The Effect
by Lucy Prebble
directed by David Cromer
Barrow Street Theatre
June 25, 2016 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
Is it dopamine or is it love? That is a new question for the stage. The Effect is a fascinating story of a drug trial clinic that uses both a male and a female as guinea pigs. They are both (?) given increasingly larger doses of a new, experimental anti-depressant to test its effect and side effects. And as they become attached to each other, they question the source of this attraction . . . Continue reading The Effect→
The Purple Lights of Joppa, Illinois
written and directed by Adam Rapp
Atlantic Theatre Company
June 22, 2016 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5
This is one brutal little play. From the beginning of the play that finds a man meticulously picking up unseen specks from a carpet to the end in which that same man stares at his torchiere light – afraid that it will move. The premise is rather simple. A man has just been released from a psychiatric correctional institute to return home and plan for a special meeting. Soon the door rings and two teenage girls enter – – danger, danger – we know something bad is going to happen. Continue reading The Purple Lights of Joppa, Illinois→
Indian Summer
by Gregory S. Moss
directed by Carolyn Cantor
Playwrights Horizon
June 19, 2016 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
In that I teach high school, I am always concerned when a production begins with a teenager sitting on a mound of dirt emptying his shoes. I can just smell the expected angst and “teen issues” that the play will move toward. But I was surprised and delighted with Indian Summer.Continue reading Indian Summer→
Eclipsed
starring Lupita Nyong’o
written by Danai Gurira
directed by Liesl Tommy
Golden Theatre
June 18, 2016 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
It is hard to believe that a play created as a female-driven drama about sex slavery and genocide could make to the same Broadway that features Dirty Rotten Scoundrels across the street and School of Rock a few blocks away. Much of this success is due to the debut of Academy Award winning Lupita Wyong’o who has stepped away from her Lancome cosmetic ads to tell this story of 5 women trapped in a Nigerian camp where they survive by selling their bodies. What a transition this young actress has made! Continue reading Eclipsed→
Pericles
written by William Shakespeare
music composed by Shaun Davey
Featuring Christian Camargo
Directed by Trevor Nunn
Theatre for a New Audience
March 22, 2016 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5
I walked into the theatre and was immediately blown away. The theatre was set up as a 3/4 thrust. This is always one of the most exciting features of this theatre. Taking up the entire upstage wall is an ocular or large circular medallion that was backlit and seemed to glow. This ocular must have been 40’ in diameter. There was nothing else on stage – – just this big medallion. Wow! Continue reading Pericles→
The Effect
