Star Wars fans who enjoyed Oscar Isaac’s turn as pilot Poe Dameron in the sequel trilogy have been given another opportunity to enjoy his talents with an encore online performance of Beirut.
The one-act play, which stars Issac as well as Marisa Tomei and Patrick Breen, was originally performed in April 2020 as a fundraiser for the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater.
Eerie echoes
Beirut, written by Alan Bowne and introduced in 1987, has eerie echoes for 2020-2021 life. It concerns a man named Torch, who is quarantined in his Lower East Side apartment in New York City after he tests positive for a disease no one understands.
The stripped-down performance of Beirut was directed by Will Cantler, who serves as MCC’s Co-Artistic Director.
Marisa Tomei plays Torch’s girlfriend, who struggles to pull him out of psychological and emotional isolation. She portrayed the role in a more traditional theater performance when the work debuted in the 80’s. Tomei, who won an Oscar in 1992 for her work in My Cousin Vinny, was once a member of the MCC organization.
Beyond the X Wing Cockpit
Isaac, who also played the title role of Oedipus in a virtual Theater of War production of The Oedipus Project last year, has completed several projects which have been delayed by COVID 19 restrictions. These include Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter and a turn as Duke Leto of House Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s remake of Dune.
He is currently shooting a reboot of HBO’s Scenes from a Marriage with his Juilliard classmate, Jessica Chastain, with whom he has already worked in 2014’s A Most Violent Year. Isaac was also recently confirmed to play the lead in Moon Knight, an upcoming Marvel show to stream on Disney Plus. In addition, Isaac will play Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid.
Ticketing Details
The encore performance of Beirut is scheduled for Thursday, January 28, at 7:30 PM EST. The cost for access to the stream is $5.00, but audience members are encouraged to donate beyond that or honor the organization’s request to “pay what you can.”
Ticketholders who are unable to join the streaming encore may watch the performance through Sunday, January 31. Those who are already subscribers and patrons for MCC can access the re-airing through the organization’s On Demand feature.
MCC Theater was originally formed in 1986 as the Manhattan Class Company. It’s located in the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City and supports a youth company as well as an educational outreach program.
Tickets for the online streaming performance of Beirut are available here.