID’s devastating impact not just on artists, but on the vast majority of individuals who, whatever their backgrounds, were not thriving to begin with under the grossly deformed model of capitalism that has overtaken the American economy.” —New York Stage Review on What Happened?
