Contributing Writer
By Ron Cohen Scott McPherson’s Marvin’s Room is a crazy quilt of familial attachments and tensions, deep sickness and the fulfilling nature of caring for one another. It’s threaded together with laughs, lots of them, softening the pain of its depictions of physical debilitation and mental instability. An off-Broadway hit in the early…
By Ron Cohen Phrase of the day is deus ex machina. Don’t bother clicking on or getting out your dictionary. Borrowed from the Greek, it translates literally as “god from the machine” and has evolved into a dramaturgic term referring to an unexpected or surprising – maybe even illogical — turn of plot that…
By Ron Cohen The foreboding set establishes the mood immediately. A grimy wall of grey stone broken by half-circle windows, looking out into impenetrable darkness, surrounds the playing area. Dotting the playing area are spikes of misshapen metal. Some of them look like long-dead trees. The play Terezin, written and directed by Nicholas…
Mary Testa, Michael McGrath, Michael Urie, and Talene Monahon photos Carol Rosegg By Ron Cohen Believe it or not, some two hours of Russian-themed political corruption can provide you with a rollicking good time. You just have to forget our current imbroglios in Washington, DC, and turn yourself over to Red Bull Theater’s…
By Ron Cohen There ae no burning crosses or lynchings, but the racism depicted in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus is virulent. This 1966 drama is being given a colorful and bruising Signature Theatre revival. Directed by Lear Debessonet and featuring a vibrant performance by Zainab Jah in the central role, the production renders full value to…
Ari Brand and Robert David Grant Photos by Richard Termin The Lucky One By Ron Cohen Can a person be too charming? That’s the dilemma facing Gerald Farringdon, the central character in A. A. Milne’s comedy drama The Lucky One, first produced in 1922 and now getting a sturdy revival…
By Ron Cohen Since 1879, Nora Helmer, the heroine of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, has been repeatedly slamming the door on her stultifying marriage, leaving behind household, husband and children. Now, in a sequel boldly written by Lucas Hnath and forthrightly entitled A Doll’s House, Part 2, it’s 15 years later, and…
Laura Linney as Regina Giddens and Cynthia Nixon as Birdie Hubbard photos by Joan Marcus By Ron Cohen Two actresses of top-drawer talent – Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon — command the stage, share top billing and even share roles in the latest Broadway revival of the American classic, The Little…
Joan Marcus Cobie Smulders and Kevin Kline By Ron Cohen Everybody loves Garry Essendine. Ladies say they have lost their “latch keys” as a pretense to spend the night in his posh apartment. His longtime secretary, Monica, and even his estranged wife, Liz, watch over him like a pair of guardian angels. A…
Sas Goldberg, Gideon Glick, and Rebecca Naomi Jones photos by Joan Marcus By Ron Cohen “I’m almost twenty-nine years old and no one has ever told me they love me. That’s like a problem, isn’t it?” says Jordan Berman, the hero of Joshua Harmon’s angst-ridden comedy, Significant Other, which has come to Broadway…