OFF-OFF-BROADWAY THEATER REVIEWS

Recently concluding its run at both the People’s Improv Theater (PIT) and Theater for the New City in New York City, Pandemonium is a new show written by Claude Solbik that, beneath its comical nature, questions whether our fate is truly written for us. A whimsical tale of swashbuckling pirates, t...

Presented by Ma-Yi Theater Company and directed by Obie-winner Ralph B. Peña, the world premiere of Daniel K. Isaac’s ambitious nested-narrative play, ONCE UPON A (KOREAN) TIME comes in hot and stirs the cultural pot, layering traditional Korean folk tales amidst a legacy of trauma, love, and en...

'The Panic of ’29' is now being presented at 59E59 Theaters by Less Than Rent Theatre. Written by Graham Techler and directed by Max Friedman, it’s a production that our readers will find very entertaining. The show will be on the Upper East Side stage through August 20, 2022....

The Downtown Urban Arts Festival (DUAF) was founded in 2001 on this basis: to bring a collection of new American works that, in their words, 'speaks to a whole generation whose lives defy categorizing along conventional lines.' In its attempts to bring the spirit of real playwrights and characters t...

Surreal and surreptitious, the comedy-horror BUGGY BABY centers on some displaced immigrants in London seeking normalcy despite the lunacy in their lives. Written by Josh Azouz and directed by Rory McGregor, the US premiere of this twisted tale also features a multi-talented toddler character and a ...

We attended a poignant production of The Lucky Star produced by The Directors Company, that featured outstanding direction by Noah Himmelstein, and an excellent cast....

Thematically expansive within its intimate performance space, the paradoxical primordial soup swirling in COSMICOMICS blends the essential elements of earth, air, fire, and water with music, storytelling, ballet, and absurdist humor....

A story of two people sets the stage for some wondrous things to happen. Each understands what the other is going through, and ultimately becomes what the other needs. The story of Larry and Lucy is such a story. An Uber driver jaded by life meets a teenage girl who has turned to drugs in her attemp...

Live theatre is back, and we are so pleased to visit 59E59 Theaters and see Heartland, a production presented by Geva Theatre Center. This outstanding play is written by Gabriel Jason Dean, superbly directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh and features a top-notch cast....

On one side of the stage there is a tony law office with its desks, books and golf clubs.  The opposite side is a representation of a poor urban neighborhood.  Garbage litters the ground.  Stark contrasts between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' are on full display in the new play Sometime Child: ...

Recently concluding performances at Theater for the New City, The UnAmerican questions the power that is supposedly given to those who believe they are above the consensus of the many. Directed by Joe John Battista, Solnik’s play follows the troubled triad of relationships between Marilyn Monroe, ...

These ladies don't lunch; they launch, twist, lurch, pop and topple. Meet Lorca, Topo, Nivea and Pinny: the more-sweet-than-tart troupe in LEMON GIRLS OR ART FOR THE ARTLESS. The comedic performance-art-within-a-play follows a group of New York City senior (70ish) girlfriends, all alumnae of Lemon ...

Mixing history, mystery, sword play and word play, JANE ANGER takes a jab at right-sizing Shakespeare and does so with hilarious results. Billed as a “Jacobean feminist revenge Comedy,” the one-act play written by Talene Monahon provides ample opportunity for us to hate on the egotistical bard w...

Imaginative, interactive and illuminating, ADDRESSLESS humanizes the plight of three homeless and nomadic New Yorkers who are forced to keep couch surfing, shelter hopping, street roaming and panhandling to survive winter and beyond. While the trio of actor-avatars encounter systemic barriers at the...

SHEEP #1 is the third program of the Japan Society’s current season, which focuses on New York City - based, female theater-makers. The piece first premiered at The Tank three years ago, then caught Japan Society’s Artistic Director Yoko Shioya’s attention. Prior to its most recent engagement,...

Brony-bonded and fully invested in cosplay camaraderie, the diverse ensemble of actors in Dutch Kills Theater Company's THE ANTELOPE PARTY at The Wild Project take playwright Eric John Meyer's prescient character-driven dramedy on a wild ride....

Fists fly and cultures clash atop a tenement building in New York’s Lower East Side in playwright Tony DiMurro’ 1-2-3 Manhunt, where two outsiders on the edge of different generations pledge allegiance to a combustible mentorship to save what’s sacred....

THIS WOULD LOOK GOOD ON YOU is the experience - even a life goal - we have all been searching to fulfill. Directed by Liza Cassidy and written/performed by Crispino, this 50-minute production is a romp through Crispino’s life through the various pieces of clothing she has accumulated throughout th...

Within the attic of an insane asylum, in a time and place of little importance and for reasons unknown, eight women of history convene to discuss the business of their lives - shells of people who once embodied greatness, now pieced together by moments of nostalgia and hysteria. When all that was ha...

Directed by JD Glickman, Sex, Shoplifting and Rock & Roll concluded its two-week run this past Sunday. Performed at this East Village icon and with COVID guidelines in check, audiences returned to the theater at long last to witness a show worth the wait....

It’s been a long road since March 2020, but the world is healing and Mandie Rapoza’s performance art piece, FRAGMENTS, A LIVE AUDIO STORY, is a welcomed and much needed breath of fresh air in a world where in-person art has been almost completely dormant....

A mixture of Zoom live action, audience interaction and an old school video game, Darrel Alejandro Holnes' Black Feminist Video Game is overfilled with levels.  There's light comedy, melodrama, politics, silliness, boldly underscored learnings and, yes, a two dimensional video game to conquer.  'T...

At some point during the outstanding live stream performance of Franz Kafka's Letter To My Father, yet another reference began swirling in my mind.  Lyrics from an old song from the late 1970's band Split Enz bizarrely came into focus.  'History never repeats / I tell myself before I go to sleep /...

The Seeing Place Theater offers a futuristic glimpse of artists adapting to a changed culture in Liz Duffy Adams’ 2004 absurdity, DOG ACT....

For the first time in twelve years, Americans were being served by a president who fully supported The Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision when the pseudonymed playwright Jane Martin's 1994 Pulitzer finalist KEELY AND DU premiered....