Plays by Katori Hall, Lydia R. Diamond and Suzan-Lori Parks

NYTimes.com: TO the casual theater observer, and sometimes even to the obsessed aficionado, one Broadway season can look very much like the next. Names of stars more familiarly splashed on movie trailers are glowing from marquees around the district. The London-to-Broadway express delivers its usual cargo of prestige attractions. New musicals based on popular movies cause devotees to lament the days when Broadway was not a recycling plant but a hotbed of cultural creativity.