The Rhinebeck Panorama - What Do We Need To Talk About? - Online Drama

We last met Richard Nelson’s Apple Family in 2013, which seems like a hundred years ago. The first play opened on the day Andrew Cuomo was elected Governor of New York State.  Over four years and four plays we watched the four Apple siblings, Barbara, Richard, Marian and Jane navigate their lives, during a time coinciding with the Obama Administration.

Richard Apple, having worked for Cuomo in the State Attorney General’s office, joined a corporate law firm, separated from his wife, grew apart from his two young children, until finally returning to government service, in Albany, to work again for now Governor Cuomo. This is where we find him today.Barbara has been and remains a Rhinebeck High School English teacher. Her years of care for their Uncle Benjamin ended a few years ago, with his passing.Marian continues to teach second grade; while carrying the wounds of the death of her daughter, Evan, nine years ago.Jane is divorced, her son Billy is now thirty-one and independent. She continues her pursuit of a writing career while still living with Tim, an actor, who now manages a Rhinebeck restaurant.

Now, in the midst of our unsettled world, The Apple Family, last seen in 2014, return, though not over the dinner table, but via Zoom. This hour-long play picks up with them during their now suspended and quarantined lives. They talk about grocery shopping, friends lost, new ventures on a hoped-for horizon—all at a time when human conversation (and theater) may be more needed than ever before.

World Premiere

..."I actually felt I was attending a play. It felt good. Nelson and his team have given me hope that the real thing is still there, nurturing its singular strength and agility, eager to come out of quarantine and meet us face to face." - The New York Times