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Nick Malakhow

Recommended by Nick Malakhow

  • The Geese of El Carmelo Cemetery by Hannah C Langley
    16 Feb. 2020
    “ A sweet and sad piece whose melancholic atmosphere kept me fully engaged throughout the briskly-paced dialogue and poignantly chosen moments in time. I love the way that Langley plays with time. The toying with chronology definitely provided subtle tension at a few key moments towards the beginning of the piece, assisted in the exploration of grief in the wake of tragedy, and taught us much about Corie and Parker's relationship in a few haunting, potent moments. The two are credible and sympathetic characters, and Langley renders them with the urgency and yearning of late adolescence. ”
  • Truth/Dare by Tori Keenan-Zelt
    15 Feb. 2020
    “ Truth/Dare is funny, honest, painful, and haunting. All four central characters have compelling personalities and unique voices, and the way the desires, yearning for friendship, and identities of each girl collide with one another is believable and at times heartbreaking. Keenan-Zelt uses fluidity of time to unique theatrical effect. Time play in this piece serves to build tension, reveal information, and explore the lasting trauma and regret of grief. This would be an excellent vehicle for four (or seven!) young women to dive into complex and well-written roles that honor the complexity and humanity of adolescence. ”
  • Welcome to Matteson! by Inda Craig-Galván
    14 Feb. 2020
    “ This piece is pointed, insightful, funny, truthful, and all around brilliant! Inda Craig-Galvan consistently shows herself to be a master of managing multiple tonal and style qualities in her always theatrical and incisive plays. She powerfully explores gentrification, racism, and local politics in a more effective and unique way than I've seen in other narratives by centering the story on black characters and zeroing in on the ways white hegemonic structures and institutionalized racism turn folk against one another. The theatrical "trick" that ends the piece is, rather than a gimmick, a powerful and potent visual metaphor. ”
  • Monsters Are Made by Hannah C Langley
    13 Feb. 2020
    “ This is an uncompromising and wrenching piece that explores aspects of the aftermath of sexual assault that I haven't really seen examined onstage. Both Ricki and Hunter are exquisitely human characters, and I love how they are put in this heightened theatrical world. Through Ricki, Langley articulates the complex brutality and reality of being assaulted by a friend. In the misguided Hunter, she shows how an acquaintance assailant asking for forgiveness on his own terms can so easily be just another form of attempted control, domination, and trauma. It would be harrowing but powerful to see this onstage. ”
  • The End of Days by Jeffrey James Keyes
    13 Feb. 2020
    “ A poignant and well-written two hander set in its own hermetically-sealed, controlled environment, which allows some beautiful and universal truths about relationships, love, connection, and loneliness to emerge. Kitt and Nina are both well-drawn characters, and their interactions elegantly show their history both in what they choose to remember about their relationship, but also with how they bristle and readjust to being in the same space. As others have mentioned, the tonal balance of humor, melancholy, and fire is well struck and provides for a compelling read. I imagine watching a good production live would feel urgent and intimate. ”
  • When We Get Good Again (formerly, Good) by James McLindon
    13 Feb. 2020
    “ This is a well-crafted, funny piece that successfully explores some excellent moral questions about getting ahead vs. equalizing the playing field in the world of academia. All four characters are credible and sympathetic, and it is fun to see them get to know each other and complicate one another's worldviews over the course of the play. It's a huge credit to McLindon's writing (and, indeed, one of the points of the play, it seems) that I found myself rooting for each character--even the ones I had judged more harshly at the outset. I'd love to see a production. ”
  • Breaking the Shakespeare Code by John Minigan
    12 Feb. 2020
    “ This is a tightly written two-hander that so deftly uses dialogue to both illuminate character and move the plot forward. Not a word feels extraneous in the carefully chosen exchanges between Anna and Curt, and I appreciated how Minigan explores this at times dangerous feeling relationship in a way that doesn't let either character off the hook. Curt's coaching feels authentic even as it is manipulative--and it is certainly difficult to write "good teaching" that comes off as credible in real-time. I also appreciated that Minigan honors the unsettling age/power disparity in scene one, while giving Anna agency throughout. ”
  • PrEP Play, or, Blue Parachute by Yilong Liu
    11 Feb. 2020
    “ A vital, intersectional look at cross-generational and interracial gay relationships (platonic, romantic, sexual, otherworldly) in conversation with the AIDS crisis and the advent of PrEP. Liu crafts a magical theatrical universe with its own set of rules, mixing humor with pathos quite well. The push-pull that Liu renders here of acknowledging the past and contemplating how that is in conversation with progress/today gives voice to a necessary dialogue that often remains unplumbed in queer narratives. While it is a much more intimate piece than, say, "Angels," its thematic aspirations and achievements are similarly lofty in scope. ”
  • Never Have I Ever by Jan Rosenberg
    11 Feb. 2020
    “ I am so grateful that this play exists! The characters are exquisitely rendered and written with a deft and sensitive hand (even when they themselves aren't being sensitive to one another). I appreciate how Rosenberg both captures the experiences of eclectic people living with clinically defined eating disorders, while also exploring the more ambiguous and pervasive ways that shame, body image issues, addiction, self-esteem, and mental health collide in the "undiagnosed masses." All of the characters are fascinating, but I found Ian and Callie to be particularly compelling. Their journeys are poignant, brutal at times, and yet hopeful. ”
  • The Space Between Her Legs by Tiffany Antone
    10 Feb. 2020
    “ This piece is an astutely written, pitch perfect dark comedy about the ways women's bodies are legislated, commodified, and used by patriarchal structures. Antone has crafted some amazingly rendered characters with unique voices, a well-fleshed out fantastical theatrical world, and an insightful exploration of the aforementioned themes in a hilarious fashion. Absurdity is used so effectively to gesture towards the awful and ridiculous real-life themes that are getting metaphorical/theatrical treatment here. The brazen theatricality of the stage directions makes my brain instantly try to imagine the world of this play. I hope to follow its development trajectory. ”

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