Mark Cofta’s theater picks: Hello Hollinger (again), goodbye Orbiter 3

A new Christopher Durang play is always a treat, and Princeton's McCarter Theatre has commissioned his last three premieres. Turning Off the Morning News (May 4 through June 3) follows 2013 Tony Award winner Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike and 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist Miss Witherspoon. Artistic director Emily Mann directs another group of eccentric characters living supposedly normal suburban lives but fearful of their neighbors. Like his other absurd comedies, Turning Off the Morning News promises laughs, but also serious themes and bold insights.

Barrymore Award-winning playwright (Time Is on Our Side, 2016) and hilarious Elle columnist R. Eric Thomas premieres Mrs. Harrison (May 2 through 20) with Azuka Theatre Company. Two women meet for the first time at their 10-year college reunion — or did they meet before? Brandi Burgess and Danielle Lenee star, directed by Kevin Glaccum.

‘A People’ and ‘Caged’

The ambitious playwrights cooperative Orbiter 3 ends as it began in 2015, with a world premiere by a Philadelphia writer. After L Feldman's A People (May 16 through June 2), the group dissolves and becomes an online resource for theater-makers. A People, directed by Rebecca Wright, features 8 actors and 80 characters, plus live music, and explores Jewish history and heritage.

Trenton's Passage Theatre premieres Caged (May 3 through 20), written by 28 incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people who call themselves the New Jersey Prison Cooperative. Jerrell L. Henderson stages this hard-hitting, incisive drama about life in prison and the effects of incarceration on poor people of color.

Michael Hollinger times two, twice

Philadelphia playwright Michael Hollinger has two plays running locally in May: Theatre Exile just opened Sing the Body Electric (through May 13; here’s BSR's review), and 1812 Productions premiered Hope and Gravity (through May 20). This may seem extraordinary, and it is. But Hollinger had a similar situation earlier this season, when his new musical TouchTones (with Robert Maggio) premiered at the Arden Theatre Company while Act II Playhouse staged his Cold War comedy Red Herring. The tireless playwright and Villanova University professor is known for comedies with heart.

One-night stands

Revolution Shakespeare's all-women staged readings of Shakespeare plays are an eagerly awaited spring event. This year's "Revolt Against the Patriarchy" reading at the Painted Bride, Richard II (May 14), features Hannah Van Sciver in the title role, directed by Krista Apple. Last year's all-women reading, Troilus and Cressida, will become Revolution Shakespeare's full outdoor production in September.

Theater fundraisers are always fun — you have to put on a good show while asking for money — and Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium's is one of the best around. The Onion: Comfort Food (May 20) is the local absurdism specialist’s 10th annual cabaret of quirky essays from the satirical news source. New material from the Onion's first-person commentary page includes "Watching the Olympics Has Inspired Me to Start Trying to Jump Over Stuff," "I Just Found Out About Socks and I've Gotta Say, Wow!" and "The Dark Web Sucks Now that My Mom Is on It." Proceeds support IRC's 2018 Fringe Festival production, Tennessee Williams's The Eccentricities of a Nightingale.

Above: Actor Hannah Van Sciver anchors Revolution Shakespeare's reading of Richard II. (Photo courtesy of the artist.)