Recommended by Ricardo Soltero-Brown

  • SECRET'S OUT
    15 Feb. 2018
    Burdick's ruminative romp stokes both bashful and genuine laughs as two men attempt to demystify just what in the blazes it is the gods have thrown their way. The consternations they accumulate are paralyzingly comic. They seem to get it, but they're never going to get it. You could argue that's their secret.
  • Toxic
    15 Feb. 2018
    Men were taught, when they were younger, when they were boys, a perverted version of confidence; that it was superior to empathy, the essence of self-worth, tantamount to a healthy self-esteem. Catharsis can be anticipated, even sought, but the actual moment is a surprise, that's what it is, that's the point; and the one that playwright Bublitz sets up for Chris mines us with both pathos and humor, that is to say with a dose of humanity. 'Toxic' is a welcome meditation on the urgency to address misconstructed masculinity, and the necessity of redefining it, and the dangers of not.
  • Dinner Date
    15 Feb. 2018
    What a menacing delight of a play! Built on a lovely and hilariously growing tension, this sneaky smirk of a work by Jessica Moss morphs from a wry romantic comedy into an absolutely luscious language play, dark and drastic; the best of all its surprises is its complete and acrobatic leap (over what others may have served as a melodrama manqué) into a most dangerously deadly resistance. This is going to be so much fun for any team. Brava!
  • Genesis
    15 Feb. 2018
    A mesmerizing poetry on the mythic and cosmic connections of self-actualization, divine creation, holy and worldly inspiration, earth, God, beauty, life, and wo-mankind. A soul-stirring feast for the senses, a challenge and a charge; a reflection of all that is out and in. Daley-Sharif's play is a gorgeous, humbling work.
  • FLOATING ON CREDIT
    12 Feb. 2018
    One of the most deft political satires that I've read in a long time. It will no doubt serve as a devastating component in any evening of sketches, a standout piece in any charged revue. The exchange is tense, engaging, clinical, bewildering, brutal, awful, awe-full, abrasive, subversive, layered, straightforward, liberating, and liberated. Exemplary, truly; a bravura work of art.
  • BUG STUDY
    8 Feb. 2018
    I have a deep belief that Strindberg would study this play to Time's end.
  • JELLYFISH
    7 Feb. 2018
    This twelve-page wonder by playwright Jagernauth opens with a back-and-forth bit about hair which made me raise an eyebrow in an effort to hold off heartbreak. It's a hell of a way to start a play. It's followed by the fudge of a forgotten present, and it's at this point just how clear and honest this genuine piece about friendship is going to be. Even the express enquiries of absent acquaintances ring true. This is just how best friends are. The turn comes to a ticket booth attendant. The last half is so deft in metaphor, I cannot ruin it.
  • Turndown Service
    2 Feb. 2018
    We don't really get many gems like this anymore, do we? These bawdy, serio-silly works that were so common amongst the 60s and 70s, from Sam Shepard, Peter and Anthony Shaffer, works of genre, works of plot, and debased laughter. There was a time that people fought for this. I'm here to tell you, I still will.
  • How Are You Called? (5-minute)
    2 Feb. 2018
    Anyone who suddenly became bold enough, curious enough, or determined enough about understanding, or willing to investigate their background will appreciate this play, because there's no promise it will be pretty. The promise is it will be rewarding, perhaps only to your personal, individual soul. Nevertheless. A brief, brave, bracing piece of literature worthy of every advantage any form of Drama could acquire or require, this lovely short asks you to extend yourself, to attend what ever may be asked of your being. This's the entire point of theatre, a universal application of that elusive practicality, that radical idea: empathy.
  • What It Is
    2 Feb. 2018
    Tracey Conyer Lee's outstanding one-woman show is a testament to the use of art in addressing pain, a story about familial and bodily (dis)functions. From an out-of-commission alcoholic father to a pair of poop and pee stories, the night is full of tales and imagery you won't readily forget. The philosophical, existential correlations this character makes are not only anchored by amazing rhetoric and humor, but each is ultimately surprising. She settles truths in ways we don't see coming. A tour de force, surely, for the brave, hardworking actress who commits to this evening of misfortune, patience, and survival.

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