Theater News

Rachel Chavkin to Direct Anything That Gives Off Light at Joe's Pub

The Team’s collective show features music and lyrics by the Bengsons.

Rachel Chavkin is the artistic director of the Brooklyn theater ensemble the Team, which will present its new work Anything That Gives Off Light at Joe's Pub in March.
Rachel Chavkin is the artistic director of the Brooklyn theater ensemble the Team, which will present its new work Anything That Gives Off Light at Joe's Pub in March.
(© Tricia Baron)

The award-winning Brooklyn theater ensemble the Team has announced that it will present Anything That Gives Off Light — a coproduction with National Theatre of Scotland and Edinburgh International Festival — March 14-30, 2019, at Joe's Pub, with opening night set for Saturday, March 16.

The piece is described as follows: "In a pub at the end of the road, an American woman drinks alone, trying to forget the home she left behind in West Virginia. Two old Scottish friends, one of whom left for London long ago, wrestle with a fresh grief and a festering sense of betrayal. The three collide and set off on an increasingly blurry journey through the Highlands and across the seas, digging down into layers of national mythology, and bringing to the surface memories of migrations forced and chosen."

Anything That Gives Off Light was drawn from interviews with people from across the political spectrum in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky, and in Scotland. It is written by Jessica Almasy, Davey Anderson, Fraser Ayres, Rachel Chavkin, Brian Ferguson, and Alexander Grierson, with music and lyrics by the Bengsons. It is created in collaboration with Matt Hubbs, Nick Vaughan, Brian Hastert, and Libby King, and directed by Rachel Chavkin with associate direction by Davey Anderson. The cast will feature Jessica Almasy, Martin Donaghy, Reuben Joseph, Jessie Linden, Maya Sharpe, and Katrina Yaukey.