Review Roundup: PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEAR Return Engagement at The Public Theater

The Public Theater is presenting a remounted production of Suzan-Lori Parks' PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEAR, which opened yesterday, Tuesday, April 18.

On March 13, 2020, as theaters shut their doors and so many of us went into lockdown, Suzan-Lori Parks picked up her pen and her guitar and set out to write a play every day. What emerged is a breathtaking anthology of plays and songs that chronicle our collective experience and the hope and perseverance that occurred throughout that troubling year. Performed in the intimate music venue, Joe's Pub, PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEAR is a theatrical concert featuring the music and plays of Suzan-Lori Parks. At once, it is both a personal story of one family's daily lives, as well as a sweeping account of all we faced as a city, a nation, and a global community. Niegel Smith directs this life-affirming new work that beams with humor and humanity, bears witness to what we've experienced, and offers inspiration as we shape our future.

The complete cast of the remount of PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEAR includes Suzan-Lori Parks as "The Writer," Edward Astor Chin, Rona Figueroa, Leland Fowler, Danyel Fulton, Greg Keller, Orville Mendoza, Lauren Molina, Joe Osheroff, Danea Osseni, Nathan M. Ramsey, and Martín Solá.

See what the critics are saying...

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Maya Phillips, The New York Times: Sometimes it seems as if Parks is overreaching, as when she speaks to her former mentor, James Baldwin (perfectly embodied by Fowler, who replicates his posture and cadence of speech), so he can muse about American history. Or in a long ceremony during which the cast hands flowers to the audience at the end of a section about Breonna Taylor, played by Fulton; but Fulton's performance is poignant enough on its own. The playwright's conversations with the dead, however, many of whom begin their scenes unaware or in denial of their demise, is the show's most compelling motif.

Tim Teeman, The Daily Beast: Ultimately, Parks proposes that the crafting of the play, the fact we are here watching it, is a testament to art bringing people together. She knows how hard it may be to watch or even make sense of; it is still all too recent and too ongoing. Plays for the Plague Year is neither salve nor provocation, but a scrapbook very personal to Parks, yet recognizable to those leafing through the pages with her.

Gillian Russo, New York Theatre Guide: And yet, Plays for the Plague Year is a show about all of us, as evidenced by the casting of each performer as many people. Parks invites us to bear collective witness to her experience and open our minds to others' experience of the events of 2020 - and beyond. Even beyond gathering in person or singing in unison or taking a collective breath, that's the way, the show reminds us, to really be a community.

Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: But presenting this year-in-review as a revue proves surprisingly effective - entertaining, evocative, provocative. The informality and intimacy make the production feel at times like a gathering where together we are reliving the memories. At its best, "Plays for the Plague year" offers the opportunity for a sense of community and, for some, of catharsis.

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