“Worse than Tigers,” an inventive new play by Mark Chrisler, presented by The Mill Theatre and New Ohio Theatre, concluded its run in downtown Manhattan…
Everything today is everywhere precarious & the future bodes ill as we struggle on against all the odds to make it better following Camus’s …
“The Naturalists,” a play by Jaki McCarrick and presented by The Pond Theatre Company is having its world premier at Walkerspace in downtown Manhattan. It…
Tell Me How I Did There was a time in Manhattan circa 1970 when actors performed “in the many places actors do plays in New…
I can find no better way to illustrate the significance of the PTP/NYC’s 32nd Season than to offer this excerpt from Brecht’s poem “Again and…
Down at the New Ohio Theatre on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, there is an odd, interesting play by the talented Built for Collapse company…
Every summer, at Atlantic Stage 2 in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, the exceptional Potomac Theatre Project comes to town under the PTP/NYC umbrella. This…
The newly and beautifully-renovated Irish Repertory Theatre in association with The Public Theater in New York City have brought in a doozy of a production…
In British playwright Howard Barker’s “No End of Blame: Scenes of Overcoming” Bela (Alex Draper), a poet, begins his journey toward truth and freedom on…
The always-challenging, provocative PTP/NYC (Potomac Theatre Project) is celebrating their 30th anniversary season by bringing back two plays in repertory: “No End of Blame: Scenes…
For me, the most exciting part of “I’m Bleeding All Over the Place: A Living History Tour” created and directed by Brooke O’ Harra at…
New Ohio Theatre and Blessed Unrest ensemble are currently presenting “Body: Anatomies of Being” downtown in New York City’s West Village until May 21st. It…
FOOTFALLS ENCORE +in honor of the 110th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Beckett 13 April 1906+ “The sun shone, having no alternative, on the…
The most inventive, wondrous sets in Manhattan are being created by Concrete Temple Theatre at the HERE Arts Center in the Village. Water is integral…
I admit that initially I was skeptical about going to review an adults-only, “baroque-burlesque-ballet Cinderella,” presented by Company XIV and AMDM productions down in the…
Lisa Lewis’s smart, funny “Schooled” begins with a charismatic, world-weary professor and film maker, Andrew (Quentin Mare, smooth, swaggering, terrific) past his prime addressing a…
“It takes a clever man to play the fool, Robber,” says 90 year-old Hugh Pugh (Peter Maloney) from the relative comfort of his bathtub to…
The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts, is now in its 10th year (Year TENN Ptown Sept 24-27). Co-founder and curator David Kaplan…
ACORNS & AUTUMN LEAVES “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” John Keats vibrant hued falling season bright with promise tinged with rue breezes rustle to…
As I strolled down 50th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, on a bright, warm mid-September day, I approached the crosswalk and there was a man standing…
“Celebrity Autobiography,” created by Eugene Pack and a Drama Desk winner for Unique Theatrical Experience in 2009, has been running on the Upper West Side…
I am trying to figure out the words to describe Pat Shortt, a unique performer I was unfamiliar with until I stepped foot into the…
Astonishing. That is the word that fits Genevieve Hulme-Beamen’s one-woman show, “Pondling,” which she wrote and stars in, presented by Guna Nua and Ramblinman as…
September in New York City ushers in a new theatrical season, and what better way to begin than with the annual Origin’s 1st Irish 2015?…
2015 is the 29th season for the PTP (Potomac Theater Project), and their 9th year in New York City. They are an exciting, adventurous…
Bigger is not always better. Witness the current incarnation of “The Weir,” revived by The Irish Rep at their smaller, temporary location on E. 15th…
The great Jan Maxwell has said she is retiring from the theater, and if so, she has she chosen to revive a brilliant role in…
For the Last Time. There is a sublime jazz band center stage of the musical “For the Last Time,” playing on Theater Row, 42nd Street…
There’s some fine acting in quite a good play, “The Belle of Belfast” at the DR2 Theatre, New York’s Irish Rep’s temporary home off Union…
It is difficult to write a memory play, complete with ghosts and younger selves, without a shred of sentimentality. Yet that is exactly what Hugh…
On 52nd Street in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, The Interart Theatre Development Series is presenting Blessed Unrest’s production of “Lying,” a stage adaptation by Matt…
1 DESIRING “we can’t govern our affections” Washington Square-Henry James “hungry for the one thing everybody loses- young loving” Jazz-Toni Morrison Which is it, Aphrodite?…
In 2008, I saw “Port Authority” by Conor McPherson at The Atlantic Theater Company (it was first staged in London in 2001). The extraordinary cast…
It is not often I see a flawless production of a brilliant play, one which transports me in time and space. One where I stop…
Two people faced with the exact same circumstances – debt, depression, divorce – could react in completely different ways. One muddles through, and the other…
Gertrude – The Cry In the first scene of “Gertrude – The Cry” (a reworking of “Hamlet” focusing instead on the complex Queen Gertrude…
