The title of Donja R. Love’s play “one in two,” currently running in The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center, is reflective of the alarming 2016 study released by the CDC, which projected that “one in two Black gay and bisexual men will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime.” Trapped in a stark white…
Once again playwright Richard Nelson has gathered another family around the colloquial table to observe their trials and tribulations as they conquer another day of survival in Rhinebeck, New York. This time around it is “The Michaels” who are the subjects of this intimate study of human behavior. The revelations evolve almost in real time as friends and family convene…
Commissioned by Ars Nova in 2016 and currently playing at New York City’s Greenwich House, “Dr. Ride’s American Beach House” claims to be one thing but delivers something markedly different from its hype. Harriet (Kristen Sieh), Matilda (Erin Markey), Norma (Susan Blomaert), and Meg (Marga Gomez) are “a group of women with passionate opinions and no opportunities [sitting] on a…
“Slave Play,” currently running on Broadway at the Golden Theatre, reiterates the events on the fourth day of the Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy being held at MacGregor Plantation, a few miles south of Richmond, Virginia. Three couples have signed up for the workshop to engage in the “radical therapy designed to help black partners re-engage intimately with white partners from…
Jack Thorne’s “Sunday,” currently running at Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater, seems to elicit one of two responses: disappointment or robust enthusiasm. A group of Gen Z friends gather in a New York City apartment for one of what has become Sunday Book Club gatherings. This Sunday’s meeting is at Marie’s (a somewhat broken and conflicted Sadie Scott) and…
The one and probably only thing you may be sure of when you leave the Cort Theatre after viewing the recent production of “Derren Brown: Secret” is that Mr. Brown is a very likable and convincing fellow, along with being a wonderful entertainer. He assures you that he cannot read your mind, that there is nothing contrived and there are…
A grizzly and wisened Richard Roy emerges from the darkness at the beginning of “A White Man’s Guide to Rikers Island,” currently running at The Producers Club, to introduce his autobiographical “guide” to surviving the prison environment he shared for six months of his young adult life on Rikers Island on a charge of negligent homicide. Roy then steps off…
What could go wrong at a private school whose board of directors (all five of them) make all decisions based on consensus and have only what benefits the community at heart. A board so committed to inclusion that the school’s cultural identity drop-down menu for prospective parents offers eleven choices. And if Eli (Brian Wiles) has his way, because of…
Chatillion Stage Company’s “Tech Support,” currently running at 59E59 Theaters, begins with the play’s protagonist Pamela Stark (Margot White) frantically pacing around in her West Village well-appointed apartment as she remains on hold waiting for tech support for her malfunctioning printer. Pamela deals in antique books and when she finally reaches tech support, she tells Chip, “I need to pack…
Currently running at Theatre Row, Ma-Yi Theater Company’s “Felix Starro” launches the Company’s 30th Anniversary Season. The musical is based on Filipino-American writer Lysley Tenorio’s short story of the same name that appeared in his 2012 collection “Monstress” in which “a famous Filipino faith healer and his grandson Junior conduct an illicit business in San Francisco, though each has his…