“The Crossword Play” Makes Its World Premiere at Ellenville's Shadowland Stages

After such a harrowing lockdown saga—its long-serving artistic director, Brendan Burke, was in the ICU with COVID—it’s been wonderfully poignant to see the independent area theater Shadowland Stages reemerge with two world premieres: “Safe Home” (cowritten by Tom Hanks) and “The Crossword Play (or Ezmeranda’s Gift),” which will run from June 24 through July 10.

Written by Donna Hoke, directed by Melisa Annis, and starring comedienne Kyle June Williams in the lead role of “an expert-level crossword puzzle maker in a puzzle-making workshop, where she guides us through the conventions, strictures, and rules of crossword puzzle creation—until things get a bit unruly.”

The play will be produced not on Shadowland’s main stage, but in its more intimate black-box theater, the Studio. “The Studio makes a perfect place for this inventive, environmentally conceived production and puts the audience ‘in the room, as events unfold,” say the presenters.

“We’re so fortunate at Shadowland to have a second venue, the Studio, for shows like this that benefit from an intimate relationship between the audience and performer,” says Burke. “In this case, the audience will be the attendees of a crossword workshop in the world of the play.”

Hoke’s award-winning and -nominated plays include “Brilliant Works of Art,” “Elevator Girl,” “Safe,” and “Teach.” An award-winning playwright herself, Annis has previously directed “The Night Alive,” “Mystery of Love & Sex,” and “Disgraced” at Shadowland. Williams has performed to sold-out rooms at the Wiltern, the Kennedy Center, the Apollo in London, and Radio City Music Hall.

“The Crossword Play (or Ezmeranda’s Gift)” will run from June 24 through July 10 at Shadowland Stages in Ellenville. Tickets are $34-$42. See website for showtimes.