Bess Wohl’s new play, "Make Believe," is a fascinating study of how the traumas of childhood affect our adult lives, particularly the damage seen and unseen parents inflict on their offspr…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:05PMDeborah Whitfield’s 'Tech Support" offers a clever idea in order to review feminism in the past century. Unfortunately, her rather superficial approach misses a great many opportunities. T…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:39PMJonathan Spector’s "Eureka Day" now having its East Coast premiere at Walkerspace is a blisteringly satiric and provocative play torn right out of the headlines. Ostensibly about how one p…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:28PMDescribed as a multimedia production, "Da Vinci & Michelangelo: The Titans Experience" is actually a lecture by art historian Mark Rodgers to slides of the masterpieces of these two geni…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:34PMLenore Skomal’s "The Exes" wants to revive the Broadway-style sex comedies of the 1950’s and 60’s, earlier called boulevard comedy. Unfortunately, not only is the formula passé but te…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:44PMWilliam Shakespeare’s "A Midsummer Night Dream" is perfect comedy for July or August and adding a meal is an even cleverer idea. Presented jointly by Food for Love Productions and Third Ra…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:34PM"Midsummer: A Banquet" is an auditory and oral treat, a light entertainment for this time of year. Using Zach Morris and Victoria Rae Sook’s skillfully adapted abridgment of Shakespeare�…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 02:50PMKelley’s adaptation begins with the murder of Mary which avoids preparing us for the limited life of opportunity that Bigger leads in the Black Belt of Chicago and making him less sympathe…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:45PMComposer-lyricist Joe Inconis’ follow up to his teen favorite, "Be More Chill," is not only a showcase for musical comedy actress Annie Golden but a tribute to the Blaxploitation and Marti…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:20PMWhile 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 f…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:18PMNeil LaBute’s “Appomattox” is the most substantial of the three plays and deals with a topic new to his work. Two long-time friends, Frank, black, and Joe, white, are having a picnic i…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 06:11PMFollowing up on Luis Alfaro’s critically acclaimed Chicano retelling of Sophocles’ "Oedipus Rex" called "Oedipus El Rey," The Public Theater now stages his equally relevant and timely "M…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:28PMSeries A of this year’s Summer Shorts: 13th Festival of New American Short Plays is unified around the theme of death and dying and how it affects the living. Lest you think that this soun…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:27PMIt is not until the second act of British playwright Chris Urch’s "The Rolling Stone" that the play catches fire but from then on the drama is explosive, compelling and very disturbing. On…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:47PMThe three Havel one acts, known as "The Vanek Plays," though written separately, were originally banned in Czechoslovakia and performed secretly in people’s living rooms as well as being p…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:50PMWhile Will T.F. Carter’s "Barabbas" is very outspoken on the topic of political corruption in Peru, the play is dramatically weak as so much of it is exposition. In each scene we learn a l…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 08:47AMMatthew Amendt’s new play "The Comedian’s Tragedy" asks the burning question why did Aristophanes, the master of Greek comedy, never write any tragedies. Socrates in Plato’s "Symposium…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:56PMLydia R. Diamond’s "Toni Stone" is a tour de force for one actress and Obie Award winner April Matthis gives a bravura performance as the first woman to play professional baseball as part …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:43PMNottage’s book is faithful to the novel while at the same time reducing some of the melodrama and streamlining the story to reduce the number of characters to a cast of 13. Sheik’s score…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:38PMA mash-up of Eugene O’Neill’s "Anna Christie" (set in Manhattan and off the coasts of Provincetown and Boston) and "Desire under the Elms "(with a rural New England setting), the play is…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:48PMAlthough director Indhu Rubasingham’s production is engrossing and entertaining, this talky and dense play may be difficult to follow for Americans who either do not know or have forgotten…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:50PMDirector Kenny Leon has made his reputation with trenchant productions of contemporary and new plays by such authors as Lorraine Hansberry, August Wilson, Katori Hall and Lydia R. Diamond. N…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:52PMKate Hamill who has had success with "Sense and Sensibility" (Bedlam), "Pride and Prejudice" (Primary Stages), and "Vanity Fair "(The Pearl Theatre) has now turned her sights to Louisa May A…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:09PMUnder Shinn’s direction, Winstead making her stage debut is very low-key, almost as an observer in her own story. True she works as a therapist, one who tries not to reveal her personal fe…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:43PMThe play offers no catharsis as the actors are so low-key throughout, all much too calm even when the stakes are rising. As a result, there is little or no tension even when we realize the p…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:22AMBekah Brunstetter’s new play, "Public Servant," has its heart in the right place. It shares with The Cake, seen earlier this year at Manhattan Theatre Club, the first part of a trilogy wit…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:25AMG. Austin Allen’s set is a larger-than-life closet draped in purple cloth and which also includes a kitchen. To this room comes the older man in his mid-60’s who has discovered that as h…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:45PMSchmidt’s streamlined adaptation of Shakespeare’s Scottish tragedy is played by a cast of seven schoolgirls who meet in an abandoned urban field after school without any set up other tha…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 08:40PM"Luzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico" is Cirque du Soleil’s 38th original production and its 18th performed under The Big Top. The name is a combination of the Spanish word for light (luz) and…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:17PMAs David, Chris Dwan does not make one forget the inimitable Grisetti who spun every moment into a comic turn. However, Dwan is charming as the undaunted hero who must deal with problems beh…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 05:11PMNever really losing her cool, Pressley always commands the stage even though scenic designer Alexis Distler has made it difficult by creating a huge private room, beautiful in its understate…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:34PM
