Rob Weinert-Kendt, the editor of American Theatre magazine, asked me to cover the 50th anniversary celebration of Mabou Mines last week. How could I say no? Check out what I wrote here and let me know what you think.
Archive for the 'theater reviews' Category
THEATER: Mabou Mines 50th Anniversary Celebration
June 29, 2022Theater reviews: The 25 Best American Plays Since “Angels in America”
June 7, 2018Okay, I’ve spent way too much time this week thinking about the New York Times article in which the Times critics list the 25 best American plays of the last 25 years, so I’m just going to share my list. I stuck to the rules (mostly) of only one play by a particular author. I haven’t read all of these scripts, so in many cases I’m not sure if what stuck with me was the play itself (the Great American Play that must be done in theaters across the country!) or the production. Some of these absolutely do not count as plays in the Shakespeare/Arthur Miller/Wendy Wasserstein category. But this is a list of plays that made a big impression on me that has lasted. No particular order, except that the first several are the ones from the Times list with which I agreed.
- Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, An Octoroon
- August Wilson, Seven Guitars (or Jitney)
- Wallace Shawn, The Designated Mourner
- Edward Albee, Three Tall Women
- Tectonic Theater Project, The Laramie Project
- Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues
- Margaret Edson, Wit
- Claudia Rankine, The Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue
- Kia Corthron, Light Raise the Roof
- Annie Baker, John
- Adam Bock, Five Flights (or The Drunken City, or A Life)
- Stephen Adly Giurgis, The Motherfucker with the Hat (or Between Riverside and Crazy)
- Han Ong, Middle Finger
- Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
- Erik Ehn, Maria Kizito
- Lynn Nottage, Intimate Apparel
- Lisa Kron, Well (or 2.5 Minute Ride)
- Anna Deveare Smith, Notes from the Field (or Fires in the Mirror, or Twilight)
- Okwui Okpokwasili, Poor People’s TV Room
- Craig Lucas, The Dying Gaul
- Jon Robin Baitz, The Paris Letter
- Christopher Durang, Why Torture is Wrong, And the People Who Love Them (or Betty’s Summer Vacation)
- David Greenspan, The Myopia
- Keith Hennessy, Crotch
- Eisa Davis, Angela’s Mixtape
- Taylor Mac, The Lily’s Revenge
Theater Review: INTIMACY
March 6, 2014
I’ve mostly cycled out of writing theater reviews, in an effort to concentrate my writing energy in the direction of my therapy practice. But I couldn’t resist writing about Thomas Bradshaw’s latest play, Intimacy, because of the issues it raises, particularly about how pornography has become an integral part of our lives in a way that hardly anyone talks about. Directed by Scott Elliott for the New Group, the show is finishing up its run — the last performance is Saturday night. It’s really worth seeing and discussing.
Here’s my first paragraph: Thomas Bradshaw is a 33-year-old black American playwright who might as well have his middle name legally changed to Provocative, because no one seems to be able to talk or write about his work without conjuring that adjective. The most recent of his 11 plays, “Intimacy,” has been playing Off Broadway for the last two months; the production at the New Group concludes its run March 8. I’m fascinated by this play not just as a theater scholar but also as a sex therapist. Bradshaw’s plays almost always address hot-button issues of race, class, and sexuality very directly and explicitly. His previous play, “Burning,” performed at the New Group two years ago, took off from the Marquis de Sade’s “Philosophy in the Bedroom” and included several extremely graphic scenes of simulated sex by naked actors only a few feet away from the audience. “Intimacy” goes even further by taking as its main subject the prevalence of pornography in American culture, specifically as it plays out among three suburban families.
You can read the entire review for CultureVulture online here. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Best Theater of 2013
December 23, 20131. Fun Home – beautiful adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s graphic family memoir by Lisa Kron with top-notch score by Jeanine Tesori, an excellent cast with three Alisons and Michael Cerveris as her closeted gay father, keenly directed by Sam Gold and keenly designed by David Zinn.
2. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Julie Taymor’s smart, inventive staging with spectacular scenic design by Es Devlin, costumes by Constance Hoffman, and major performances by Kathryn Hunter, David Harewood, Tina Benko, Max Casella and 20 rambunctious children.
3. Love’s Labours Lost – fast funny musical adaptation of Shakespeare by director Alex Timbers and composer Michael Friedman in Central Park, with a cast of newly minted stage stars.
4. Good Person of Szechwan – Lear de Bessonet’s excellent funky staging of Brecht’s masterwork at La Mama ETC (later the Public Theater) starring Taylor Mac and other downtown luminaries.
5. The Designated Mourner – deeply affecting revival of Wallace Shawn’s disturbing play with fine performances by Shawn, Deborah Eisenberg, and Larry Pine directed by Andre Gregory.
6. Here Lies Love – delirious immersive musical about Imelda Marcos by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim staged by Alex Timbers with a game young cast headed by Ruthie Ann Miles.
7. Pippin – Broadway revival brilliantly staged by Diane Paulus as a circus with an instantly legendary performance by Andrea Martin.
8. Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 – a chunk of Tolstoy shaped into a dense, hip musical by Dave Molloy and crisply staged cabaret-style by Rachel Chavkin with a memorable leading performance by Philippa Soo (below) and luxurious costumes by Paloma Young.
9. The Assembled Parties – Richard Greenberg’s play with a cast of good actors smartly directed by Lynne Meadow.
10. All the Rage – Martin Moran’s monologue about loss, death, life purpose, dreams, and anger, delivered with the same beguiling mixture of writerly detail, grace, and humor that characterized The Tricky Part.
11. The Laramie Project Cycle – Tectonic Theater Project’s documentary about the murder of Matthew Shepard and its aftermath, still powerful 15 years later.
12. The Flick – Annie Baker’s latest crack at mining mundane lives for drama with a richness that bears comparison to Beckett (with whom she shares a reverence for silence) and Chekhov, set in a rundown movie theater (designed with hilarious drabness by David Zinn) with a heartbreaking performance by Matthew Maher (below), directed by Sam Gold.
Honorable Mentions:
Clint Ramos for costuming Here Lies Love and Good Person of Szechwan
Judy Kuhn for her performance as Fosca in John Doyle’s production of Sondheim’s Passion
Marin Ireland for her stylized performance in the title role of David Adjmi’s Marie Antoinette
Mark Rylance for his performance as Olivia in the all-male Twelfe Night on Broadway
Tom Pye’s set design for Deborah Warner’s production of The Testament of Mary
Craig Lucas’s libretto for Nico Muhly’s Two Boys at the Metropolitan Opera
Bernardine Mitchell for her performance as Rose in La Divina Caricatura
John Tiffany’s staging of The Glass Menagerie on Broadway, Bob Crowley’s set, and Celia Keenan-Bolger’s performance as Laura (below)
Theater review: Sam Shepard’s HEARTLESS
September 23, 2012
My (somewhat belated) review of Sam Shepard’s new play Heartless at Signature Theater, featuring a terrific cast headed by Lois Smith (above center), has just been posted on CultureVulture.net. Check it out here and let me know what you think. It’s quite an unusual play for Shepard, harkening back to his early, very wild and free plays — not to everybody’s taste but definitely to mine. The show runs only one more week, so if you’re inclined to go, don’t wait.
another eye opens 