"Ashes & Ink," a new play by first time playwright Martha Pichey, is getting an excellent production at the AMT Theater in Manhattan. Tony-nominated actress Kathryn Erbe leads a strong cast smoothly directed by Alice Jankell. [more]
While "Sump’n Like Wings" is a lovely little play about a feisty 16-year-old girl who wants her independence in the 1913-16 period just after Oklahoma became a state, unfortunately Raelle Myrick-Hodges’ production is limp and undramatic, not making a good case for restoring this play to the American repertory. Ironically, while the fact that Riggs was gay and a Native American is being publicized by this production, neither of these themes appear in this play. The use of Junghyun Georgia Lee’s unit set for all five scenes makes the play seem thinner than it is and the beautiful poetry and high flown language of "Green Grow the Lilacs" (made available in the collection "The Cherokee Night and Other Plays" from University of Oklahoma Press) is nowhere in evidence in this play. Most of the important events take place offstage, unlike some of Riggs' other plays. [more]
“Lust, jealousy, and personal politics” are the punches promised by the publicity tag line for award-winning playwright Yussef El Guindi’s new play "People of the Book," currently on the boards at the intimately compact Urban Stages. The story centers around three high school friends, one of which has returned from the Middle East with a new bride and his newly written, soon-to-be-a-major-motion-picture celebrated book. Themes of competition, morality, and judgment are all bandied about in this ambitious play. [more]
Director Jared Mezzocchi uses the proximity of the actors to the audience to its best advantage. We don’t even question when one of our ranks is pulled out to play Young Sunny. It adds to the sense of community that is the cornerstone of this production. Kudos to Mezzocchi and the four actors in intuitively divining who in the audience is most right for participation. As the play dashes back and forth in time, the actors are kept moving, narrating as they go along. Again physical life clearly dictates whether they are in character or in narration mode. Mezzocchi incorporates projection design to complement the telling of the history of the ever-changing neighborhood. It provides a welcome steady stream of point-of-reference when one considers the land was once dry tundra in the shadow of a glacier twice the height of the Empire State Building. [more]
Welcome to 'Lakeplay," a character study-play written by Drew Valins and directed by Hamilton Clancy. It is billed as “a terrifying adventure” but does not live up to that description. There are moments of suspense, but not terror-filled. If being frightened by a story is what you are looking for, this is not the show for you. The show is more of a work in progress with issues relating to the venue, sets, and unevenness of some of the scenes. [more]
Despite this obvious shortcoming of The Counter, Anthony Edwards, a growing New York stage presence after much TV and movie fame, resolutely ignores it, never letting Kennedy's contrived writing come between him and the character (as a frustrated fan of ER, I've seen this steadfastness before). The scraggly bearded Edwards portrays Paul, a retired firefighter from far upstate New York whose geniality occasionally gives way to pronouncements about the monotony of his remaining days and the unfairness of his former ones. Although these gnawing thoughts are "secrets," he shares them with Katie (Susannah Flood), a fairly new transplant to the area who is also a waitress in the diner he frequents when nobody else is around. That's essential for Kennedy's ludicrous plot, because Paul's inner turmoil manifests itself in a grave request for Katie to do something that, if overheard, would cause any sentient adult to immediately contact the authorities, resulting in the play ending not too long after it begins, unless Kennedy felt like keeping the story going through a depiction of Paul's psychiatric treatments. [more]
Barry Primus’ "Soup in the Second Act" is described in press materials as a "dramatic comedy" but it's more drama than comedy. The humor comes from old-fashioned actor jokes such as this one: "Two actors bump into each other on Times Square. 'God, where have you been? I haven't seen you in such a long time.' 'I'm doing a one man play all over the country.' So the other says, 'That's great. That's great. Anything in it for me?'" If you like that sort of thing, you'll enjoy "Soup in the Second Act" (which is itself the punchline for another actor joke). [more]
While the play is compelling, the question is what is the message? Is the play asking would we have done what the son did? The father is quoted by the son as calling him a traitor while the son defends his action as that of a patriot who was appalled by his father’s attacking the Capitol. The play is, to a great extent, preaching to the converted as only people who consider what happened on January 6th an insurrection would attend the play, while MAGA proponents will not view it that way. The ending is somewhat predictable though the twists and turns of the story do not always take the expected path. [more]
