Aubergine
Written by Julia Cho
Directed by Kate Whoriskey
Playwrights Horizon
September 4, 2016
Production website

💉💉 out of 5.

I had thought I had seen everything, but then a play comes along that is titled Aubergine – – or eggplant as most people would say. I admit that due to my lack of vegetable knowledge – I spent most of the first half of this play waiting for some character named Aubergine to appear – – and he did, but as part of a casserole. Continue reading Aubergine →

The Layover
Written by Leslye Headland
Directed by Trip Cullman
Second Stage Theatre
September 2, 2016
Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.

This play was so downright wonderful in its first half. I was so worried that the cliche of two lost souls picking each other up while on a layover between cancelled flights was going to be too much. What was so wonderful was that the hustle here was so original, clever and fresh. I was kept glued to the stage as a bit of a referreee watching each of the partners score points with each other only to loose them with the next reference. They were beautifully imperfect but clever. You just never knew if they were going to get their joint act together and get some action for the night! Continue reading The Layover →

Engagements
Written by Leslye Headland
Directed by Trip Cullman
Second Stage Theatre
July 27, 2016
Production website
💉 out of 5.

 This is a chick-flick without the “flick” – and what was left – wasn’t much. Theatre is a rather sacred space to me. It is place to do a kind of art that is unique to live performance and would never be able to successfully translate into film or TV. When you write for the stage, you should really want to USE THE STAGE. This play just didn’t need the stage. It could have done all it did with film or television. A live audience was not needed. Continue reading Engagements →

Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Comedic-ballet by Moliere
Music by Jean-baptiste Lully
directed by Denis Podalydes, Societaire de la Comedia Francaise
Lincoln Center Festival
July 24, 2016
Production website

💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

I should never have gotten those seats so close to the stage! Although I was so happy to score tickets in the fourth row for this very popular Lincoln Center Festival, I neglected to remember that since the production would be done in French; and sense I do not speak French; and since they would provide a captioning board above the proscenium – – I should never have set this far forward. Continue reading Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme →

Small Mouth Sounds
written by Bess Wohl
directed by Rachel Chavkin
An Ars Nova Production
Pershing Square Signature Theatre
July 23, 2016
Production website

💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

This was was perhaps the most profound occurrence of déjà vu that I have ever experiend in the theatre. As my blog mentioned a few weeks ago, I took a week out of my theatre watching to attend a self-actualization weekend in the woods of the Hudson River Valley. We were kept in small cabins without any “luxuries”, fed a diet of grains and vegetables, kept off of any kinds of kinds of technology and, most challenging, kept in total silence for the entire workshop. Continue reading Small Mouth Sounds →