Off-Broadway

Writer: Aziza Barnes Director: Robert O’Hara Reviewer: Solace As one enters MCC’s Robert W. Wilson Theater space, the bass pumping, rhythms pulsating, and trap music seducing the eardrums, one cannot help but wonder if this is the correct place. Is this the Off-Broadway theatre where Aziza Barnes’ BLKS is being performed? Yes, it is. And as the play unravels, it ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director & Adaptor: Erica Schmidt Reviewer: Adrienne Sowers The politics of being a preteen girl are dark, complex, and can feel like life-or-death stakes are involved. Whispers and rumors fuel hormone-charged energies and create tension and high drama. So it stands to reason that Red Bull Theater’s production of MacBeth, ably adapted and directed by Erica Schmidt, ...

Writer: John Webster Director: Louisa Proske Reviewer: Solace Murder, Mayhem, and Fun! This is John Webster’s The White Devil, currently running at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York’s West Village. Webster, who wrote his plays in the 17th century, usually collaborated with others; however, scholars believe The White Devil was the first play he wrote by himself. The White ...

Writer: Chisa Hutchinson Director: Jessi D. Hill Reviewer: Solace The first production of Keen Company's 2019 season is the New York premiere of Chisa Hutchinson's Surely Goodness and Mercy, directed by Jessi D. Hill, at Theatre Row. Set in an underfunded public school in Newark, Surely Goodness and Mercy tells the story of two friends who, against the odds, help each other ...

Writer: Richard Saudek Director: Wes Grantom Reviewer: Adrienne Sowers Before any given theatrical performance, one can spot several patrons with their mobile devices out (and on infuriatingly but blessedly rare occasions, some audience members use their devices during performances, but that is another matter altogether). Screens illuminate faces in the house, with theatregoers sending off texts to cement post-show plans, ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Adaptor: Austin Pendleton Director: Austin Pendleton & Peter Bloch Reviewer: Robert Price Come to hear a play and you will not be disappointed. Semi-scholars of The Bard will be thrilled to listen carefully to the rarely read origins of Richard III that lie in Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part 3. His kid brother Rutland is murdered, and Richard’s ...

Writer: Anton Chekhov Director: Timofey Kulyabin Reviewer: Adrienne Sowers The joke goes: What do you call someone that speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language? American. And so it is for this reviewer at the Theatre of Nations’ brilliant production of Ivanov at New York ...

Writer: A. R. Gurney Director: Christopher Burris Reviewer: Adrienne Sowers A.R. Gurney’s The Fourth Wall can be a tricky play to effectively produce. How does one strike a balance between the presentationalism required by the circumstances of characters who openly address being unnerved by a fourth wall, while creating a connection that compels the audience to want that wall to ...