Off-Broadway Archives

  The Journey                        By Eugene  Paul If you haven’t been to The Tank in  a while you’ll notice several improvements in signage which could enable you to navigate the unchanged  cramped  premises – you’re definitely Off Off Broadway – maybe Off Off Off. Which, inevitably has an impact on the plays presented.  Too…

  Woman in Black                                  By David Schultz Author Susan Hill’s haunted gothic novel has been adapted for the stage yet again. It is hard to fathom that this worn-out creaky ghost story has been running for 30 years, and gone on an unfathomable 14 tours worldwide. A British television rendition ran in the…

                                               photos, credit Richard Termine  Medea                                By David Schultz This ancient tragedy by Greek playwright Euripides was written in 431 BCE, and is his most well-known play. This shocking story of Mother Love mingled with demonic revenge has been given a shaky modern reboot for current millennials to ponder. Upon entering the cavernous hulking semi…

Charles Busch               photos by Carol Rosegg The Confession of Lily Dare                              by Marc Miller Ruth Chatterton may be an unfamiliar name to a lot of latter-day theatergoers; so, for that matter, may be Wynne Gibson, and even Helen Hayes and Claudette Colbert. But they’re the guardian angels watching over The Confession of Lily Dare,…

Halfway Bitches Go Straight To Heaven                                      By David Schultz This highly respected playwright has a unique predilection for unusual titles. As these various past plays can attest…Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Our Lady of 121st Street, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, and his most recent From Riverside to Crazy, which won the coveted…

Caroline Strang and Ian Holcomb London Assurance                                                       By Eugene Paul With a New York assurance bordering on sorcery, director Charlotte Moore romps through one of the most delectable and enchanting  — and fiendishly difficult to perform – of theatrical endeavors,  the drawing room farce and comes up a winner all round  with Irish-American Dion…

Dep Kirkland, Alan Trinca, Christine Evangelista  Photos by Jeremy Daniel   MsTRIAL                                                              by Julia Polinsky Dep Kirkland’s MsTRIAL deals with men, women, power, and rape. Have we become so jaded that this terrible subject has become a mildly annoying yawn? Or is it just this play that made rape tedious? I’m betting on the…

Samuel H Levine, Kyle Soller, Andrew Burnap  The Inheritance                       by David Schultz  A modern gay intergenerational riff on Howard’s End operatic in scope.  Finding a soulmate in writer E.M. Forster was the furthest thing from a 16-year-old kid’s mindset. But on what would prove to be a fortuitous life changing moment, young Matthew Lopez…

Raul Esparza                                    Photos by Joan Marcus  Seared                     by Arney Rosenblat Currently running at the MCC Theatre on West 52nd Street, Seared is a cautionary tale of what can happen when the art and commerce of cooking collide. The first thing the audience notices upon entering the theater house is that they have a…