Andrus Nichols                         Arney Rosenblat   Hurry and try to catch The Saintliness of Margery Kempe at the Duke before it closes August 26 to enjoy the memoir of a would-be reality star, Medieval style The Saintliness of Margery Kempe is based on the apparently incredible life of the 14th Century English mystic Margery Kempe…

Ian Lessiter                          photos by Carol Rosegg                                by Arney Rosenblat Pushkin is a compelling, true-to-life historical blank verse play imagined and implemented by the creative playwright Jonathan Leaf that will both fascinate and spur the researcher in you to find out more about the man who is known as the Father of modern Russian…

Natalie Gold and Lois Smith                              by Arney Rosenblat Mary Frances has lived a reasonably good life, as lives go, she’s ninety years old and ready to die.  Born to refugees fleeing the Armenian genocide, her last wish is to die peacefully at home surrounded by her family.  Her dream,…

Francois Battiste, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Keith Randolph Smith , Kristolyn Lloyd                               by Arney Rosenblat Dominique Morisseau once again captures the soulful music of alienation, frustration and yearning of individuals sidelined by life into the role of second class citizens, though these refrains lack the raw gripping power of her other Detroit Trilogy plays…

Dan Luria   photos by Russ Rowland                               by Arney Rosenblat   Through a stunningly rendered production and compelling performances, The Stone Witch movingly explores the price of greatness Simon Grindberg is a “great man” who is revered as one of the world’s most illustrious children’s writers and illustrators but his next anticipated masterpiece is…

Billie Piper                                                                                        Photo Credit: Stephanie Berger                                      By Arney Rosenblat With every beat of Her heart she and the audience slip further into searing despair as her desire to be a mother and have a child of her own unravels into an unfulfilled dream, which leaves the audience as wounded as Billie Piper, who…

Robert Fairchild                        photo credit: Shirin Tinati       by Arney Rosenblat An ambitious, visually beautiful attempt to transport an audience to another time and place. The Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein production reflects the Ensemble for the Romantic Century’s executive artistic director Eve Wolf’s creative goal “to bring historical figures and works to the stage with…

Serena Berwin, Connie Castanzo, Maggie Metnick           photos Mati Gelman                           By Arney Rosenblatt The disquiet, the need of a defining identity, and ultimately the gnawing desire for some kind of retribution when you are dispersed and displaced as “the Other” is the dilemma explored with satirical humor by emerging playwright Nathaniel Sam Shapiro…

Krysta Rodriguez in What We’re Up Against (c) Joan Marcus.jpg   What We’re Up Against                                                 by Arney Rosenblat “What We’re Up Against” is a scorching and disturbingly timely tale about sexism and gender politics.  It is set in a small architectural firm facing the challenge of how to fulfill a commission to expand a…

Phylicia Rashad and cast                               photos by Joan Marcus                                     By Arney Rosenblat There is no more perfect place than the open-air Delacorte Theater in Central Park with its woodland backdrop and Belvedere Castle turret to set the mood for Shakespeare’s Fairyland in Midsummer Night’s Dream where director Lear deBessonet has chosen to explore with…