A play set in 1987 Syracuse exploring family tensions and political divides, performed by the Main Street Theater company.
Main Street Theater is running Cold War Choir Practice through October 11 at its Rice Village space, 2540 Times Blvd. It's a play by Ro Reddick, directed by Jessica Jaye, and it's been picking up a fair amount of hardware this year: the 2026 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the 15th Annual Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play, and the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for a new American play.
The story is set in Syracuse in 1987, right in the middle of the Reagan era and the Glasnost years. It centers on a Black family that runs the Roll-A-Rama skating rink, where their ten-year-old daughter sings in the Seedlings of Peace, a children's chorus with a political edge, and writes to Russian pen pals. Things get complicated when her estranged uncle, a prominent Black conservative, comes home for the holidays with his mysteriously ill white wife, and the family tensions that have been simmering for years finally boil over.
On stage, the production leans into the kitsch of the era. Afsaneh Aayani designed a neon-rimmed roller disco set, and the actors skate without wheels. There are spies, cults, and a quartet of spooky white women who sing an underscore to most of the dialogue. The cast includes Bria Washington as Meek, Cedric Duplechain as Smooch, Steven J. Scott as Clay, Andrea Boronell-Hunter as Puddin, and Leslie Lenert as Virgie, with the Seedlings of Peace chorus played by Angela Pinina, Jade Kelly, Hannah Hall, and Kara Greenberg. It contains adult language and mature themes.
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Shows run Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 3:00 PM, with the whole thing clocking in around two hours, including a 15-minute intermission. Tickets are $45 to $64.
