When recently entering the Bank Street Theater for the production of “Dolphins and Sharks,” the new play by James Anthony Tyler produced by Labyrinth Theater Company, I felt as though I was at a theatrical site-specific location. This is all due to the remarkable use of the small space, impressive attention to detail and encompassing the up close audience with…
What is clear about Bruce Graham’s “White Guy on the Bus” is that white privilege drives the engine of racism in America. In a compelling performance as successful financier Ray, Robert Cuccioli gives that protagonist rich layers of contempt for all things that might threaten his privileged status. Additionally, this contemptable character seems to have difficulty controlling an undercurrent of…
If ever there was an allegorical play, this is it. Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth” was written in 1942, won the Pulitzer Prize, had two apparently great productions on Broadway – starring the likes of Mary Martin, Tallulah Bankhead, Fredric March and Helen Hayes—then poorly received ones, and subsequently was deemed extremely difficult to pull off. Well, Theatre…
Under the ruse of “receiving consent” from a minor, pedophile Joe (played with a remorseless arrogance by Joe Tippett) plays out an erotic asphyxiation fantasy with fourteen-year-old Jenny (played with a delusional naiveté by Abigale Breslin) in the basement of his suburban South Carolina home after “abducting” her from her home earlier. It does not matter whether Jenny got into…
“I’m trying, Tara, but some days… it’s not easy being the one left behind. And the last few years, it feels like everything’s going to shit in this country.” – Adam At the beginning of Ken Urban’s “Nibbler,” the world premiere joint production of the Amoralists and Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre currently running at Rattlestick, Adam (James Kautz) and Tara (Rachel…
“Well — in any case, the play hadn’t been terribly well-liked by the public, and it wasn’t a success, but quite a few people had enjoyed it quite a bit, including, interestingly, a certain Mr. Ackerley, who not long afterwards began to take a more and more prominent place in our national life, which, I’d have to admit, was not…
“Dying is no big deal; the least of us can manage that. The trick is how you live, and Mr. Bill Kunstler lived. He lived with a searing pace, a furious energy, and overwhelming love of right and dislike of wrong.” – Jimmy Breslin in “The New York Times” Attorney William Kunstler was an important figure in American jurisprudence. “Kunstler,”…
“I think so. I think he’s a good God, who can make bad plans. Thing’s going OK over at the shop?” – Joseph (Dad) to Luke Unable to score a substantial victory with his parents, his girlfriend Suze (played with a doleful and deep sadness by Laura Darrell), or his conservative Baptist faith community, seventeen-year-old Luke (Brandon Flynn) – as…
“The Dressmaker’s Secret” by Sarah Levine Simon and Mihal Grunfeld is enjoying its world premiere at 59E59 Theaters. The new play is based on Mr. Grunfeld’s novel “The Dressmaker’s Son” and the change from ‘son’ to ‘secret’ is more significant than might be obvious at first glance. Why did the playwrights shift the focus from the son to the mother’s…
“Sometimes I think you’re delusional about having all this power. Other times I think you’ve far too much of it.” – Miranda to Sir Alan Hruska’s new play “Ring Twice for Miranda,” currently playing at New York City Center Stage II, is starkly reminiscent of Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit” and revisits the important existential themes of choices and their consequences,…