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THETHEATRE
The Line
Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, the co-creators
of “The Exonerated” and “Coal Country,”
are among the foremost practitioners of doc-
umentary theatre in the U.S. Their latest
show, with the Public Theatre, is an emotional
and, yes, political gut punch. Blank (who
also directed) and Jensen built the script out
of interviews with New York City medical
first responders—portrayed with a sobriety
that does not exclude simmering passion by
such superb actors as Santino Fontana, John
Ortiz, Alison Pill, Nicholas Pinnock, and
Lorraine Toussaint. In a little more than
an hour, “The Line” takes us through the
horrific escalation of COVID-19 cases that
pushed New York to the brink in the spring.
The stories are simultaneously infuriating
and affecting, unsparing and gentle. Aimee
Mann’s song “Batten Down” makes for a stark,
haunting conclusion as it plays over photos
of real-life responders.—Elisabeth Vincentelli
(publictheater.org)1
A RTJean-Marie Appriou
Three mammoth horses haunt the south-
east entrance to Central Park in this French
artist’s Public Art Fund commission—be-
nevolent, dispassionate, and disintegrating.
None of the cobbled-together, cast-aluminum
creatures is entirely whole. One sits watch-
fully, earless; another stands, its chest sliced
through horizontally, creating a flat surface;
the elongated torso of the third is bent into
an archway. Facing Appriou’s poignant sen-
tinels from inside the Park offers a glimpse
of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s gilded-bronze
statue of William Tecumseh Sherman, in
Grand Army Plaza, where the Union general
rides a horse led by a winged goddess—a
very different kind of equestrian sculpture.
Appriou’s horses, whose pedestal-free forms
allow pedestrians to wander underneath and
around them, seem like anti-monuments in
contrast with that lofty symbol of officialinstead is a lively, vivid pageant—colorful
costumes, powerful rhythms, and scores of
dancers moving in mesmerizing patterns
across the stage. “Dougla,” long a staple of
Dance Theatre of Harlem’s repertoire, was
shelved several years ago, when the company
was forced to scale down. The piece’s return,
in 2018, was a sign of the ensemble’s renewed
health, reason enough to celebrate. Starting
on July 25, at 8 p.m., it will be broadcast on
the company’s YouTube page.—Marina Harss
(dancetheatreofharlem.org/dthondemand)Jacob’s Pillow
The virtual version of the Pillow’s summer
festival continues, on July 23, with a pro-
gram by Ronald K. Brown, the deserving
winner of this year’s Jacob’s Pillow Dance
Award. The tentpole is a 2005 performance
of “Grace,” Brown’s perennially uplifting
signature piece. But the selections also
include a remarkable 2002 show in which
Brown danced in supple tribute to Katherine
Dunham, a predecessor whose work, in the
nineteen-thirties and forties, brought dances
of the African diaspora to the concert stage.
And from his company’s most recent visit
to the Pillow, in 2018, comes “New Conver-
sations,” a many-layered collaboration with
the Afro-Latino composer and bandleader
Arturo O’Farrill.—B.S. (jacobspillow.org/
virtual-pillow)JoyceStream: A.I.M
Through Aug. 14, the Joyce Theatre streams
Kyle Abraham’s “Meditation: A Silent
Prayer.” The ten-minute work, made in 2018
and still all too topical, is not silent. Cut-
ting through a mournful mist of strings are
harrowing sounds: the voice of Carrie Mae
Weems listing the names and ages of Black
people killed by the police; audio from the ILLUSTRATION BY SOL COTTIThe dauntless Ice Factory Festival, typi-
cally held at the West Village’s New Ohio
Theatre, is trying something new for its
twenty-seventh year: live-streaming four
original works in four weeks. “Begin-
ning Days of True Jubilation” ( July 24-
26), from the ensemble Society, satirizes
the groupthink and utopianism of tech
startups. “We Need Your Listening”
( July 30-Aug. 2) embraces the hurdles
of virtual theatre by creating one-on-one
exchanges between performers and spec-
tators. The Transit Ensemble’s “Who’s
There?” (Aug. 4-8), featuring artists from
the U.S., Singapore, and Malaysia, tackles
post-George Floyd racial politics across
continents. And the musical “A Burning
Church” (Aug. 13-15) contemplates, in the
form of a virtual religious service, the role
of worship in American liberation. Visit
newohiotheatre.org.—Michael Schulman
THEATREFESTIVAL
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DANCE
City Center Live @ Home:
Ayodele Casel
The eloquent tap dancer Ayodele Casel be-
lieves in expressing herself not just through
her feet but also through her words, and her
“Diary of a Tap Dancer” shows have effec-
tively combined dance with verbal reflections
on why she dances. A new, virtual version of
the project allows tap dancers to give voice
to how they are living in this moment. Each
Tuesday through Aug. 25, another short video
débuts on New York City Center’s Web site,
and though Casel appears in one, she is
mainly passing the mike to others, includ-
ing the veteran showman Ted Levy, Michela
Marino Lerman, and Lisa La Touche.—Brian
Seibert (nycitycenter.org/tap)
DTH on Demand: “Dougla”
The 1974 dance “Dougla,” by Geoffrey
Holder, should not be mistaken for au-
thentic folklore. Its commingling of Afri-
can-inspired and Indian-accented dance—an
evocation of the hybrid Dougla culture of
Trinidad, Holder’s birthplace—is hardly eth-
nographically precise. What “Dougla” offers
aftermath of Philando Castile’s death. The
dance is a prayer, though, one with muted,
delicate, pained beauty.—B.S. (joyce.org/
joycestream)PlayBAC/Aszure Barton
Artists’ residencies are at the heart of the
Baryshnikov Arts Center’s mission. Back in
2005, one of those artists was Aszure Barton,
a young Canadian choreographer with a bal-
let background and an eccentric sensibility.
“Over/Come,” a work for thirteen dancers
set to love songs by Giorgio Conte and Andy
Williams, was the fruit of her time there. It’s
an enigmatic piece that’s seemingly about
love, not all of it happy. The dancers vamp
and flirt, couple up and separate. The tone
veers from ironic to vulnerable to bubbly.
Along the way, Barton reveals the dancers’
distinct personalities. “Over/Come” broad-
casts July 23-28.—M.H. (bacnyc.org/explore)string quartet Brooklyn Rider (July 22) that
mixes Beethoven with Philip Glass, Caroline
Shaw, and Matana Roberts. A starry cente-
nary salute to Isaac Stern (July 23) features
the violinists Vadim Gluzman, Midori, and
Nancy Zhou, and a recital by the violinist
Augustin Hadelich and the pianist Orion
Weiss (July 25) includes music by Brahms,
Debussy, and John Adams.—Steve Smith
(July 22-28.)