Check Out Joshua William Gelb’s Theater in Quarantine

Editor’s Note: As a response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve changed the focus of the Critics’ Picks section to include activities you can partake in while you’re at home practicing social distance. 

Even as theaters remain dark, it’s been exciting to see the imagination and ingenuity of theater-makers. Take NYC-based writer, director and performer Joshua William Gelb. Not long after New York’s stay-at-home orders were announced, Gelb converted a closet in his East Village apartment into a white-box digital theater/theatrical laboratory with the idea of staging livestream performances. Theater in Quarantine offers a new work every other Thursday, available through Gelb’s YouTube channel, and follows up with a live chat about the challenges of making meaningful digital theater while in isolation. On June 11, you can see Topside — a new work inspired by Donald Barthelme’s Game — by Scott R. Sheppard. Hypochondriac 1, part of a fresh adaptation of Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid, streams on June 25. Visit joshuawilliamgelb.com to learn more. 6 and 8 p.m. Thursday, June 11 AMY STUMPFL