From the ground up

It’s still several months before the B Street Theatre makes the transition from its old home at 2711 B Street to 2700 Capitol Avenue. The new location, currently under construction, will still be known by its original name.

In the meantime, the old location remains busy. Currently, the theater is hosting a production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Edward Albee’s combative, boozy 1962 drama, a gritty portrait of a seriously dysfunctional marriage. The play runs through October 29. Then, in its old location, B Street will stage its final show: an original play, appropriately titled A Moving Day. Written by Buck Busfield and Dave Pierini, it tells the story of a man forced to move out of his family home, who must face the building’s history. The show opens November 11 and runs through December 24.

Fast-forward to the new year and patrons will finally get a chance to enjoy the completed venue. On January 30, B Street launches its 2018 mainstage season and christens the new building with a comedy, One Man, Two Guvnors. It’s an updated version of Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni’s 1746 play Servant of Two Masters. It runs through March 4.

Next up will be the comic-drama Dry Powder, a post-Great Recession glimpse into the lives of the tax-dodging super-rich. It opens March 27 and runs through April 15.

On May 8, Airness, a Chelsea Marcantel comedy about air-guitar players opens; it originally premiered at the 2017 Humana Festival of New American Plays. It closes June 10.

Later that month, the company will open The Ladies Foursome, a revival of the Norm Foster comedy that B Street first staged in 2014.

“It was our best-selling show since the recession,” Busfield said. It takes the stage June 19 and runs through July 22.

In August, things get serious—and timely—with the West Coast premiere of We’re Gonna Be OK, a 1960s-era drama about two families building fallout shelters beneath their homes during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The show opens August 7 and runs through September 9.

To kick off autumn, B Street will stage Ironbound, the story of a Polish immigrant who lands in New Jersey, hoping to find her son. It runs September 25 through October 28.

The following month, Elvis Presley fans won’t want to miss The Legend of Georgia McBride, a comedy about a failed Elvis impersonator turned drag queen. It opens November 6 and closes December 9.