Two runs of the upcoming season — “land tripDirected by Stevie Walker-Webb,” and “Midsummer SnowDirected by Zi Alikhan, both scheduled for the first half of 2022”, by living artists of color. Both reimagine classic stories: Homer’s “The Odyssey” and Guan Hanqing’s “The Injustice to Dou Yi That Mod Heaven and Earth”.
These plays, Doyle said, “are trying to take world-class stories and present them to a modern audience, with the hope and intent of bringing new audiences to the theatre.”
“A Man Who Doesn’t Matter” resonates with Doyle. This is a musical about a Celtic man (Doyle is Scottish) doing theater for his local community (Doyle once did).
“It celebrates what theater can do and how theater can make change,” Doyle said. “And I hope my departure will help make more changes. And I hope that in terms of how theater touches our souls, doing a piece about how spiritual it can be in a way is a nice way to leave.”
Thinking about his tenure, Doyle said he was particularly proud to reconstruct the physical space of the theater itself. “It feels like a New York area to me now, not just a black box,” he said. “Games come and go, but space remains. And it’s a truly remarkable area.”
His departure is not retirement. Doyle said the pandemic has made him realize the importance of family, self and quiet time, but that theater is as important to him as ever. And although she would like to spend more time with her husband in the Scottish Highlands, she has no plans to leave New York anytime soon.
“As we say in Britain, I’m really hopeful that I can do one or two more Broadway shows before I get my clogs out,” Doyle said. “I would love it.”