![](https://knightfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/in_development_poster2_3.jpg?w=350)
Mind Reels with New Theatre’s “In Development”
New plays is what New Theatre does best. Whether the work is a stinker or a hit hardly matters. What’s exciting is seeing something brand new brought to light right here in South Florida. Like playwright David Caudle’s “In Development,” which had its world premiere in Coral Gables last weekend. While not a surefire hit (what is?), the play sure keeps the mind reeling.
“In Development” is a rubik’s cube of a play. Just when you think you’ve got the plot and characters figured out, the whole genre shifts and all bets are off. Set in one of the many playwrighting workshops that now serve as a nonprofit farm team for American theater, the play peeks at what goes on during those ego-driven days and alcohol-fueled nights of artistic isolation.
“Sex and death! Dick and pussy!” Gideon Flynn (Bill Schwartz) exhorts his disciples to spill upon the stage. A two-time Pulitzer winner whose best work is decades behind him, Flynn enthralls, appalls, and paws at his youngish charges. The theater in this remote mountain town is haunted by the ghost of a sensitive scribe pushed to suicide by Flynn’s savage critique. Or was he?
Pivoting on that question, the play is a psycho-drama; no, it’s a revenge drama; oh, it’s a comedy — as Caudle slyly mimics the changes a play goes through when “written by committee” through a series of workshops. Director Ricky Martinez and his actors gamely keep pace. The thrill for the audience is trying to catch up — that, and watching the hard-bodied Schwartz and his beauteous pupil Nando (Ricardo Rodriguez) disrobe.
“In Development” runs through November 8 at 8 pm, Thursday – Saturday and 1 pm on Sunday Additional Sunday 5:30 pm performances on Oct. 18, 25 & Nov. 1; New Theatre, 4120 Laguna Street, Coral Gables, 33146; www.new-theatre.org. WARNING: This play contains Adult Content & Full Frontal Nudity!