The Signature Theatre Company’s revival of “Master Harold”…and the boys by Athol Fugard – which he also directed – unexpectedly called to mind the necessity of the separation of church and state to a country’s success. Even though the play does not particularly delve into civic theology (religion is only mentioned in passing), Signature’s production served as yet another reminder of one of my more tried-and-true artistic tenets that’s just as crucial to the continued vitality of theatre as the ol’ ‘church and state’ adage is to government: the separation of a playwright from his play through the all-important intermediary of a director.

Continue reading ““MASTER HAROLD”…AND THE BOYS: Great Playwrights…make average directors” →

Three recent off-Broadway productions – Horton Foote’s The Roads to Home at Primary Stages, A.R. Gurney’s Two Class Acts at the Flea Theater, and En Garde Arts’ Wilderness at the Abrons Arts Center – made me ponder how much accurately depicting the lives of specific people not often given the time of day on stage should be valued. Though holding up a mirror to nature has always been one of the foundational tenets of art, after years of audiences being treated to ‘reflections’ of almost every different type of character imaginable, I’m now left wondering if plays that achieve nothing more than presenting these now-familiar reflections can justifiably be criticized for not striving for, well, more… 

Continue reading “Mirrors Up to Nature…Anything Else?” →

After posting my thoughts regarding Theatre for One’s current residency at the Signature Theatre Company’s Pershing Square Signature Center, I received a few questions regarding the logistics of attending this abnormal event. As such, I figured it would behoove everyone if I answered them publicly here:

Continue reading “THEATRE FOR ONE Postscript” →

A magic box currently resides in the middle of the Pershing Square Signature Center on 42^nd Street through November 21, and those who dare to step inside may walk out with a newfound conception of this art form known as theatre.

Continue reading “THEATRE FOR ONE for All” →

Neil LaBute has spent the majority of his career deconstructing the societal taboos that most people mindlessly adopt with nary a thought to their validity. With All the Ways to Say I Love You – the first play of MCC Theater’s 30^th anniversary season, of which Mr. LaBute is the playwright-in-residence – he sets his sights on exploring the morality of the hot-button issue of teachers forging “inappropriate” relationships with their underage students. Those textual air quotes are basically the crux of the play: even though almost everyone would immediately write-off such a relationship as immoral and thus inappropriate, this one-woman show strives to understand the psychology that drove the female teacher at its center to engage in such near-universally agreed upon immorality. This understanding will hopefully elicit empathy for a visibly tortured soul whose perspective they never even considered, which has long been one of the foundational goals of drama since its origins in Greek tragedy.

Continue reading “ALL THE WAYS TO SAY I LOVE YOU: Please, Sir, I Want Some More” →

I know that I’m excessively late to this party, but holy cow I’d be surprised if I see five better plays this season than Small Mouth Sounds. It’s a prime example of what happens when you actually present the work of young, diverse voices – in this case, two women: playwright Bess Wohl and director Rachel Chavkin. Hopefully this boosts the careers of these two phenomenal talents in the same way that Circle Mirror Transformation enhanced the profiles of Annie Baker and Sam Gold (pretty lofty company!). If you can see it by Sunday, DO SO. If you can’t, I’m sure that it will – as it should – be produced in so many regional theatres all across the country in the near future. If it comes to your city, do yourself a favor and purchase a ticket – very few other plays in recent memory so encapsulate the special human alchemy of live theatre.