"Dickhead," written by Gil Kofman and directed by Richard Caliban, is a story about the patriarch of a dysfunctional family in the midst of a near-total disintegration. The action is centered on Richard (Ezra Barnes), an abrasive, abusive lawyer who is rightly called “a dick” by his wife and just about everyone who interacts with him. He is also called Dick, as a nickname for Richard. The only time he is called "Dickhead" is midway through the action, in a maybe friendly comment by his oldest friend Howard who is given a solid portrayal by Chuck Montgomery. In the opening scene, Richard is in the office of his therapist Dr. Adams (Frank Licato) on a cell phone call with a tech support person at the internet company. This action provides a portrait of Richard’s personality: nasty, abrasive, ego-centric; a real dick. It also indicates that things are not going well in Richard's home life and job. Barnes' performance is well-tuned to the character, although, at times, getting close to being too much of a dick. Licato effectively embodies the therapist who is not as balanced as he appears to be in the opening. Licato gives a good performance of another character late in the play, the doctor’s wife. [more]
Four hardened male plainclothes police officers are being coached for a “suppression hearing” – that is a court proceeding prior to trial to challenge the legality of the evidence taken from the crime, whether it be drugs, statements, or identification. In "The Witness Room," there are two bags of cocaine that were removed from the crime scene, but the sloppiness of the affidavits filed by the four police officers means some “rehearsal” is necessary for all four men to be in agreement on what actually happened months earlier when a man was arrested. This is not as dense as "Rashomon." In place of the exquisite storytelling that offered subjective, alternative and somewhat contradictory versions of the same incident, "The Witness Room" gives us a very real situation where the slightest discrepancy either frees a criminal or sends an innocent person to jail. [more]
"The Goldberg-Variations" by George Tabori (written in 1991, now having its belated new York premiere) is a confused and confusing conflation of Bible stories and backstage bickering amongst a playwright, his director, designer and actors. Now at the Theater for the New City, the overlong production, directed by Manfred Bormann keeps the audience scratching their heads as each part of the Good Book is explored. [more]
"Honor," a one-act play, written and superbly directed by T.J. Elliott, explores the conceptual nuances of “honor” within the context of a corporate investigation into a case of harassment and intimidation brought against a corporate executive. It is a clashing of privilege and ego between executives, revealing some ugly truths about corporate management while also dealing with the ambiguities of personality and individual perceptions. The play is short and solidly to the point, and I don’t see how expanding it will add anything to the mix. It is a beautifully executed production and will resonate with anyone with a passing familiarity of executive corporate culture. [more]
Quintero who obviously knows his Greek plays and Greek mythology is extremely faithful to the original myth and to Euripides’ play. What he has added is a contemporary vernacular all in rhyme, music played by two guitars and a beatbox, and the odes of the chorus presented as song. This gives the 2,500 year old story a modern sensibility, often lacking in productions of Greek tragedy. Although Quintero has had a career as an actor, particular at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival the last five summers, what is most remarkable is that this is his first work for the theater, both as playwright and composer. Medea Re-Versed looks and sounds like the work of an experienced dramatist of many years standing. [more]
There is no program for the event nor a press script, which makes sense, since "The Spirits’ Speakeasy" is less theater and more experience. There are missed opportunities for the actors to move the attendees around so they experience more of what is going on in both rooms. My companion and I thoroughly enjoy catching up with each other, so much so that when Margery finally arrives in the lounge to give a few lackluster readings (based on the billets dropped into the box but presumably not seen by her, and half of the guests names she calls out do not answer anyway) we are unfazed. Finally, Houdini bursts into the room, challenges Margery’s authenticity by calling her a fraud, and insists she participate in a mysterious magic box trick, which was dramatic and fun. All told, although the activities of the evening are infrequent, we do not feel the evening is a disappointment at all. [more]
Under Igor Golyak's hyper-inventive direction the production's form is masterfully daring, ignoring the barriers of past, present, and future, as well as performance and life. Golyak's double disrespect for temporal and fourth-wall distancing is most evident in the actors' frequently unsettling playfulness, including a foreboding sing-a-long with the audience during a pretend Jewish wedding. Smilingly staged by both Catholic and Jewish classmates when such interreligious bonhomie was still possible, the echoes of these characters' younger, imaginative selves continue to linger as some of them mature into monsters, their brutality imbued with an anachronistic childlike quality that strengthens the devastating sense of a lost innocence. [more]
