Saturday, November 23, 2024
Anyone who has tended a garden (even on a rooftop or fire escape) or owned a houseplant knows that a living thing needs proper care, time, nourishment, and nurturing to grow, flourish and reach its potential. The same is true of a new work of theatre. It does not sprout from the playwright’s head or the director’s vision fully actualized but requires an investment to cultivate the seed and make it bloom. I have seen no finer example of this in the past two years than the journey of the interactive play celebrating modern Mexican American culture playing (on extension) at
Reviews
“Gratitude” — Urban Stages
Montreal's Mainline Theatre has brought “Gratitude” by Oren Safdie to New York's Urban Stages, and it is quite a strong premier for the show. Set in a private school in Canada in a disused locker room, the play explores teen sexuality (quite vividly), gender and consent. Throw in the clash between Canadian and the more traditional societies from whence some of its immigrants have come, and you have a play that is tense and uncomfortable to watch in places. The discomfort is deliberate. Indeed, it could be the whole point for some. “Gratitude” opens up a lot of topics that make
Fat Ham at The Public Theater: Succulent Joy Triumphs Over Tragedy
For a play premiering on Memorial Day weekend, what could feel more festive than a family gathering at a backyard barbecue served with a side of Shakespeare, a heaping portion of pop culture references, simmered in family drama, seasoned with violence and a dash of glitter to taste? Ay, there's the spice rub! Shakespeare's plays have had many adaptations and updated versions that take creative licenses with the Bard's works and themes. A favorite choice is the tale of the brooding, tragic prince with intense and questionable family dynamics. The Guardian recently published a piece examining the obsession that dramatists of stage and
For Some…The Future Was Female: 2 Reinvented Icons
Hopefully, with a lot of numerousness, the truer story of women in history and the arts will continue. #MeToo and COVID partially started this reckoning, and these two recent works are a sampling While these icons experienced struggle, they were white and privileged. There are plenty of reasons to stop right there, but their accomplishments - one documented, one speculative - led to a greater goods for all. Creativity is a non-gender specific word. New Camerata Opera's production of The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace by Kamala Sankaram. April 7-10, 2022. Dixon Place Theater (161A Chrystie Street, NYC) Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852)'s backstory
How I Learned to Drive – Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
The Manhattan Theatre Club has revived Paula Vogel's “How I Learned to Drive,” using the same two main actors who performed it back in 1997, David Morse (Uncle Peck) and Mary-Louise Parker (Lil Bit) with the same director Mark Brokaw. While a quarter of a century has passed since its award-winning run at the Vineyard Theatre, the subject matter (a noxious mix of incest, misogyny and pedophilia) remains sadly relevant. Told in a non-chronological series of reminiscences, the story details years of abuse, using the metaphor of driving and driving lessons for control and sex. The relationship is not the stereotypical
To My Girls – Second Stage Theater
In mid-2020 with the theaters closed and the pandemic raging, Second State Theater;s President and Artistic Director Carole Rothman checked in with playwright JC Lee to see how he was doing and if he was writing. He told her about a play he was considering, about a group of gay male friends gathering when the pandemic had subsided. “He was pretty sure he wanted to write something that would be healing and laughter would be a means to that end,” she writes in the Playbill. The result is “To My Girls.” Despite getting a little lost trying to find the ending,
IRT Theater presents Arthur Schnitzler’s ‘Round Dance’
Does love make the world go round? Is there such a thing as a random encounter? In 1897, Viennese playwright Arthur Schnitzler asked these questions in Reigen (Round Dance). which in turn was questioned by censors. Yet what was considered pornographic in 1897 is now rather tame - but still audacious - as translator/director H. Clark Kee shows in The Round Dance at the IRT Theatre. Schnitzler's plot device is deceptively simple as he reveals the complexities of emotional and physical love in one act and several scenes. A Hooker (Ruth Guimera) turns tricks with a Soldier (J.P. Stewart). He then puts the
The Accidental Futurist Ensemble: SITI Company’s “The Medium” at BAM
The year is 1993: Bill Clinton becomes president of the US; the World Trade Center is bombed by Islamic Fundamentalists; the FBI raids Branch Davidians, a religious cult in Waco, TX; Russia and the US sign a treaty; an earthquake and tsunami devastate Japan; brush fires ravage Australia; ethnic fighting causes turmoil in Bosnia; Ty introduces plush toys called Beanie Babies; the tech company Intel launches its Premium Processor. And an ensemble-based theater company called SITI Company devises the play The Medium in Toga-Mura, Japan. The Medium returns almost 30 years later to BAM Fisher, Fishman Space from March 15-20. As Shakespeare
American Utopia at St. James Theatre
David Byrne is far from your typical rock star. The fast car, fast women, drug-addled stereotype just doesn't fit him. It should not be a surprise, therefore, that his show on Broadway is not a typical musical. America Utopia is more of a deconstruction of a rock show than anything else. From the grey set and grey suits the cast wear to Byrne's remarks between songs, this is a different entertainment and philosophical experience. Rock 'n' roll has always had a theatrical side to it. From Elvis and his hips to Alice Cooper's snakes and guillotine to David Bowie's characters and
NAATCO’s OUT OF TIME at The Public Theater
OUT OF TIME, a collection of five brand-new monologues by five award-winning Asian American playwrights could have been titled “Long Overdue.” Now playing at the Public Theater through Sunday, March 13, OUT OF TIME was commissioned by NAATCO (National Asian American Theatre Company), conceived and directed by Obie Award-winning director Les Waters, and stars five Asian American actors over the age of 60. The pieces were written especially for them, and it shows. While over two hours of monologues can feel exhausting and more like an actor’s showcase than a full production, when done well (Eve Ensler aka V’s Vagina Monologues,