59E59 Theaters

The Civilians, one of Off Broadway's most consistently clever and original troupes, returns with a new docutheater work assembled—by conceiver-director Steve Cosson and Jocelyn Clarke—out of archival 1970s radio interviews with avant-garde artists (including many from WNYC's& Arts Forum). The five performers—Robert M. Johanson, Jennifer Morris, Joshua David Robinson, Maya Sharpe and Colleen Werthmann—received their lines through headphones, allowing them to channel the words and speech patterns of such outside-the-box creators as Harry Smith, Yvonne Rainer, Kenneth Anger and Babette Mangolte.

Veteran playwright Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor) digs through his parents' mail in a two-person epistolary drama inspired by his own family's correspondence. Michael Liebhauser and Alexandra Fortin play pen pals who exchange letters during World War II—he's a military doctor, she's a would-be actress in New York—and hope to connect in real life. Stephen Nachamie directs.