can think of one, perhaps two or three people, who might possibly know all the theaters in New York City. I certainly don't, although I make it my business to know as many as I can. It really is quite an active scene, with more new plays than one can keep track of, much less attend...even works improvised in front of our eyes, but this all rests on a bedrock of revivals, which may be in the minority, although they seem to flourish everywhere. There is always the question of how good the new shows actually are and whether the the revivals are filling a yawning gap. If you talk to actors and directors, you’ll consider the issue seriously. You'll find the entire mixture in New York Arts—good, bad, and indifferent—with a healthy component of revivals, ranging from high-profile visiting companies, for example Sophocles' Antigone with an internationally-celebrated star to the Barnard Columbia Ancient Drama Group's unforgettable production of a lesser-known play by Euripides in ancient Greek. In this retrospective article, I'd like to discuss a few productions and a few companies which have brought me particular pleasure over the past year. Their productions were important enough, in their different ways, and excellent enough, to make a difference in how I view our theatrical landscape. What they all share is a deep devotion to serving the text and historical character of the works they produce, whether they are classics or long-forgotten obscurities.
