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Nick Malakhow

Recommended by Nick Malakhow

  • MinorityLand by Erlina Ortiz
    10 Oct. 2019
    “ What a wonderfully rendered exploration of gentrification and found family populated with dynamic and complex characters. I was most impressed by the nuanced and intersectionally rich cast that allowed for multi-layered conversations about privilege and identity. Ortiz also beautifully balanced comedy with drama, realism with some sublime and meta theatrical poetry. MinorityLand could be produced in any number of cities and speak to gentrification in an immediate and palpable way. I'd love to see this on its feet! ”
  • Bundle of Sticks by C. Julian Jiménez
    8 Oct. 2019
    “ A superb, theatrical delight. Incorporating fantasy, ritual, black comedy, and incisive social critique, Christopher explores conversion therapy, homophobia, and misogyny in ways I've never seen it explored before. Perhaps most impressive is the way that this piece doesn't sacrifice nuance, intriguing relationships, and complex characters for style, despite the extremely heightened world these people are inhabiting. It would be a thrill to see this staged live! ”
  • Zero by Ian August
    7 Oct. 2019
    “ A fast-paced roller coaster ride of a piece that uses exquisitely theatrical magic and compelling narration to explore mental health, trauma, teen relationships, and the puzzling and eternal questions asking us what are young people supposed to do with the anger and emotional weights that saddle them as they come of age and forge identities for themselves? I'm eager to see how this piece develops and hope to see its unique stage magic and narrative techniques come alive on its feet someday soon! ”
  • Can I Hold You?: A New Play on Asexuality by Kari Barclay
    6 Oct. 2019
    “ A tender and beautifully-realized play! Not only does "Can I Hold You?" capture an experience and voices truly not yet represented by the contemporary theater, but it takes that perspective and utilizes it to explore intimacy, friendship, and sexuality in a universal manner. Like the best "small stories," this play's specificity is its strength and the reason behind its universality. Barclay's characters speak with warmth and humor while navigating potent and complex conflicts. I hope to see this piece get developed and produced! ”
  • Pangaea by Erik Champney
    3 Oct. 2019
    “ A fast-moving and absorbing piece! I love this small, intimate story writ large. The characters are all recognizable and human, and Champney breaks up realistic, humorous, and at times wrenching scenes with lyrical poetry. This use of a "chorus" of internal/external/everywhere-in-between thoughts both provides key insights into the characters' inner lives and propels the action forward. The cacophony that leads to the end of act one is invigorating, and the 11th hour revelations at the end of act two surprising and justified. I love how an unexpected (for me) character becomes the audience cipher as the play wraps. ”
  • Last Ship to Proxima Centauri by Greg Lam
    2 Oct. 2019
    “ A thoroughly engrossing piece! Like all great science fiction, it tackles head on contemporary issues--here we are treated to a fascinating exploration of citizenship, immigration, nationalism, remnants of colonialism, and prejudice. The characters are nuanced and recognizable, and the world building natural and fully realized. Lam's clever sense of humor brings welcome moments of levity to some gutting truths and intense conversations about difference and intolerance that our contemporary world must reconcile ourselves with. ”
  • The Interrobangers by M Sloth Levine
    1 Oct. 2019
    “ Sloth Levine has a knack for creating fantastical worlds that incorporate, illuminate, and interrogate queerness in new and interesting ways! Here, they use a satirical riff on the "Scooby Gang" to examine the processing of trauma and to ask what kinds of monsters keep us up at night. "Interrobangers" manages to be funny, whimsical, theatrically fantastical, and a little sexy while articulating some profound truths about queerness, otherness, and the compartmentalization of traumatic events. I love how spooky, ambiguous, hopeful, and satisfying the ending is. I look forward to following this play's trajectory as it develops! ”
  • FUKT by Emma Goldman-Sherman
    28 Sep. 2019
    “ An absolutely extraordinary piece. Impeccably paced and structured, while somehow feeling organic and free flowing all at the same time. Has the kind of soul bearing storytelling quality of a perfect solo show, but obviously it is something else entirely. The most vivid and powerfully depicted example of the effects of trauma on an individual that I've read in a long time or quite possibly ever. Wrenching but far from "excessive"--every detail shared is carefully chosen and profoundly articulated. ”
  • The End Will Hurt by Laura Neill
    26 Sep. 2019
    “ An inventive, briskly moving, and darkly funny look at intergenerational relationships between female family members. The way each central character's media-related antagonist trails them helps physicalize in a gloriously theatrical manner the extent to which we rely on certain crutches to console us and help us come to terms with our grief. There are several surprising and well-earned twists! It would be delightful to see this onstage, and I hope it receives further development and production opportunities! ”
  • meet you at the Galaxy Diner. by Gina Femia
    25 Sep. 2019
    “ So sweet, small, and utterly human. Femia captures the pathos of loneliness and depression balanced with a pitch perfect thread of nuanced humor. The two central characters' evolving relationship/reconnection is profoundly truthful and full of a genuine ache for connection. As a bonus, each character's main supporting scene partner gets their own beautiful arcs. It's rare to see the plight of someone in a relationship with a person coping with mental illness in such a way that shows all of that "caretaker's" warts, missteps, and heartbreak so delicately. Truly a theatrical and sublime work! ”

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