Samantha Soule

On the Town with Chip Deffaa: “As You Like It” On Stage and “Banded Together” In the Movies

May 9, 2023

Each was an individual; I liked hearing all of the different voices and accents and inflections. Each one brought his or her own personality to the work. But—and this is a compliment--they were all performing the play in the same fundamental manner. As performers, they were all on the same wavelength. (Kudos to director Kelly Brady and company.) The characters were talking with one another--not offering orations directed at the audience. The actors all knew the material so thoroughly, they were able to speak their lines easily to each other, with utter naturalness, in a conversational way. They were giving us Shakespeare’s words. But they weren’t delivering speeches to us; they were interacting with one another the way people in real life do. And that made the play come alive for us. It wasn’t a historical relic. The characters felt like human beings, with the same sorts of feelings we all have. We could relate to them. [more]

The Convent

January 31, 2019

While Jessica Dickey’s "The Convent" may not have any new answers and may cover familiar material, it does so with such vitality and theatricality, that it becomes a memorable experience. Under the direction of Daniel Talbott, the seven actresses led by Samantha Soule and Wendy vanden Heuvel are compelling and expressive. By the time the play is over, the audience have experienced much that the inmates of the retreat have gone through. [more]

Transfers

May 1, 2018

As Cristofer, Juan Castano is riveting in his honesty and his assurance. You could hear a pin drop during several of his monologue confessions as to why he didn’t do as well as he might have. His performance is almost frightening in its intensity. As the bookish Clarence, Ato Blankson-Wood is his diametric opposite, well-spoken, sensitive to other people, politically correct, well-mannered and able to hold his own in an intellectual conversation. He is equally intense in a quieter, more refined manner. Although both young actors have impressive New York credits, they should be better known after this. [more]

Barbecue

October 25, 2015

Robert O’Hara’s "Barbecue" may seem like a series of sleights of hand, but as a satirist of American culture, the playwright has a good deal to say about how the media shapes and defines our culture by how it reports the evens of the day. Under the direction of Ken Gash, Barbecue will take your breath away at its invention and cleverness while holding up the mirror to our natures, exactly what theater is supposed to do. [more]

A Fable

June 1, 2014

Playwright David Van Asselt's is set "Somewhere, almost anywhere, below the equator." It feels like an academically imagined recreation of something that would have played at LaMaMa in 1967 for a thesis project. Debatably borrowing from Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, The Living Theatre, Candide, Urinetown and The Cradle Will Rock, it's a wearying odyssey. [more]