In this return engagement of the site-specific "The Voices in Your Head" we are often asked to give pause in order to consider how differently we all process our grief. Earlier this summer another play, someone spectacular, tackled the same subject matter but in a more predictable way. With that play, we never forgot we were in a theater watching a support group navigating their weekly session (but for that evening without the benefit of their group leader). While that was presented in thrust staging (the audience surrounding the actors on three sides), The Voices in Your Head created by Grier Mathiot and Billy McEntee welcomes us as new members to the group. [more]
While "Counting and Cracking" is an unforgettable epic of a family and a country, it is also a study of the fight for democracy and the lengths people will go to fight for their beliefs. The title comes from Apah’s definition of democracy: “Democracy means the counting of heads, within certain limits, and the cracking of heads beyond those limits.” The play could not be more timely as we go into the last weeks of this fraught election campaign. Counting and Cracking will be one of those evenings in the theater that will become legendary both for its storytelling, its staging and its message. [more]
"In Search of Elaina" is a story by Kara Ayn Napolitano that digs into the weeds of a remembered past. It explores what happens when the life left behind catches up and crashes into the carefully laid-out landscape of now. Joy Donze skillfully directs a strong ensemble on this journey into the clash of the now with the memory of then. [more]
Although meaningful dialogue is written in iambic pentameter, not all text is so structured. There is a skill in delivering lines within the structure of iambic pentameter, but it is equally important that the rhythm of all the dialogue be consistent. The lines must be spoken as if they were a normal speech pattern without paying attention to the structure. Unfortunately, the delivery by the ensemble varies widely, ranging from sounding like a textual reading to a clear, direct delivery to one completely out of character for the words spoken. As a result, the interconnections between the elements of the story are lost, causing a breakdown in clarity. [more]
"Hurricane Season" is the sort of vanity production in which one assumes that the author thinks he or she has invented the next step in the avant-garde. Unfortunately, Estes’ production will give most theatergoers a headache attempting to follow his play as well as the unnecessary flashing video. Whatever the play wants to say about “erotic desire and national anxiety,” it is lost in the proceedings on stage. Incidentally in the cause of transparency, Hurricane Season is not the least bit erotic though there is a certain amount of simulated sex. [more]
Tarlton’s work is not without promise. As a social critique of people who are surgically attached to their smartphones, it is somewhat spot-on. (Heaven forbid we miss that recent post documenting what was ordered in the latest restaurant!) At points when actors were immersed in their phones rather than looking at or speaking to each other, the silence of audience realization, or rather revelation, was deafening. [more]
Doménica Feraud who has also written "Rinse, Release" has made a career of writing about very human psychological problems. While "Someone Spectacular" is rather untheatrical in its presentation as there are no fireworks which you might have expected in the situation, the characters become more absorbing as we get to know them, their stories and their problems. Not only is it all very real but it is easy to identify with one or the other as we all have gone through some loss in our lives. Tatiana Pandiani’s direction is smooth and fluid if a bit too serene. Some may also find the play comforting if they are going through the same thing or have suffered a loss recently. For the record, that title is explained near the end when Thom states “I lost someone spectacular” which how all the characters feel about their losses. [more]
"Odd Man Out" takes what is essentially a radio drama and puts the audience within the physical context of the story. You can hear the characters moving. You can smell the flowers in the garden or the blooming tree in the yard. You can hear and feel the rain. It is a sensory augmentation of what was once only an aural experience. Smelling a rose is no longer an act of imagination but one of immediacy, and that enhances the suspension of disbelief that an audience undergoes to make them actual though passive participants in the action of the story. [more]
"Airport and the Strange Package" effectively combines good old-fashioned paranoia with witty references to Kafka’s classic. King and his collaborators have fashioned a frightening but entertaining portrait of airport security gone crazy. After all, what modern traveler hasn’t feared the awesome, if arbitrary, power of the Transportation Security Administration? [more]
