Sydney Gallas Archives - TheaterScene.net

Sydney Gallas

Truman vs. Israel

October 25, 2025

Although William Spatz’s "Truman vs. Israel" depicts a fictional encounter between former President Truman and lawyer and later first Jewish woman congresswoman Bella Abzug in 1953, the play brings to life these two colorful and flamboyant personalities who are not so much known today as they once were. As directed by Randy White, the real problem with the play is that in reviewing Truman’s career leading up to the accusation of anti-Semitism, it rehashes a great deal of political history which will be unfamiliar to most theatergoers. One almost needs a score card to follow the ins and outs of Truman’s controversial career. The play also cuts between 1988 and 1953 making it confusing as to what is happening when. [more]

Hundred Days

December 12, 2017

Written by The Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, the show presents a stylized take on the couple’s love at first sight meeting, the complications it caused with their partners at the time, their instant romance and quick marriage. It’s a New York story as they lived in Astoria, there’s mention of a memorable walk from Canal Street to The Cloisters, and a trip to Coney Island is pivotal. [more]

Knives in Hens

November 1, 2017

While the script describes the setting as simply a “rural place,” British and European productions apparently have set the play in medieval times. It is definitely pre-industrial as the farmers still need to have their grains ground at a mill and no one has yet seen a pen. Director Paul Takacs, who has staged the equally challenging Dark Vanilla Jungle by Philip Ridley in New York, has reset the play on the American frontier and made use of a multicultural cast. This grounds the play somewhat and makes it easier for Americans to identify with it, but it remains a difficult, challenging play due to its poetic language and its lack of specificity. [more]