There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned ghost story when the weather just starts to cool. This one ran for 33 years at the Fortune Theatre in London’s West End before taking its final bow in March of 2023. The Woman in Black, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from Susan Hill’s 1983 novel, has been touring regionally and internationally for decades, and now the tale is being told here in a staging of the original London production, continuing The Rep’s 59th season.
In the town of Big Cherry, members of the city council are trickling into their chambers (a wonderfully detailed set by director Justin Been) as Stray Dog Theatre’s smart production of The Minutes begins. There’s not much on earth more mind-numbing than the thought of sitting through exhaustive deliberations on parking spots and stolen bicycles. But the play that unfolds is a cunning orchestration from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts, who brought us Killer Joe, Superior Donuts and most notably, August: Osage County. Letts settles you deep into the humor and tedium of small-town minutiae, while the eerie currents that swirl underneath slowly bubble to the surface to erupt in a razor-sharp reproach of how history’s narratives are shaped.