MINT ACTING IN RUTHERFORD & SON The Mint Theater Company's mission is to "excavate buried theatrical treasures" and bring "new vitality to neglected plays." No small task as plays usuall…
THE NATURALIST THING TO DO In the late 19th century, Naturalism emerged as a viable theatrical style in response to the artifice that had earlier been in vogue. It was almost inevitable …
BURNING BRADSHAW Post-modern theater has yet to live up to the hype. Whether deconstructing established forms or employing historical eclecticism, American playwrights writing within a p…
HORSEDREAMS AND NIGHTMARES A few years ago, Dael Orlandersmith made a splash with Beauty's Daughter and Yellowman, winning an Obie Award and being a Pulitzer Finalist. Her work was large…
LOST IN THE LABYRINTH In Outrageous Fortune, Todd London's seminal work on the current state of new plays in America, he writes that the challenge is finding a way to remain relevant to the …
ASUNCION DESCENDING Conventional wisdom in Hollywood says that after you get an Oscar nomination, for the next five years everyone will return your phone calls. It seems Jesse Eisenberg …
LOVE, FONTANA, COMPASSION One of the joys of seeing theatre in New York City Off Broadway is that, every so often, you get to see a special star-of-the-future appear in the firmament and wat…
IN OVERPRAISE OF YOUNGER PLAYWRIGHTS One approaches Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's Lidless with high expectations. The play has won the prestigious David C. Horn Yale Drama Prize as well as UT …
NO EXONERATION FOR AFTER For the past decade, Partial Comfort has gained a reputation as one of the leaders in NYC's downtown theater scene as a producer of new American plays. Instead o…
THE WEIGHT OF HIS ELOQUENCE Theatrical gimmicks are often a lot of fun. The 39 Steps delivered them with panache, and Story Theater taught us never to underestimate the range of the audi…