Night of January 16th

The Lowdown

Here is a fun piece of theater trivia: before Ayn Rand was Ayn Rand, she wrote a courtroom potboiler in which the jury is pulled from the audience — and the ending changes depending on how they vote. Two different final scenes. Yours depends on the twelve people sitting in the box.

Night of January 16th puts Karen Andre on trial for the murder of her boss and lover, a business tycoon who went off a penthouse roof. Did she do it? That is not up to the playwright. That is up to whoever gets picked.

Ruth Stage launches its inaugural New York season with this revival, directed by Theo Devaney, with operatic bass Zachary James — The Addams Family, South Pacific, Coram Boy — as the attorney Flint. It is a gimmick, sure, but it is a ninety-year-old gimmick that still works, and there is nothing else in town where the person next to you might decide the ending.

Twelve days only at Theatre Row: performances begin October 7, opening night October 11, closing October 18.