Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center

Someone Spectacular

August 13, 2024

Doménica Feraud who has also written "Rinse, Release" has made a career of writing about very human psychological problems. While "Someone Spectacular" is rather untheatrical in its presentation as there are no fireworks which you might have expected in the situation, the characters become more absorbing as we get to know them, their stories and their problems. Not only is it all very real but it is easy to identify with one or the other as we all have gone through some loss in our lives. Tatiana Pandiani’s direction is smooth and fluid if a bit too serene. Some may also find the play comforting if they are going through the same thing or have suffered a loss recently. For the record, that title is explained near the end when Thom states “I lost someone spectacular” which how all the characters feel about their losses. [more]

Three Houses

May 25, 2024

Someone once coined the adage, “Write what you know.” For the past few seasons, we have seen many writers have a lot to say about surviving the Covid lockdown, but none so eloquently as Dave Malloy in "Three Houses." Where there is often the sameness in the stories we’ve heard thus far, Malloy chooses to give us three not so disparate individuals each with a particular heartbreaking loneliness. All three tales are prefaced “so this is the story of how i went a little bit crazy living alone in the pandemic.” Where aloneness is ripe for scenes that are maudlin, Malloy setting these tales to music is rapture. [more]

Bernarda’s Daughters

May 29, 2023

The six-member cast creates a believable ensemble though their roles are not all clearly defined. While the play reveals much about the Haitian community living in Brooklyn, as 'Bernarda’s Daughters" feels almost plotless it seems to drift from one conversation to another with little or no structure. The idea of an updated Americanized version of Lorca’s very Spanish tragedy "The House of Bernarda Alba" is a good one. However, this is not as compelling or successful as Marcus Gardley’s "The House That Will Not Stand" which reset the play in 1813 New Orleans. [more]

My Broken Language

November 14, 2022

Hudes has directed her own play in a delightful vaudeville/musical comedy style with dancing between the scenes to choreography by Ebony Williams to live music played by pianist Ariacne Trujillo-Durand, supervised by Alex Lacamoire. Of the five actresses who perform each in their own inimitable style, three of them have appeared in Hudes’ plays before: Daphne Rubin-Vega and Zabryna Guevara (who play the Author twice each) have appeared in two New York productions and Marilyn Torres has appeared regionally in the Pulitzer Prize-winning, "Water by the Spoonful" at The Old Globe, San Diego. By the end of the evening we feel we have met all of the Perez women as well as know what makes the Author tick. [more]

Our Brother’s Son

May 6, 2022

Freshman playwright Charles Gluck, a retired gastroenterologist who has finally followed his dream to write a play, has turned out one terrific piece of theater. There is virtually no superfluous dialogue in this script; almost every line serves a specific purpose, whether it’s to provide key exposition, continue to build the play’s fully three-dimensional characters or to accelerate and intensify the dramatic through point. [more]