Theater Update: Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘Spunk’ comes alive after 100 years

October 15, 2025

Dear Theater Fans,

You may get chills, as I did, while reading through Salamishah Tillet’s dynamic multimedia piece on the first fully-staged production of “Spunk,” one of Zora Neale Hurston’s long-forgotten plays, now at Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven, Conn. Through photography, audio, video — some of it recorded by Hurston — you will hear the writer herself, and see elements of her vision for the play. It was an astonishing 100-year journey, and not always an easy one, because the text existed only in draft form. As the director Tamilla Woodard told Salamishah, “I’d say to the team, ‘Trust Zora.’ It’s in the play, it’s in the script, we just have to be able to see it.”

Zora Neale Hurston, far left, in Eatonville, Fla., with the musicians Rochelle French, center, and Gabriel Brown, who might have been the inspiration for the title character of Hurston’s “Spunk.” Library of Congress

Also this past week:

Broadway news: Michael Paulson reported that the reimagined version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” musical, which is set in the ballroom scene and subtitled “The Jellicle Ball,” will come to Broadway in the spring after winning rave reviews for its Off Broadway run last year.
Off Broadway: Robin Pogrebin talked to Ari’el Stachel about the actor’s struggles with anxiety stemming from identity issues (he’s an Arab Jew) and his lifelong sense of inadequacy.
Off Broadway, Part II: Tim Teeman has two Off Broadway reviews this week: “Are the Bennet Girls OK?,” which he designated a Critic’s Pick, and “The Least Problematic Woman in the World,” which features an “entertaining, bold” Dylan Mulvaney.
‘Beetlejuice’ is back: The national tour of this stage adaptation of the Tim Burton film is now haunting Broadway’s Palace Theater for an engagement scheduled to close on Jan. 3. Just in time for Halloween, here’s a video of the opening number, “The Whole Being Dead Thing,” starring the show’s original lead, Alex Brightman.

Please reach out to me at theaterfeedback@nytimes.com with suggestions for stories or to offer your thoughts about our coverage. And urge your friends to subscribe to this newsletter.

Have a wonderful week,
Nicole Herrington
Theater Editor

Avion Pearce for The New York Times

Zora Neale Hurston’s Play Comes Alive 100 Years Later

“Spunk,” a fable weaving together music and movement, is getting its first full staging since being rediscovered in 1997.

By Salamishah Tillet

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