Posts

Review: Lend Your Ears to Smith Street Stage's "Julius Caesar"

Image
Julius Caesar Written by William Shakespeare Directed by Jonathan Hopkins Assistant Director: Sundiata Fotso-Chinjé Presented by Smith Street Stage at Carroll Park President St., Brooklyn, NYC May 16-June 7, 2026 Photography by Sam Sulam Summer means Shakespeare in NYC, and of all of the productions to choose from, Smith Street Stage’s annual offerings in Carroll Park, Brooklyn are always a must-see. Even on an unseasonably cool and damp night, this year’s offering, Julius Caesar , has the power to captivate not only those who came to see it intentionally but also dog walkers and other passersby. If Shakespeare’s time seems remote from our own, the Romans who feature in this play were four times as removed from Elizabethan England as Elizabethan England from today. And yet, as Shakespeare made Julius Caesar speak to its contemporaries, so does Smith Street Stage for us today. Featuring both Smith Street Stage veterans and newcomers, the cast is extraordinarily versatile. Save fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: "Trovata una sega!" Sculpts a Spellbinding Story from an Episode of Art Forgery

Image
Trovata una sega! Livorno, Modigliani, and the Legendary Prank of Summer ’84 ( Trovata una sega! Racconto su Livorno, Modigliani e lo “scherzo del Secolo” dell’Estate ’84 ) Written and performed by Antonello Taurino May 17, 2026, at The Rat NYC , 68-117 Jay St., Brooklyn, NYC May 18, 2026, at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU , 24 W 12 St., Manhattan, NYC   Antonello Taurino in Trovata una Sega! Courtesy Teatro della Cooperativa. Research has shown that people will rate the exact same wine more highly if they believe it to be more expensive. The market, in other words, does not so much reflect as create value and prestige. Trovata una sega! Livorno, Modigliani, and the Legendary Prank of Summer ’84 ( Trovata una sega! Racconto su Livorno, Modigliani e lo “scherzo del Secolo” dell’Estate ’84 ), a solo show from actor, comedian, author, and theater researcher Antonello Taurino, suggests that similar dynamics obtain in the art world. Winner of the Tramedautore Festival Selection...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: "White Noise" Finds Empathy for a Serial Killer in the Static

Image
White Noise: Confessions of an Unsuspected Serial Killer with a Background Hiss ( Rumore Bianco – Confessioni di un insospettabile serial killer con fruscio di sottofondo ) Written by and with Danilo Napoli Directed by Yari Gugliucci Presented by Vitruvio Entertainment May 14, 2026, at WOW Café , 59-61 E 4th St., 4th Fl., Manhattan, NYC May 15, 2026, at BAAD - Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance , 2474 Westchester Ave., Bronx, NYC Danilo Napoli in  White Noise . Photo courtesy of Vitruvio Entertainment. If the pressing relevance of the critique by solo show White Noise: Confessions of an Unsuspected Serial Killer with a Background Hiss ( Rumore Bianco – Confessioni di un insospettabile serial killer con fruscio di sottofondo ) of transphobia and homophobia weren't already obvious, we read about the murder of transwoman Juniper Blessing, a University of Washington student, on our way to the performance. The brutal killing of Blessing belongs to a long and ongoing history of violence...
Post a Comment
Read more

News: Drag Performance Art Show "Do a Little Dance" Plays UNDER St. Marks May 22nd-30th

Image
Do a Little Dance is a drag performance art show. A certain gentleman asked Mae to do a little dance, and she froze. She blew it. She blew it! Join her now as she tries to put on the show that she needs to redeem herself through burlesque, live music, lip-syncing, performance art rituals, and other strategies.  Featuring Mae. B. Tomorrow,  Do a Little Dance comes to UNDER St. Marks (94 St Marks Pl, Manhattan) for performances on May 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 30th.  Content warning for partial nudity, sexually suggestive content, needles, simulated bodily fluids. Tickets are available here . 
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: "Patria, The Town of Cain and Abel" Explodes onto the Stage

Image
Patria, The Town of Cain and Abel ( Patria, il Paese di Caino e Abele ) Conceived by Fabio Banfo, Giacomo Ferraù, and Giulia Viana Directed by Giacomo Ferraù Presented by Centro Teatrale MaMiMò and Eco di fondo with the collaboration of the Flamigni Archive May 10, 2026 at Culture Lab LIC , 5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens, NYC May 13, 2026 at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU , 24 W 12 St., Manhattan, NYC May 16, 2026 at The Rat NYC , 68-117 Jay St., Brooklyn, NYC Fabio Banfo in Patria, The Town of Cain and Abel . Photo courtesy of Mamimo Company. Solo show Patria, The Town of Cain and Abel ( Patria, il Paese di Caino e Abele ) brings a narrative of Italian sectarianism and violence in the second half of the twentieth century to NYC at a time when such a story could not seem more relevant to audiences here as U.S. institutions and norms continue to fracture and divisions deepen. As the play's subtitle suggests, Cain and Abel serve as the microcosmic model for the p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Enter Ghost: “Needle & Bone” Connects, and Pierces, Flesh and Veil Alike

Image
Needle & Bone Written by Maggie Cino and Scott C. Sickles Additional material by Montserrat Méndez Directed by Felicia Lobo Presented by drops in the vase at The Flea Theater 20 Thomas Street, Manhattan, NYC May 6-16, 2026 Caye Navarrete, Tom J. Reid, Jeffrey Robb, & Morgan Zipf-Meister. Photo by Adam Fontana. Before the audience at The Flea has found their seats and Needle & Bone fully begins, The Knitting One (Caye Navarrete) is already waiting for us; maybe she always has been. Seated at the side of the stage in a rocking chair, draped in knitting and working their needles in silence, they establish the production’s metaphysical logic before a word is spoken. Around them, yarn winds through the set like exposed nervous tissue, sinews coating tattoo-machine wires and tendrils transforming the shop into something simultaneously workplace, shrine, family archive, and haunted house. At the center of the stage stands the evening’s defining image: a tree growing directly th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: "Traviata - A Free Prose Opera" Reinvents Verdi

Image
Traviata - A Free Prose Opera ( Traviata - Opera libera in prosa ) Written and directed by Andrea Caldi, Fabio Fassio, and Elena Romano Directing consultant: Cecilia Vecchio Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave Based on La Dame aux Camélias , by Alexandre Dumas fils Presented by Bottega di Cyrano – Teatro degli Acerbi May 7, 2026 at Culture Lab LIC , 5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens, NYC May 11, 2026 at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU , 24 W 12 St., Manhattan, NYC May 12, 2026 at Casa Belvedere , 79 Howard Avenue, Staten Island, NYC Andrea Caldi, Elena Romano, and Saverio Bari. Photo courtesy of Bottega di Cyrano. Giuseppe Verdi's opera La traviata ( The Fallen Woman ), which debuted in Venice in 1853 with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, adapted the play La Dame aux camélias (1852), by Alexandre Dumas fils , which was itself an adaptation of Dumas's own novel of the same name, published a few years earlier. Traviata - A Free Prose Opera ( Traviata - Opera l...
Post a Comment
Read more