Beneath the Surface at HERE ARTS CENTER
Mermaids, lobster costumes, glowing jellyfish, and a lip-syncing clam puppet set the stage for HERE Arts Center's 32nd Annual Gala. Beyond the festivities, conversations with the organization's three co-directors revealed an ambitious vision for the future of experimental theater in New York.
The Cast Soars, but A Walk on the Moon Never Takes Flight
A Walk on the Moon boasts a gifted cast, beautiful vocal performances, and an appealing score, but an unsympathetic central character and a familiar story leave this musical adaptation struggling to justify its existence.
The Sims, Sleepovers, and the Messiness of Being A Teen
Four teenage girls, countless hours spent playing The Sims, and the complicated realities of growing up. In Dad Don't Read This, playwright Eliya Smith and director Chloe Claudel deliver an energetic, funny, and surprisingly poignant portrait of friendship, adolescence, and the search for control.
REVIEW: Frida Slattery As Herself by Ana Kinsella
Frida Slattery as Herself follows an actress and a director whose relationship stretches across years of collaborations, breakups, and missed opportunities. Ana Kinsella excels at capturing the restless nature of creative ambition and the strange people who linger in our lives long after they should have faded away.
How Wild Wild Christian Turned Religious Trauma into Comedy
A childhood diary, a Christian summer camp, and a bizarre connection to Wild Wild Country make Wild Wild Christian one of the most unexpectedly entertaining solo shows we've seen this year. Funny, charming, and occasionally touching, Simone McAlonen transforms her unconventional upbringing into a comedy that feels tailor-made for Fringe audiences.
Book Review: Good News by Alexa Yasemin Brahme
Good News by Alexa Yasemin Brahme is filled with fascinating artists, inventive installations, and a protagonist in freefall. While the novel's art world feels vividly realized, its central character remains frustratingly opaque, making for a three-star read we admired more than we loved.
Book Review: The Girl with a Thousand Faces
With its unforgettable depiction of Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City and a haunting vision of the afterlife, The Girl with a Thousand Faces is the kind of novel that stays with you long after you've finished reading.
A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups: Inside Company XIV's Petite Rouge
Company XIV's Petite Rouge transforms the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood into a lush spectacle of temptation, transformation, and theatrical excess. Equal parts sensual, humorous, and immersive, the production invites audiences into a world of sparkling cocktails, Versailles-inspired glamour, and unforgettable performances that linger long after the curtain falls
In Scena! Better Than Broadway
Sick of Broadway cash grabs and soulless revivals, Gregory Garofalo headed to Long Island City’s “In Scena!” Theater Festival in search of something real. What he found were exploding potatoes, experimental performances, and the kind of passion New York theater has been missing.
REVIEW: FameSick by Lena Dunham
Years after the culture decided who Lena Dunham was, Fame Sick arrives as something far more uncomfortable: a brutally self-aware account of illness, exploitation, ambition, humiliation, and what it meant to become the face of millennial womanhood at twenty-three.
Inside the Dystopian Fever Dream of Chalk Outline Portal
Created by immersive theater veterans Ingrid Kapteyn and Tony Bordonaro, Chalk Outline Portal turns Theaterlab into a sensory-heavy dystopian game room where dance, gaming, intimacy, and audience participation blur together in chaotic and thrilling ways.
REVIEW: Lake Effect By Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Set against the gray heaviness of Rochester winters, Lake Effect explores adultery, family fallout, and emotional stagnation with sharp observations about suburban life. Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney captures Upstate New York beautifully, even if the novel’s emotional complexity doesn’t always hit as hard as it wants to.
The Messy Lesbian, the Saturn Return, and the Search for Chosen Family
At a warm queer gathering in Brooklyn Heights, conversations about astrology, messy lesbians, and coming-of-age relationships revealed something deeper beneath the tarot cards and cosmic language: the difficult work of building chosen family.