EXIT 13 ENTER 14* “Exit, pursued by a bear.” “The Winter’s Tale” “what is the word” Beckett how shall we know it…
Let me tell you about the very fine, courageous acting going on in a play called “The Clearing” by Jake Jeppson at St. Clements Church…
The terrific Irish actor Adrian Dunbar is appearing off-Broadway on Theatre Row 42nd Street, with a very fine cast that he also directed, in “Brendan…
The usage of Buddy Holly’s music by playwright Bekah Brunstetter in Welthy Holliday Productions beautifully realized version of “Be A Good Little Widow” is ingenious.…
Manhattan in summertime is humid, sweaty and gross. Did I mention smelly? It’s that, too. To make yourself feel better, and smarter, you could take…
LAByrinth Theater is a company that has produced acclaimed productions and collaborations with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bob Glaudini (who are also the founders) as well…
OCTOBER’S REALITY CHECK (autumn 2012: the post-fall fall) 1 topaz tree tops flash warning winter’s white expense some greens yearn for spring 2 flaming forward…
Congratulations to Elliot Murphy: Mayor Bertrand Delanoë is bestowing the Médaille de Vermeil of the city of Paris to an accomplished musician and writer. Mon 1…
If you did not see the multi-award-winning ‘The Exonerated’ ten years ago, now is your chance. Culture Project, on 45 Bleecker Street in the Village,…
The editors, contributors and friends of ONE Magazine join the literary world in mourning one of the greatest writers and essayists of the 20th century.…
At the tail end of the fourth heat wave of this increasingly unbearable 2012 New York City summer, I was looking forward to a bit…
I went into the recent off-Broadway revival of Maltby and Shire’s musical “Closer Than Ever,” presented by The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter’s on…
If you take seven bloodied murderers, four male and three female, and put them in a room together right after they have plotted and killed…
I am not an enormous fan of Neil Simon, and this opinion is largely based on the recent, unsuccessful revivals he has had on Broadway…
From the Editor: In regards to the controversy surrounding MIKE DAISEY, I write to express my full support for THE AGONY AND ECSTASY OF STEVE…
A Ballad of Reading in Gaol (Full version of Scottish Review of Books Essay.) By Martin Belk A young woman hangs back after my writing…
A HAIKU DUO FOR 2012 Hard Times Encore ~a Café Loup haiku~ what a see-saw world these turbulent trying times no exit in sight •…
“You’re not missing anything,” is repeated like a mantra throughout the first act of Nina Raine’s brilliant and provocative “Tribes” by various members of Billy’s…
It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when it comes to the great, early plays of Sam Shepard,
If “The Picture Box,” a new play by Cate Ryan presented by The Negro Ensemble Company (celebrating their 45th season) at the 42nd Street Beckett…
How does society deal with a juvenile delinquent? An “abandoned boy?” In the case of “James X,” written and performed by the astonishing Gerard…
Midway through world premier of “Derby Day” by Samuel Brett Williams in the 42nd Street Clurman Theater, I wrote in my notebook, “The waitress will…
There has been much press about Mike Daisey’s one-man show, “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” down at The Public Theater on Lafayette…
GAMING LIFE “the black idea of winning” –Bertolt Brecht there is no contest no opponent no side to take no stakes to risk no prize…
Family Visits by Alexander Morrissey I am just back from visits. My son and partner were up today and it was good. I had been…
Less than halfway through “Kaddish” (or “The Key in the Window”), a version of Allen Ginsburg’s poem at The New York Theater Workshop in the…
LINING UP FOR FALL fall lineups galore fashion, fiction, Broadway, art fall back time hour saved back to school, work, home routines rousing us to…
And So We Begin By Bash Wallace Today was a gainful day. I left my cell and walked the enclosed pathway to my creative writing…
“Tape,” by Stephen Belber is playing at the June Havoc Theatre on 36th Street in mid-town Manhattan. “Tape” is a pitch-perfect study of the perpetual…
When the last world war ended in 1945, Europe was gutted, short of all the means of maintaining a normal existence, except that, pre-war, the…
We are living through an age without shame, when corruption is endemic throughout society from the highest elected officials down through the guardians of our…
Modern communication technology is effecting events that is involving the forgotten segment of society internationally in a way that no-one foresaw. And that segment is…
At the Atlantic II, in New York”s Chelsea, three plays ran in rep this summer, produced by the 25 year-old company PTP (Potomac Theatre Project,…
The unfolding of the Murdoch saga brings surprise after surprise, and the whole evil empire shows signs of eventual collapse. How can a press mogul…
Historians will have such a wealth of material to deal with then they come to writing up the first decades of the twenty-first century, that…
There is much current discussion about the reform of the House Of Lords and whether it should be elected or not. It should be elected,…
My first encounter with a member of the ‘Pack’ known as ‘Scat’ was on the street, last Thursday, when I noticed a thin young man…
The Sky is falling! No, It’s just the I.Q. of television content.
