Clyde’s Written by Lynn Nottage Directed by Kate Whoriskey 2nd Stage at Helen Hayes Theatre December 28, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
As the play began, I knew I was not going to like this play at all, but, as I left the theatre, I began to like it more and more. I believe the reason I got such a negative start had to deal with my seats. I was lucky/unlucky to score seats in the center section right in the second row. I had a clear view of the stage and all was good – – until the lights went down. From the very first moment all things on stage were SO loud and SO overplayed and SO working more to get an audience to laugh rather than settling down and trying to bring us into the world of the play. A perfect example is the character of Letitia twerking away for sake of the audience before we even know what/who she is in the play.
Sanctuary City Written by Martina Major Directed by Rebecca Frecknall New York Theatre Workshop October 9, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5
It was so great to back into the theatre and see a play. It had been waaaaaay tooo long! Sanctuary Play was the first of the group. The story was simple – two adolescents, both children of undocumented workers banded together to plot ways to stay in the country. The girl simply named “G” found a loophole in the system that allowed her to stay if she was willing to stay with her physically abuse succession of her Mother’s boyfriends and take on an excessive amount of college student debt. The boy, “B” had it tougher. His mother was planning to give up and just return to her home country. His options were to continue hiding in the shadows in fear or to find an American girl that he could marry. I am sure you can guess where we go from there.
A Thousand Ways – Part 2: An Encounter Written/Directed by 600 Highwaymen Public Theatre June 14, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5
Now the action of Part 1 shifts gears sharply. Now this next $15 dollar ticket gets you to the actual THEATRE and gets you sitting directly across from an actual person. Still an audience is lacking but at least we are getting a live event! That’s big! There were about a dozen or so waiting in the lobby and one by one the usher would lead into one of the many theatre spaces of the Public Theatre where we would find ourself on-stage (not in the audience) and facing a simple, well lit table, 2 chairs, one social distancing screen, a stack of typed cards, a pencil, a blank card, and a tape dispenser. Rather spooky to be sitting there all alone. Eventually another person from the lobby that you do know know at all is led into your space and sits in the opposite chair.
The Minutes
Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
Cort Theatre
March 11, 2020 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5
All of the advertising says that you are going to get a big surprise and twist at the end of this production – and granted you do, and, obviously, I am not going to spill the beans here. The problem I have with this big moment is that it was rather predictable 40 minutes into the show. You weren’t able to predict how visual this surprise was going to be – but you knew how the tables were going to get changed and the absent councilman was going to figure into the mix. Continue reading The Minutes→
72 Miles to Go . . .
Written by Hilary Bettis
Directed by Jo Bonney
Roundabout Theatre Company
Laura Pels Theatre
March 8, 2020 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
I really wanted to love this play; I really did. I was thinking it was time for a good play to really deal with the DACA debate and the personal stories of those who are living through the experience and the fear.
72 Miles to Go . . follows a splintered family over 10 years of strength, struggle and love, as they face the profoundly personal drama of immigration. Seventy-two miles. That’s the space between Nogales, Mexico and Tucson, Arizona—and the world of distance that separates a mother at a shelter and her American-born husband and children.Continue reading 72 Miles to Go . . .→
