Nassim
Written and performed by Nassim Soleimanpour
with guest actor Thom Sesma
Directed by Omar Elerian
New York City Center Stage II
January 2, 2019
Production website
💉💉 out of 5

Man did I want to like this play – because I adore Performance Art.  A week at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland is my idea of theatre heaven!  But tonight it was Nassim at NY City Center Theatre.  Nassim Soleimanpour is an actual playwright from Iran known here in the US for his big hit White Rabbit Red Rabbit – a play that Nassim, himself was never able to see in America as he was having trouble leaving his country and coming to the US. Continue reading Nassim →

The Slave Play
Written by Jeremy O. Harris
Directed by Robert O’Hara
New York Theatre Workshop
December 26, 2018
Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

“White people still have the whip” claims Jeremy O’Harris in his crazy, rollarcoaster of a work, Slave Play.  It is perhaps the kinkiest and most unapologetic play I have seen in years. The crux of the play is a montage of three interracial couples (1. a young slave girl and her master; 2. An older plantation mistress with a biracial house slave; and 3. A white indentured laborer and the black male slave who oversees his work.  At the beginning of the play, these three couples are caught in the throughs of their erotic fantasy of domination and submission.  Continue reading The Slave Play →

Thom Pain (based on nothing)
Starring Michael C. Hall
Written by Will Eno
Directed by Oliver Butler
Signature Theatre
November 24, 2018
Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

Watching Thom Paine (based on nothing), with Michael C. Hall is a 70 minute romp round the existential racetrack that feels very much like Beckett brought back to life.  In fact, as I was sitting there, I began to see this play and imagining what it would be like to have seen Waiting for Godot– now told in the 21st century and now played out after the death of Estragon.  What would Godot be like after the death of one member of its infamous couple?  How would Vladimire hold forth on a world when there was no one to verbally spar with him?  Can you imagine the pain of all those jokes and pondering landing on ears that were no longer there to answer.  Existential on steroids for sure . . . Continue reading Thom Pain (based on nothing) →

What the Constitution Means to Me
Written by and starring Heidi Schreck
Directed by Oliver Butler
New York Theatre Workshop
October 26, 2018
Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.

Great things come in the most unexpected of places.  I am not sure what attracted me to spend a night in New York watching a one woman show about the U.S. Constitution – but that is how I chose to spend the night and boy, was I grateful for the choice.  It is a mighty odd show to put down in simple terms.  Essentially it is set in the meeting room of every American Legion in the middle  of anywhere America as they are holding one of their annual oratorical contests for high school students to compete with their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution.  Continue reading What the Constitution Means to Me →

The Hard Problem
Written by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Jack O’Brien
Lincoln Center Theatre Company
October 25, 2018
Production website
💉💉 out of 5.

In all my theatre going days, I don’t think I have ever been to the FIRST preview of any play.  The very first time a New York audience was going to see the play – pretty cool!  I was surprised to see the imperfections I did see a few.  Light cues were bringing up lights on audience members when the audience was not involved in the story.  It certainly made a few people last night very self conscious as they were pointed out in plain view for several minutes.  Set pieces got spun around to face the wrong direction and there were a few traffic jams with all the cast moving too much furniture around this thrust stage. Continue reading The Hard Problem →