WHAT HAPPENED?: THE MICHAELS ABROAD World Premiere to be Presented at the Frederick Loewe Theater at Hunter College

WHAT HAPPENED?: THE MICHAELS ABROAD, the world premiere play and the final in the Rhinebeck Panorama, written and directed by Tony Award winner Richard Nelson, will begin performances on Saturday, August 28 at Frederick Loewe Theater at Hunter College in a very intimate 74-seat configuration. The strictly limited engagement for Hunter Theater Project will have a press opening night on September 8, the same day the play is set, and run through October 8. General admission tickets are priced at $39.50 with student tickets $17.50, including service charges. For more information on the world premiere production and to purchase tickets, please visit www.huntertheaterproject.org.

Begun 12 years ago with the four-play Apple Family play series, and continued with the three plays of The Gabriels, and again last summer with A Pandemic Trilogy (three Zoom plays), Nelson's Rhinebeck Panorama has followed the lives of families from a small Upstate village for over a decade, with a total of 12 plays. The Michaels, about the third family in this series, premiered in the fall of 2019 and WHAT HAPPENED?: THE MICHAELS ABROAD, Nelson's latest and last of this series, brings the Rhinebeck Panorama to a close.

No longer in comfortable Rhinebeck, New York, the Michaels family with deep roots in the world of modern dance, are crawling out from under the deadly pandemic, which has turned life as we knew it, upside down. It is now September 8th, 2021, and we find the Michaels in Angers, France, to attend a student dance festival. Called "As hopeful as it is heartbreaking" (New York Times), the first Michaels play took us into the kitchen of Rose Michael, a celebrated choreographer, as she faced a serious illness; What Happened? brings the family back together without the presence of its matriarch, Rose. Once again we are in a kitchen, and once again we witness the making of a meal; and like its title, What Happened?, the characters are asking questions - what just happened? What now? As they cook and eat and dance.

WHAT HAPPENED?: THE MICHAELS ABROAD features Charlotte Bydwell, Haviland Morris, Maryann Plunkett, Jay O. Sanders, Matilda Sakamoto, Rita Wolf and Yvonne Woods. Sets by Jason ArdizzoneWest; Costumes by Susan Hilferty; Lighting by Jennifer Tipton; Sound by Will Pickens. Production Stage Manager Theresa Flanagan.

All guests must provide proof of completed immunization via Excelsior Pass or Vax Card, upon arrival to the event, and masks must be worn during the performance. Any individual who fails to present proof of immunization, as required, will not be admitted into the event. Children under the age of 12 who are not yet vaccine eligible, and under the age of 16 who have not yet been vaccinated, may accompany and be seated with a vaccinated adult if masked.