Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Off-Broadway roundup: Summerworks kicks off with BUSINESS IDEAS and THE UNITED STATES VS ULYSSES at Irish Arts Center

• By drediman
• May 28, 2025
• No Comments

This past holiday weekend, I stayed in town and took in a pair of new Off-Broadway plays, both of which have been beautifully produced and provided rich food for thought. Here are my thoughts on these theater outings.

THE UNITED STATES VS ULYSSES
Irish Arts Center
Through June 1

First up is Colin Murphy’s The United States vs Ulysses (RECOMMENDED), which is currently wrapping up performances at Irish Arts Center in Hell’s Kitchen. Framed as a vintage radio show (Murphy originally wrote it to be one), the piece at its core is a re-enactment of the December 1933 trial entitled “The United States versus One Book Called Ulysses” in which the decision whether to ban James Joyce’s novel Ulysses for obscenity was determined. Additionally, excerpts from the book are dramatized intermittently to give audiences unfamiliar with the notorious novel a taste of the work’s risqué bits. Given the current administration’s pronounced efforts to censor the culture landscape and limit expression, the play couldn’t have arrived at a more crucial time. Both Murphy and the production do a terrific job of navigating the play’s three different planes (i.e., CBS’s radio studio in New York, the courtroom, and the world of Joyce’s Ulysses), thanks largely to the clarity of the ensemble acting and the fluidly-executed transitions of Conall Morrison’s tight staging (kudos particularly to John Comiskey’s agile lighting design). Throughout, the debates arguing both sides are thoughtful and well-articulated, giving the sense of real suspense and drama regarding the ultimate outcome of the case. All in all, The United States vs Ulysses is a finely-tuned fantasia that’s both illuminating and entertaining. But even in the play’s sillier moments, the endeavor keeps its eyes on the prize.

BUSINESS IDEAS
Clubbed Thumb‘s Summerworks series at The Wild Project
Through May 27

You know summer is fast approaching when the folks over at Clubbed Thumb have kicked off Summerworks, the company’s revered annual summer theater festival of quirky new works, most of which are mounted and cast at an uncommonly high level (especially impressive given how short the runs are). The first of the three anticipated offerings of the 2025 iteration of the series — Milo Cramer’s Business Ideas (RECOMMENDED) — is certainly no exception. Set in a chicly-appointed coffee shop, the play is essentially a meditation on the notion of professional self-determination in contemporary society. Indeed, the play asks the question — in the absence of capital to sustain and propel oneself, how free are we really to determine our own fates in this world? These existential inquiries are mulled over by both the shop’s increasingly frustrated barista — who is actively looking for opportunities to transcend her current gig — as well as mother-and-daughter customers who are seeking “business ideas” for a new start-up they are planning. With a running time of just over an hour and its sketch-like structure, there’s no getting around that Business Ideas is a slight play. But as a comedy of manners, it’s very funny and often scathing, especially as performed by the production’s quartet of pitch perfect actresses (Annie McNamara, Laura Scott Cary, Mary Wiseman, and Brittany Bradford). Despite the deceptively light touch of Laura Dupper’s production, I left the play saddened and unsettled by what I had just seen. This is a compliment.