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Theater Reviews
EDITOR’S NOTE
Manhattan Rep sets psychiatry-themed play
The Manhattan Repertory Theater will present Rita Lewis’s Rawshock, a new play set in a psychiatric hospital. The production will begin previews on Oct. 18, open on Oct. 24, and run through Nov. 3 at the Chain Theatre (312 W. 36th St., 4th floor). The play explores the tensions between therapists and the business mentality of a long-term psychiatric facility. The show received a developmental production in June 2023. For tickets and more information, visit manhattanrep.com. —Edward Karam
Theater for the New City (155 First Ave. at E. 10th Street) will present a revival of The Goldberg-Variations from Sept. 19 to Oct. 6. Directing the play, written in 1991 by Hungarian George Tabori, will be Manfred Bormann. First produced in Vienna, Goldberg-Variations is a backstage comedy set in Jerusalem about a troupe rehearsing a play about disasters in the Old and New Testaments in which everything goes wrong. The play examines the different ways in which individuals cope with trauma and loss. Evening performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; matinees are at 3 p.m. Sunday. For tickets and more information, visit theaterforthenewcity.net/whats-playing/. —Edward Karam
Scott Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola’s lively satiric musical Ghost of John McCain has a throw-anything-at-the-wall feel to it, but it’s apt: the action takes place inside the mind of President Donald Trump between Aug. 25, 2018 (the date of John McCain’s death) and Jan. 6, 2021. Given the attention span of the ex-President, it’s no wonder that events in his mind carom around like billiard balls.