VIEWPOINTS – They’ve still got it: Downtown theater artists RIZO and KAREN FINLEY urgently return to live performance

Over the course of the past week, I had the opportunity to catch the return to live performance of two revered downtown artists, both of whom have come out of … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Cie Focus & Cie Chaliwaté’s DIMANCHE playfully realizes escalating climate change calamities with gleeful macabre

This past weekend at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAM Fisher Center, I attended Cie Focus and Cie Chaliwaté’s production of Dimanche. In a series of loosely interlocking vignettes – … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s SHADOW/LAND heavy-handedly unpacks inter-generational trauma and legacy via Hurricane Katrina

Last night, Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s shadow/land opened Off-Broadway at the Public Theatre (the play was originally released in podcast form during lockdown). Set in New Orleans during the imminent onset of Hurricane Katrina, … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Laura Horton’s BREATHLESS kicks off 59E59 Theater’s 2023 Brits Off Broadway season in fine fashion

Earlier this week, I had a chance to catch up with Laura Horton’s Breathless, the first entry in 59E59 Theater’s 2023 edition of its excellent Brits Off Broadway series. As … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Red Bull and Fiasco’s lively revival of THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE pushes a tad too hard for laughs

I recently had a chance to catch up with Red Bull and Fiasco’s co-production of The Knight of the Burning Pestle at Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortelle Theatre. Penned by Francis Beaumont way … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Bobbi Jene Smith’s BROKEN THEATER: A fractured choreographic and meta-theatrical dissection of the theater-making process

This past weekend at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, I also had the opportunity to catch one of the closing performances of Bobbi Jene Smith’s Broken Theater. Co-presented by La … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – J2 Spotlight winningly commences its 2023 season with a rare revival of Kander & Ebb’s WOMAN OF THE YEAR

This past weekend, I caught one of the final performances of J2 Spotlight Musical Theatre Company’s revival of Woman of the Year. The production commences J2 Spotlight’s 2023 season, which … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Suzan-Lori Parks’s episodic, music-filled PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEAR thoughtfully relives a fraught time

Last night, Suzan-Lori Parks’s Plays for the Plague Year opened Off-Broadway at the Public Theater. The aptly-named work – which originally premiered at the revered downtown theater last fall but … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Julia Izumi’s surreal family drama REGRETFULLY, SO THE BIRDS ARE gets lost in maze of its own absurdity

Earlier this week, Regretfully, So the Birds Are by Julia Izumi opened Off-Broadway at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater courtesy of Playwrights Horizons and WP Theater. Essentially a family drama, … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Mary Elizabeth Hamilton’s SMART continues EST’s exploration of the influence of technology on the human experience

This past weekend, I caught up with Ensemble Studio Theatre’s latest offering, Smart by Mary Elizabeth Hamilton. The work is the newest installment in the Off-Broadway theater company’s niche series … Continue Reading →