A long list of adaptations including those by Tennessee Williams (“The Notebook of Trigorin”), Emily Mann (“A Seagull in the Hamptons”), and Regina Taylor (“Drowning Crow”) have payed homage to Anton Chekhov’s 1986 “The Seagull” by retelling the story of the dysfunctional Russian family in a variety of creative ways. “Songbird,” currently running at 59E59 Theaters, continues the retelling tradition…
There is no fourth wall in Mark Thomas’s award-winning “Cuckooed” and there is no attempt to suspend disbelief. The standup, actor, journalist’s solo performance raises important questions about corporate deception, government collusion, and personal betrayal but is it theatre? It certainly is a solid university-caliber lecture that engages the audience and challenges the status quo. Perhaps what makes it more…
“Miss Madeleine, be free, courageous, be beautiful and be the best swan in the pond. And Johnno Boyle O’Connor will be entirely yours.” (The swan on the pond to Madeline) If the world we are born into and expected to flourish in fails us, we sometimes need an alternate place to inhabit where we can find nurture and acceptance, and…
“No, there was another world that Tennessee Williams knew about, a universe filled with special people who didn’t want to be a part of this dreary conformist life that I was told I had to join.” (John Waters, “The Kindness of a Stranger,” New York Times, November 19, 2006) 59E59 Theater’s critically acclaimed 5A Series begins the 2015-2015 Season with…
“Charles, we must speak directly. I know that your career is not what it was because of the scandal. You were the young star and now all that is changing thanks to this problem. I will not let these nuns go free.” (Paul) Theatre-goers in New York City have the opportunity to see Ken Urban’s haunting “Sense of an Ending”…
“Unstuck” – Written by Lucy Thurber and Directed by Laura Savia The audience does not know exactly how stuck Pete (played with delicious undercurrents of sadness by Alfredo Narcisco) is until his girlfriend Deirdre (played with restorative emotional strength by KK Moggie) comes home and finds Pete sleeping on the couch instead of getting out of the house as he…
Picture this: You’re stuck on a train at 1 AM with three drunken brothers. They’re arguing over the death of their father, their alcoholic breaths fumigating the train, as they argue about personal family issues as loudly as possible. At first, the conversation is hilarious, but as it picks up and becomes more violent, what was once entertaining, is now…
“10K” Written and directed by Neil LaBute In “10 K” a Man (played with a delicious passive coyness by J.J. Kandel) and a Woman (played with an equally delicious aggressive coyness by Clea Alsip) meet at a suburban (“Whispering Pines”) park and decide (after a good stretch) to jog together. Immediately, both disclose the less-than-satisfying natures of their married-with-children statuses….
“After great pain a formal feeling comes–/The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;/ This is the hour of lead/Remembered if outlived,/As freezing persons recollect the snow–/First chill, then stupor, then the letting go.” (Emily Dickinson, 372) On a visit to Cairo, Egyptian-American Leila (played with a passionate intensity by Alia Attallah) suffered great pain on two occasions. The assault in a…
Katt Tait’s “Black Magic: Songs Unchained” is a 50 minute rehearsal of the power of song to soothe, strengthen, empower, and organize. Against the backdrop of a powerful collection of images that focus on the slave trade (in Africa, in the United States, and throughout the privileged world) and slavery, Ms. Tait sings a treasure trove of songs from the…