The Future of Property Among most tribal societies private property does not exist, other than a few utensils and weapons. Everything belongs to the tribe…
History…Today…And Human Destiny How much can one say in a few words? There are certain historical dates: 1914, 1917, 1939, 1945, 1989—and 2011 looks as…
The last century could hardly have been more eventful, although we have become too accustomed to some of its better moments. 1911 was a high…
Dickens was referring to the depth of the French Revolution, but the words are very apposite to 2011, not only in Britain, but nearly everywhere.…
The President of the United States gave a major news conference yesterday. The same President who controls the fate of US and British forces in…
The Grumpy Chef: Cook Like a Kid! Mason Douglas Good god…being a chef can be boring at times… It’s not the hours or the getting…
I love cities. Being in a place where my surroundings constantly buzz and I have little to no idea of what could happen next. So…
ONE 10 prison states of mind contributions from Polmont Young Offender’s Institution Writers
At the upscale New York City restaurant where I work as a waiter, the Rail consists of six tables with roomy armchairs across from six…
Learn how to write a screenplay for the low price of only $299.99! — or at least that’s what the Hollywood establishment would like you…
In the summer of 1978, a telephone call from Rosalie Gomes, an editor at the English-language Paris newspaper, Paris Metro, was to lead to an…
It was utter coincidence that while the immigration debate began raging anew in the US media and tighter restrictions along the US-Mexican border were being…
Edinburgh Notes: Reflections on Gaza Flotilla Day, 31 May 2010 –Charlie Graham Remember the Boxes for Bosnia? When you were at school, or sending your…
Peace in La Paz During the week I recently spent in El Salvador, the only time I felt truly clean was the day we went…
In 1811, by municipal decree, Manhattan Island, between 14th and 155th Streets, was cordoned off into a carefully plotted rectilinear street grid — avenues run…
On the eve of my public conversation with the Premier of New South Wales, Kristina Keneally, as part of a Sydney Writers Festival event on…
The Sense of an Ending –MSP Christopher Harvie I. I have been grateful over the past few years for the hospitality of the Guardian’s ‘CommentisFree’,…
This is Mine: ‘ME-2’ (moi aussi) –Martin Belk Glasgow, May 2010 I get frustrated, searching for ways to outwit, outsmart, outfox the ubiquitous ad campaigns…
Four-Year Stretch: Reflections of a 21st Century Graduate –Peter Simpson You may ask yourself, ‘How do I work this?’… You may ask yourself, ‘Where does…
On May 17, 2010, the justices of the US Supreme Court, in a miraculous decision, barred life terms for young offenders who haven’t committed murder.…
Bebelplatz We huddle, peer through the pane of glass at our feet pebbled with raindrops as a large man crouches down with a folded tissue,…
1. Where are you from? 2. Where are you now? 3. By way of? 4. Would you do it all again? 5. Describe…
Someone in the West Coast of Scotland is reading the wrong web sites. As if a visit by the Pope might not be divisive enough,…
At last a little truth and reality is beginning to emerge from a long period where politicans have treated those who elect them as fools…
The UK election is over. The bombast is past. Now, not only Britain, but most of the world is facing a future that will become…
Politics have always been corrupt, although there have been corrupt, although there have been historical periods when a few individuals have brought up the moral…