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Lee Kinney

Walden

November 12, 2024

Nevertheless, the play is one of several interesting takes on climate change in the theater recently like "Deep History." As the play evolves we are more and more immersed in the problems of climate change that are now only distant possibilities. The actors are compelling but do not entirely inhabit their roles. Making her Off Broadway debut, Rossum, best known for her work in the Netflix's series "Shameless" and film version of "The Phantom of the Opera," is suitably conflicted as one who has given up her chosen career and taken the opposite path. Winters, known for her breakout role in the HBO series "Succession" as well as many major Off Broadway roles, is more controlled as the current astronaut who is confused by her sister’s current choices. However, both sisters are a little too similar to make them dramatic opposites. In the underwritten role of Bryan, Foster is quite appealing though he can’t fill in the gaps that are missing. [more]

Lessons in Survival: 1971

June 26, 2022

Originally broadcast on "Soul!," an early PBS program dedicated to showcasing Black arts and politics, Baldwin and Giovanni's one-on-one echoes contemporary concerns while also remaining decidedly of its era. Unearthed by a theater collective and other trapped-at-home artists during the pandemic for an online recreation, it has now been transformed again, this time into a staged adaptation titled "Lessons in Survival: 1971." In truth, "googled" is likely the more appropriate verb for how someone found the Baldwin-and-Giovanni conservation, since it is entirely available on YouTube, where, to be honest, it is best experienced, not least because in that digital form it can be rewound for another listen, which a few of Baldwin and Giovanni's complex, unannotated arguments definitely require. [more]

Sunday

September 29, 2019

Though off-putting, "Sunday"’s periodic non sequitur choreographic interludes become a respite from its bad writing and grating performances. For no discernable reason, characters stop speaking and engage in herky-jerky movements accompanied by crashing music and frenetic lighting. “A sort of frenzied dance. Think "They Shoot Horses Don’t They?" But perhaps slightly less macabre,” is the stage direction's description.  The action then resumes. These tangents fill things out as the show is scant on plot. [more]

The Light Years

March 16, 2017

Playwrights Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen with developer Oliver Butler, creatively evoke the tragic, nostalgic spirit of Booth Tarkington’s "The Magnificent Ambersons" and the wonderment of the works of humorist Jean Shepherd. The scenario is engaging and the characters are lovingly rendered. [more]

Homos, Or Everyone in America

November 9, 2016

The pomposity of the Tony Kushner-style title extends to naming its leading characters “The Academic” and “The Writer.” They’re two gay men in their late 20’s and the play charts their meeting, relationship, breakup and aftermath. This is accomplished by a dizzying structure of non-linear, rapid-fire, time shifting brief scenes. This intrusive device undercuts emotional involvement with the couple, as all of the jumping around of the narrative becomes artificial, repetitious and uninvolving. The period covered ranges from 2006 to 2011. [more]

Copyright Jack Quinn, 2001-2023