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…
la Ashe & Babak Tafti photos by Joan Marcus By Eugene Paul Hard working playwright Zayd Dohrn is both the beneficiary of Playwrights Horizons richly handsome production values and victim of their staging shortcomings, blessings and curses of the great, collaborative art which makes up Theater. If all aspects are not at…
Obi Abili photos by Carol Rosegg by Julia Polinsky The Emperor Jones at the Irish Repertory Theatre may be the best version of this play in many years. Between the terrific performance by Obi Abili as Jones, and the splendid vision of director Ciaran O’Reilly, this is one of those times when a…
Omar Metwally as Paul, Marisa Tomei as George, Lena Hall as Pip, Austin Smith as David and David McElwee as Freddie photos by Kyle Froman By Marc Miller A succinct verdict on How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, was offered up by a much-loved theater critic: “Well, it’s my favorite Sarah Ruhl play so…
Rob Nagle photos by Russ Rowland By Marc Miller There’s not much church, but plenty of state, in Church & State, Jason Odell Williams’s “serious comedy” now populating New World Stages. “State” as in the state of North Carolina, the current state of American politics, and an attempted statement on what to do about…
Ellen Lauren, Will Bond Photos by Maria Baranova By Eugene Paul Playcrafter Jocelyn Clarke, heeding director Anne Bogart’s long held desire to craft the extraordinary John Cage’s actual expressed revelations and conclusions regarding time, space, hearing, seeing, sllence, sound has done his darnedest so successfully you actually think Will Bond, as HE…
Joan Marcus Michael Emerson in ‘Wakey, Wakey’ By David Schultz The music of Maurice Ravel floats in your ears as you await the play to begin. The gradually escalating strains of Bolero reach their well-earned crashing crescendo, and then the lights shine brightly on a man facedown on the floor…as he gasps aloud “Is…
Rocco Sisto, Aya Cash & Erik Lochtefeld photos by Joan Marcus By Eugene Paul Irony of ironies. Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen and Oliver Butler are play crafters. The three of them generate ideas for a play, Bos and Thureen write, Butler steers the writing as much as the two authors and when…
Jimi Stanton as Gabriel. Photo by Jonathan Slaff by Julia Polinsky A great performance brightens Swedish family psychodrama Marty’s Shadow, by the Swedish playwright Stig Dagerman, dishes up enough family drama and psychological scarring to make a viewer’s heart bleed. Don’t let that put you off seeing this show; if you…