Teagle F. Bougere

The Ford/Hill Project

September 17, 2026

Actress Elizabeth Marvel and director Lee Sunday Evans’ "The Ford/Hill Project," a docudrama first seen in New York in 2024 which uses the verbatim text of the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas Senate confirmation hearings in 1991 and the Christine Blasey Ford/Brett Kavanagh Senate hearings in 2018, has made a return visit to New York, this time to BAM Fisher’s Fishman Space and the results are riveting. Whether you recall seeing the hearings on television or are witnessing this testimony for the first time, it strikes you this these two cases are among the worse miscarriages of justice in American jurisprudence. The current four-character cast includes Marvel as Doctor Ford, Gabby Beans as Professor Hill, Teagle F. Bougere as Judge Thomas and Josh Hamilton as Judge Kavanaugh. (Marvel and Hamilton have appeared in the play before.) All of the lines that became famous during the hearing are here. [more]

The Winter’s Tale

August 12, 2026

Revivals today tend to come in several similar varieties: rewritten updates by famous contemporary playwrights, director projects that have high concepts, and entirely new plays inspired by the classics, often transposed to the present. It is a pleasure to report that director Daniel Sullivan’s riveting three hour and 20 minutes uncut production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale for The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park is a pure staging, gimmick and update free. Although there is not a weak link in the production, Lily Rabe’s Queen Hermione is so commanding and compelling that she elevates this usually overlooked role to another place in the Shakespeare canon. With a topnotch cast led by Raúl Esparza, Rabe, Chuck Cooper and Steven Skybell, the production features crystal clear sound design by Brian Ronan (sound system design by Mike Tracey) and impeccable diction by vocal and text coach Andrew Wade which makes this easy to follow and understand for both those who are seeing it for the first time and those who know the play. [more]

Coriolanus (Free Shakespeare in the Park)

August 6, 2019

While Shakespeare’s "Coriolanus" has a great deal to warn us about as a cautionary tale, it is also not as deep or as poetic a play as his major tragedies. Daniel Sullivan’s production for Free Shakespeare in the Park is fine with the surface values of this historical tragedy but less so with creating the subtext of the story. In his second time around as its titular hero, Jonathan Cake is excellent as the brutal warrior, not so accomplished as the public man wrestling with his own demons. [more]

Socrates

May 3, 2019

For all you philosophy junkies out there—and you know who you are—Tim Blake Nelson’s world premiere "Socrates" at The Public Theater, the shining light of The Public’s Onassis Festival, is a treasure trove of ideas bantered, tossed, shredded and otherwise analyzed by a stage-full of ancient Greeks, led by the title character played with dignity and passion by the phenomenal Michael Stuhlbarg (the father in the film "Call Me By Your Name") and a cast of 16 mostly playing multiple roles. [more]

The Beast in the Jungle

May 28, 2018

While "The Beast in the Jungle" is a musical for our time it contains a message that was dear to the heart of writer Henry James, that of the unlived life. Ultimately very moving when the story reaches its conclusion, the exquisite Vineyard Theatre production is for elite tastes but all dedicated theatergoers, not the casual entertainment seekers, should see it. It may well start a new trend in theatre musicals, one in which the emotional sections are danced rather than sung. [more]

Is God Is

March 14, 2018

On the basis of “Is God Is,” Aleshea Harris is a new voice in the American theater whose work bears watching in the future. The play is the latest in a long line of revenge stories from the Bible to Quentin Tarantino. The nagging question becomes does Harris have an underlying theme other than the righting of past wrongs by violence. However, Magar’s riveting production never gives the viewer a chance to ponder on this dilemma while the tightly written drama is unfolding before you. While the play has a dark humor throughout, in a parody of the famous Louis Jordan song, it seems to ask the question, “Is God is or is God ain’t?” After witnessing the retribution of the sisters, only the viewer can decide for him or herself. [more]