A roundup look at three new Off-Broadway plays: Tom Stoppard’s “The Hard Problem at Lincoln Center Theater; Lauren Gunderson’s “Natural Shocks” at WP Theater; and Larissa FastHorse’s “The Thanksgiving Play” at Playwrights Horizons.
All in Play
REVIEW: “Usual Girls”
Ming Peiffer’s shattering new play, “Usual Girls”, presented in a world premiere through Roundabout’s Underground series, offers a blistering dramatization of rape culture through the lens of one Korean-American woman’s journey from girlhood to adulthood. Raw, explicit, and joltingly explosive, this is a bold and important new play.
REVIEW: Kerry Washington in “American Son”
“American Son”, a gripping new play on Broadway, is piercingly of the moment, thunderously bleak, written in all caps, and indulgently depressing. Kerry Washington gives a devastating performance as a black mother living the nightmare of her son interacting with the police, but blunt writing provides shorthanded dialogue and characterizations that are unrealistic and convenient—tooled for the sake of advancing arguments, and provoking the audience, rather effectively serving a coherent social or political mission.
REVIEWS: “Days of Rage” and “Good Grief”
Two world premiere productions of new plays opened Off-Broadway last night, each offering their characters a reflection on their younger selves and their emotional development, conceptions of love, and visions for the future. This is a roundup look at Second Stage’s “Days of Rage” and the Vineyard Theatre’s “Good Grief” (Critic’s Pick!).
REVIEW: Ma-Yi Theater Company presents “Sesar”
Ma-Yi Theater Company presents “Sesar”, a moving solo show of personal memoir smartly written and performed with élan by Orlando Pabotoy. As a young Filipino boy seduced by Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, this play is the sweet and profound story of how that text bonded a son and father together during a time of political strife in Asia.
REVIEW: Simply ravishing, Jez Butterworth’s “The Ferryman” is a must-see masterpiece
Jez Butterworth’s “The Ferryman” is an ecstatic and richly thrillingly new play about the intimate, domestic effects of “The Troubles” on one large, Irish family; a sprawling epic with a 22 person cast and running time over three hours, “The Ferryman” is a titanic dramatic achievement, and a must-see event of the season. In short: a masterpiece without present peer on Broadway.
REVIEWS: “India Pale Ale” and “Plot Points in Our Sexual Development”
Two new plays opened Off-Broadway last week that are “teaching plays” meant to instruct the audience and broaden horizons on subject matter otherwise unknown or unexplored by most. Here’s a look at “India Pale Ale” at MTC and Critic’s Pick “Plot Points in Our Sexual Development” at LCT3.
REVIEW: Jocelyn Bioh’s brilliant “School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play” returns to MCC for an encore run
Jocelyn Bioh’s brilliant play “School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play” is back at the Lucille Lortel Theatre for an encore engagement by MCC Theater; every bit as funny and devastating as it was when I saw it last fall, the play seems to pop and sizzle even more on a second viewing. Check out my review and get tickets now.
REVIEWS: “Apologia” and “Fireflies”
A roundup look at two new Off-Broadway plays: “Apologia” at Roundabout Theatre Company and “Fireflies” at Atlantic Theatre Company.
REVIEW: Exploring Truthiness in “The Lifespan of a Fact”
“The Lifespan of a Fact” is a poppy procedural and socially conscious comedy about facts, falsehoods, the nature of non-fiction, the boundaries of creative license, and the ethics of journalism. Bobby Canavale, Cherry Jones, and Daniel Radcliffe are a radiant trio in Leigh Silverman’s swift and entertaining production. This is the Trump-era play we’ve been waiting for: smart and funny, with a serious message about the importance of facts and fact-checking to the trust and integrity of institutions.
REVIEW: Heidi Schreck’s stunning and poignant “What the Constitution Means to Me”
Part civics lesson, part memoir—at once bittersweet and beautiful— Heidi Schreck’s mostly one-woman play “What the Constitution Means to Me” at New York Theatre Workshop recounts her formative experience of wrestling with the constitution’s meaning as a teenager through the lens of her adult self, the women in her family, and the bitterly divided nation it serves. Heartbreaking, humorous, brilliant, and profoundly important, this is a must-see event of the fall season.
REVIEWS: Misery’s coming around in “Girl from the North Country” and “I Was Most Alive with You”
A roundup look at “Girl from the North Country” and “I Was Most Alive with You”, a musical and play brimming with craft and daring ambition, despite their depressing subject matter, that left me yearning for deeper impact.