Ryan Maxwell News

THE CHOSEN at 1st Stage is a fascinating coming-of-age story of two boys and their fathers, and their extraordinarily different Jewish communities located just “five blocks and a world apart.”

In a stunning US premiere, Stephen Laughton’s beautifully moving 'One Jewish Boy' tells the heartbreaking story of a couple’s relationship, and examines the impact of trauma and the different ways we process it.

Brava, Bravo! For HUBBA HUBBA At Theatre Project: Don't miss the World Premiere! This new show by Alex & Olmsted, internationally acclaimed winners of multiple Jim Henson Award grants, is a pastiche of comedic scenes starring humans, puppets and an invisible fruit fly. Each carries a unique message spotlighting different facets of romantic love.

What did our critic think of GLORIA: A LIFE at Theater J?

Audiences rarely have the opportunity to navigate between the Scylla of relationships and the Charybdis of a wreck at sea, and 4615 Theatre’s effort here, with both paper backs and Life Jacket, is not to be missed.

'Two Jews Walk into a War. . .' manages to only retread oft-explored grounds, and fails to even do so in a unique or particularly insightful way.

'Intimate Apparel' is a fascinating look at an intriguing woman, time period, and world, but the production just didn’t meet the standards Theater J has set for itself over the years.

Theater J's season opener, 'Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story' is both a story about refugees who fall in love and a love story to refugees.

'tempered' isn’t going to cure or remove your rage – it will still be there. But there’s something freeing about leaning into it, about sharing it through music and poetry, that makes carrying it much more bearable.

'Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities' is an intense, but fascinating portrait of community and identity, with a powerhouse creative team on and off the stage.

'Nathan the Wise' handily lives up to the reputation of the two powerhouse theaters behind it. With a beautiful message, a solid cast and creative team, and a spirited atmosphere, 'Nathan the Wise' is one of those productions you want to cheer during the curtain call, then immediately go back and watch it again.

Who says people are not giving back during this pandemic? Local singer/songwriter/actress is doing just that with the release of 'Ghost Light'. It's a song written about the struggles that theatres are having all over the world as the pandemic continues.

August Wilson’s story of seven friends in post-war Pittsburgh may take a while to get started, but don’t let the slow pace or lengthy run time fool you. The play, and Arena’s production, have all the ingredients of great drama - rich characters, powerful writing, and human introspection - and together they simmer and tell a timeless story about race and economic inequality in America.

Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Toni Stone at Arena Stage, directed by Pam MacKinnon, gives Toni (Santoya Fields) the power to tell her own story — the way she wants to tell it. 

The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts presents an evening of world-premiere plays, professionally directed and performed live by professional actors and Theatre Lab supporters in the 10th Annual Dramathon online on Friday, December 11 at 7:30pm. 

'Museum 2040' is a stunning, meticulous look at the future we face if we don't break out of the cycles that have become a part of American life. Renee Calarco's world-building is impressively, hauntingly, realistic, and it's beautifully brought to life by 4615's incredible cast and crew.

With very few exceptions stage musicals based off of comic books and horror movies are never truly successful. You're a Good Man Charlie Brown and Little Shop of Horrors are two very rare examples where those genres succeeded commercially.

'A Measure of Cruelty' is a deep, intimate portrait of what happens when social norms and expectations drive people to act in ways that are more damaging than fulfilling, more harmful than helpful, and how to break the cycles of violence and anger we think need to define us, especially men.

There's a lot of energy and creativity onstage during 4615 Theatre Company's world premiere of The Infinite Tales -- and they come not only from the actors. The performers are accompanied by live and recorded music, props that take up a good part of the stage (mostly suitcases and trunks, suggesting the long-distance travel the main characters must undergo), shadow puppets and screens, and paper cut-outs, among others.

There are signs that the grandaddy of role-playing games, Dungeons & Dragons, is making a comeback, even among the kind of kids who'd usually be glued to their computer games. But its depiction - and general celebration - in Qui Nguyen's 'She Kills Monsters' currently being revived by Rorschach Theatre at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, only seems to show it fading into the past faster than it did the last time it unfolded on this very stage in 2014.