Photo by Deborah Alexander

The post-Tonys summer haze is the time when New York theater tends to take a breather, with fewer high-profile openings until the fall. Quantity, however, has no bearing on quality, and with less competition for theatergoers’ dollars and time, there’s less excuse than ever not to go see Sovereign, Gideon Productions’ hidden gem currently playing at Long Island City’s Secret Theatre.

Sovereign shouldn’t be a secret to all; it’s the final installment in Mac Rogers’ visionary “Honeycomb Trilogy,” following in theatrically post-apocalyptic sci-fi vein of predecessors Advance Man and Blast Radius. For the un-indoctrinated, early events in “Honeycomb” saw an invasion of an insect-like alien species take over Earth, murdering most humans and enslaving the rest. An uprising, led by Ronnie Cooke, saw a war in which many of the survivors sacrificed their lives to extinguish the species and return the planet to some semblance of its initial human form.

Yes, the event of the trilogy took place on an epic, inter-planetary scale, and it was to Rogers’ credit that the playwright was able to cut through genre tropes and make the events of his plays both accessible and practical for a small stage and a company with limited resources. But what really serves each of these plays – which cohere as a trilogy and also each work as standalone works – was the emotional needle with which Rogers threaded his trilogy. Thanks both to Rogers and director Jordana Williams Sovereign succeeds most, and perhaps better than its two antecedents, as an intimate, emotional work, bridging the head and the heart without ever resorting to pathos or unearned sentiment. And it’s primarily the show’s two leads, Abbey and Ronnie Cooke, who provide the beating of that heart.

The show picks up twenty years after the events of Advance rocked the Coral Gables Cooke family and eight years after Blast. Gone are many of the action sequences and alien images of the earlier installments (though Sandy Yaklin’s set and Jeanne Travis’s highly evocative sound design remind us of past and present dangers.) Ronnie (originally played by Becky Byers, now played by Hanna Cheek), battle-scarred and hardened by a lifetime of fighting and loss, must lead her remaining followers on a new kind of quest: to reacclimatize to a life of liberation. And she must also face a decision that hits her closer than any other: whether or not to assassinate her wayward brother, Abbey (now Stephen Heskett, formerly David Rosenblatt), a traitor to the human cause. One of the central conceits to Rogers’ trilogy is that both siblings, in charting divergent paths, were governed by both reason and instinct. Neither was completely wrong or right, but made indefensible decisions caused by an indefensible conflict. Comparisons to real-life war abound in Sovereign, but are subtly tucked under the deepening rift between Abbey and Ronnie, and Cheek and Heskett could not be more captivating. Cheek oozes battle fatigue out of every pore and manages to lace in nuances of humor, vulnerability, self-doubt and even childlike reverie, while Heskett continually peels back the layers to show a man questioning the cause to which he has dedicated a lifetime. The emotional material here is so deft that it pushes for real estate on a par with Shakespeare, Ibsen and O’Neill.

If there is any deficit to Sovereign, it’s that the magnificent duet created by Cheek and Heskett cuts down on material for a talented supporting cast, including Matt Golden’s Zander, Ronnie’s by-the-book second-in-command, Erin Jerozal’s juvenile Claret, and Sara Thigpen’s damaged Fee. But as Sovereign, and indeed, the whole of “Honeycomb” teaches, there just isn’t time to do everything one might set out to do in life. So make the time to catch this show – you’ll regret it if you don’t.

Sovereign

June 14-July 1; $15-$18. The Secret Theatre, 44-02 23rd St., Long Island City, www.gideonth.com .

Harvey

Hot on the heels of last year’s debut in The Normal Heart, two-time Emmy winner Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) returns to the stage in this revival of Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic. Parsons is Elwood P. Dowd, the role immortalized on screen by James Stewart, a middle-aged man whose best friend is a 6-foot-tall rabbit. Is Harvey real or a figment of Elwood’s imagination? You’ll have to head over to the Studio 54 Theater to find out. Co-stars include Larry Bryggman (Doubt), Tracee Chimo (Circle Mirror Transformation), Jessica Hecht (A View from the Bridge), Carol Kane (Wicked), Charles Kimbrough (TV’s Murphy Brown) and Rich Sommer (TV’s Mad Men).
In previews now, runs June 14-Aug. 5; $37+. Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St., roundabouttheatre.org

Democracy 

This June-long event, running at Williamsburg’s Brick Theater, is dedicated to the idea of putting on a summer theater festival of the people, by the people and for the people in this election year. Eight candidates will campaign against each other in a series of public appearances for the title of “President of the Brick.” The elected official will be given reign over The Brick for two weeks next January and will be entrusted with curating all Brick programming during this time period. Shows include works from Matthew Freeman, Eric John Meyer, Jeremey Catterton, Zack Calhoun and Roger Nasser. Attendance is mandatory, as all voters must cast their ballot in person.
May 31-July 1; $15. The Brick Theater, 575 Metropolitan Ave., Brooklyn, bricktheater.com.

Uncle Vanya

Some of New York’s finest actors have signed on to this world premiere reimagining of the Chekhov classic about a visiting professor and his alluring younger wife at Soho Rep. The winning team of director Sam Gold and writer Annie Baker (The Aliens, Circle Mirror Transformation) have recruited a top-notch ensemble that includes Reed Birney, Maria Dizzia, Georgia Engel, Peter Friedman, Matthew Maher,  Rebecca Schull, Michael Shannon, Paul Thureen and Merritt Wever. Take note: a June 19 benefit performance will include a post-show vodka reception with the cast and creative team.
Opens June 7; $0.99-$40. Soho Rep Theatre, 46 Walker St., sohorep.org.

Sovereign

The conclusion to Mac Rogers’ Honeycomb trilogy is off-off-Broadway’s answer to The Return of the King, and not just because of the similarities in the title. This play, part of Gideon Productions in collaboration with the BFG Collective at the Secret Theater, will confirm the fates of the characters we’ve come to love in Advance Man and Blast Radius, particularly Ronnie (Hanna Cheek), now a hardened governor lording over a slowly rebuilding human race and her defiant brother Abbie (Stephen Heskett). Rogers’ trilogy, directed by Jordana Williams, has offered so many surprising turns, it’s hard to predict where this tale will end—but incredibly exciting at the same time. It’s safe to say that by now, the Secret is out.
June 14-July 1; $15-$18. The Secret Theatre, 44-02 23rd St., Long Island City, www.gideonth.com .

Into the Woods

The second of this summer’s Shakespeare in the Park entries (following As You Like It) is this James Lapine-Stephen Sondheim favorite, in a production based on the acclaimed 2010 staging at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park, London. Woods was just mentioned this week on Glee as the most vocally demanding of Sondheim’s canon—so why revive this tale of what happens to fairy tale characters after their happy ending? With three-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams onboard as the Baker’s Wife, two-time Tony-winner Donna Murphy to play the Witch and current Tony nominee Jessie Mueller (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever) playing Cinderella, why wouldn’t you?
July 23-Aug. 25; free. Delacorte Theater in Central Park, accessible via 81st St. & Central Park West or 79th St. & 5th Ave., shakespeareinthepark.org.