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Benny Pitt

The Mall The Mall The Mall

March 7, 2026

"The Mall The Mall The Mall" is a magical realist comedy about three teenagers traversing a suburban mall in search of stolen fandom merchandise. Along the way, they encounter a coterie of increasingly strange antagonists and have some surprisingly sincere moments of self-discovery. The script, from writer Philip Kenner ("BOYSTUFF," "Stand & Repent"), is quite sharp. The directing from James Wyrwicz ("Is This a Theater Of Love?," "I Love You Jesus Christ!") is wickedly funny, with blocking that brings out the humor of the script while letting the emotional beats still land as they should. Kurt Cruz’ sound design adds quite a lot of comedy as well. [more]

The Audit & The American Dream

March 4, 2025

Urban Stages conducted a Dynamic Duos playwriting competition for one-act, two-character stories covering any subject during their 2023-24 season. Eight plays out of over three hundred submissions were chosen for staged readings. Two were selected for a full production as part of the current season. Those shows, "The Audit" by Lynda Crawford and 'The American Dream" by Juan Ramirez, Jr., opened on February 27 in a twin bill. They are both interesting stories told well with solid performances. [more]