A Warehouse Becomes a Home in ‘Port of Entry’
Albany Park Theater Project partnered with Third Rail Projects to create a new immersive production that invites audiences into apartments in one of Chicago’s most diverse neighborhoods.
Category Archives: Critic’s Notebook
The Complicated Triumph of ‘Here Lies Love’
David Byrne’s Broadway musical is a breakthrough for Filipino American performers, but at what cost to the historical truths it dances around?
Could It Happen Here? How U.S. and U.K. Plays Are Staging Antisemitism’s Resurgence
Over the past year, no fewer than 10 shows on both sides of the Atlantic have addressed the historical rise of Nazism and/or the troubling resurfacing of antisemitism.
Is the Musical Progressive?
For all its faults, the form (and its fans) can’t help but stand up and sing for the underdog, for the awakened conscience, for moments of joyful liberation.
NY’s January Festivals: Reunited, and It Feels So Different
Under the Radar, Exponential, and Prototype at last returned in person this year, and the pickings were as unexpected and various as ever.
3 Ways to Tell Stories of Sexual Abuse Onstage
The writers of ‘Vatican Falls,’ ‘How I Learned to Drive,’ and ‘Downstate’ take varied approaches to depicting pedophiles—and reckoning with what they deserve.
The Rise and Fall of ‘KPOP’
Why is this groundbreaking Broadway musical closing so soon? The tale of its creation, evolution, marketing, and critical reception offers plenty of clues—and some glimmers of hope.
In Louisville There Once Was a Festival
Every April for decades, producers, theatre mavens, and critics would gather to binge new plays at the Festival of New American Plays. But not this April.
What ‘Help’ Sees, and Who It Misses
A new theatre piece based on a Claudia Rankine essay may be educational for white audiences, but for Black audiences it’s merely relatable.
Kaddish for Steve: On the Jewishness of Sondheim
Sondheim’s work is elusive, ambivalent, internally conflicted, and deeply concerned with how stories are told. What could be more Jewish?