Seemingly not trusting the material, director Brian Mertes has used all kinds of stage gimmicks including having the two actors photographed live by a team of three videographers whose equipment runs on a track around one side of the stage while a huge screen covers the second half on which we see the actions of Wood and Curran blown up to one story high. (Aside from the distraction, those who sit in the audience on stage left may find this blocks part of their view.) The meeting at Trump Tower which precipitates the ostensible action is played by the two actors and six miniature (nude!) puppets by famed designer Julian Crouch. At various points the two actors enter a booth in the back of the stage for no explained reason, as if in a session at the United Nations. There is also unexplained dancing and singing that seems to have little to do with the events at hand. [more]
The cast does a beautiful job interpreting their characters. Watson plays Reynaldo as an anxious, emotionally fragile person ready to fulfill their employer's slightest request. Moore imbues Jacques de Boys with the haughty imperiousness of someone who feels his position is one of substance and importance, even if only for a brief moment on stage. Ethridge puts an interesting spin on his Boatswain, giving him a laid-back, almost California surfer vibe. It is not quite what one may expect from a character in a 17th century play but the characterization provides an interesting contrast. Parks embodies the Stage Manager with a flat-affect, matter-of-fact efficiency as expected until she reveals an inner child excited about trying new ways of being. DeBoer gives The Messenger an energy and perspective that delivers the play's central theme by showing the other characters and the audience that it is possible to escape the limitations of a static definition of self and explore the wonders of imagination. [more]
"It’s Not What It Looks Like," is a two-hander, written by John Collins in collaboration with Chesney Mitchell. It is the winner of the 2023 Soho Playhouse Lighthouse Series competition for new plays. The play is a cleverly devised procedural drama that does justice to its title: somebody died, but the how and why are unknown. It is a mystery with which to spend a summer evening. [more]
The play doesn’t tell us enough about any of the characters which gives the actors little to work from. What does Lotte do for a living or is she a trust fund kid? As Lena Drake plays her, she seems totally adrift besides her hatred of her mother. While David Z. Lanson’s Demetrius is described as a professional (albeit failed) comedian, he has nothing to say that is very funny. The jokes tend to fall flat. Asking for drink, Demetrious says, “Anything you’d use on a medieval axe wound is fine.” As the entitled Esme, Laura Botsacos is self-absorbed, egotistical and unsympathetic. However, the author makes us think that she is the wisest one of all as she is usually right. It is she who says “At what point in life do we stop blaming mom?” - a statement the audience must be thinking as well. While James Andrew Fraser’s Clancy at first appears very dense, he does have a large vocabulary and catches many nuances, so he is not as dumb as he comes across on a first impression. [more]
Actor Ryan Spahn’s first play "Inspired by True Events" at the new Theatre 145 (formerly the Ohio Space) is a professional, skillful production. Unfortunately, as a backstage thriller it leaves something to be desired. The first shock does not occur until two-thirds of the way through, making most of the play a simple waiting game for something to happen. What the playwright needs is to study classic stage thrillers like Emlyn Williams’ "Night Must Fall" and Frederick Knott’s "Wait Until Dark" to learn how suspense is built into this genre. [more]
María Irene Fornés’ rediscovered "La Viuda" is a valuable addition to her better known canon. It is a challenging play in that it is basically an 80-minute monologue with other characters in flashback occasionally interrupting Angela’s narration. Director Olga Sanchez Saltveit makes a fine case for this play with a spirited and lively production but she has not solved all of the play’s inherent problems. Performed in repertory with Sam Collier’s "A Hundred Circling Camps," "La Viuda' is a worthy part of Dogteam Theatre Project’s inaugural season. [more]
A Hundred Circling Camps, written by Sam Collier and superbly directed by Rebecca Wear, is a story based on the "Bonus March" of 1932. It is more than a play about a historical event. It is also a commentary on the nature of citizens exercising their right to assemble and petition the government to redress grievances, rights established in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It is a show worth seeing because of its story and the actors' performances. The Bonus March of 1932 was a demonstration by veterans of World War I asking that the financial promises made by the U.S. government be honored in advance of the original payment date of January 1945. The economic situation for people in the United States was desperate during the Great Depression, and the veterans, most with families to support, felt that the money promised would help them survive. [more]
