The Michaels

A double volume that features the final installments from Tony Award-winning playwright and director Richard Nelson’s critically acclaimed Rhinebeck Panorama.

Begun over twelve years ago, each play in Nelson’s intricate and moving play cycle captures a snapshot in the lives of three families from a small upstate New York village: the Apple family, the Gabriels, and now the Michaels—a family with deep roots in the world of modern dance.

The first play in this collection, The Michaels: Conversations During Difficult Times, takes place in the kitchen of Rose Michael, a celebrated choreographer. A meal is prepared, modern dances are rehearsed, and dinner is eaten—all amidst conversations about art, death, family, politics, and the state of America.

What Happened?: The Michaels Abroad brings the cycle to a close as the Michaels find themselves in Angers, France, in September 2021. They are attending a student dance festival and crawling out from under a deadly pandemic, which turned life as they knew it upside down.