Irishtown Written by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth Directed by Nicola Murphy Dubey Irish Repertory Theatre May 24, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
The premise of Irishtown is built on a company of actors charged with putting on a play that is “Irish” enough for a theater company from Dublin to take to the New York stage. This new play by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth takes us behind the scenes (ala Noises Off) of a company preparing as they struggle with a new script that no one likes – – let alone understands – – let alone finds the least bit Irish – – and finally abandons – – –
The Picture of Dorian Gray Written by Oscar Wilde In a new adaptation written and directed by Kip Williams Music Box Theatre May 23, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
The Picture of Dorian Gray was an incredible night in the theatre! It was simply magical how one woman, an amazing technology and crew could fill the stage and tell a somewhat forgotten story long considered a literary classic. From the very first moment that the large screen center stage lights up, you know you are going to see the “pictures” in the Picture of Dorian Gray like you could never have imagined. The story is told by one woman using characters she creates live vying with those she has pre-recorded on sets that are live in front of us and settings that have been pre-recorded.
Lunar Eclipse Written by Donald Margulies Directed by Kate Whoriskey Irene Diamond Stage/The Pershing Square Signature Center May 21, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
Lunar Eclipse is essentially a 90-minute one-act play in which two actors bring out the lawn chairs and spend the night watching a lunar eclipse and reflecting on their long-married relationship. As the moon goes through its various stages the characters go through their hopes, losses, and lives together. This is a world premiere of Donald Margulies’ most recent play and captures themes of both optimism and despair.
Glass. Kill. What If If Only. IMP. Written by Caryl Churchill Directed by James Macdonald Martinson Stage – Public Theatre May 20, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
The above are the names of four very short plays written by Caryl Churchill that are woven together with a bit of acrobatic interludes to create a wonderful evening in the theatre. Actually, the first three: Glass. Kill. and What If If Only are very short and play out as the first act and Imp. stands alone as the second act. They all are tied together very loosely by themes of faith and our need for myth – – juxtaposed against the violence we live with. And, of course what we get with any Caryl Churchill play is a seductive, playful, dangerous use of language that you just don’t find that often in the theatre.
John Proctor is the Villain Written by Kimberly Belflower Directed by Danya Taymor Booth Theatre May 18, 2025 Productionwebsite 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
John Proctor is the Villain tells the story of a high school English classroom in the spring semester of the junior year in 2018 in a one-stoplight town in northeast Georgia. Mr. Smith, a very attractive, popular English teacher, is quickly and awkwardly working his way through the state required sex-ed curriculum so that he can get to the highly anticipated study of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. It is when this study of the characters and themes of the Crucible collides with the realities of the classroom and the world of the 2018 (the height of the #MeToo movement) that this play erupts into one of the most explosive and oddly cathartic dramas currently on Broadway.
