Standing Room Only

October 24, 2021 On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. It was the climax of the subprime mortgage crisis, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, involving more than US $600 billion in assets. Before there was Lehman Brothers, the financial firm, there were the three immigrant Lehman brothers. Their story was made into a […]

November 12, 2021 Watching a revival is often like visiting an old friend. A little awkward at first but soon enough everything becomes familiar again. Yet with “Caroline, or Change” presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company, I felt as if I had never seen it before. Was it so different? Had it not made an […]

November 8, 2021 If I had a product to sell, I’d hire comedian /actress Jackie Hoffman to be my spokesperson. With her rubbery face and perpetually dour expression, she’s believable. She would never lie! On top of that, with every line she delivers, every move she makes and note she hums, she’s downright funny Yet […]

November 15, 2021 One young man rejects a scholarship to MIT so he can stay home to care for his mother and younger siblings; he’s Depression. An older Nigerian man shares knowledge and tales from his youth; he is Wisdom. Love, a third man speaks in lyrical language as he rhapsodizes about women. These are […]

November 14, 2021 The playwright George Bernard Shaw must have been a feminist long before the movement became popular. He used his plays to decry the few opportunities for women and observed how they were being abused. His response was to create strong independent female characters in his plays.  Although viewers wish for a happy […]

A group of characters gather at Laine’s boarding house. They are running away from something or to something. It is 1934 in Duluth, MI, ( actual birthplace of Bob Dylan) and people are still reeling from the aftermath of the Depression. Written and directed by Conor McPherson (“The Weir,” “Shining City,” and “The Seafarer,”)  “Girl […]

November 24, 2021 Photo credit: Joan Marcus We have a conflict in America. While it is built on the shoulders of immigrants,and the Statue of Liberty stands tall in New york harbor, our policies discourage immigration.Based on a 2007 movie starring Richard Jenkins,The Visitor at The Public Theater tackles some very current and heart wrenching […]

November 29, 2021 Siblings can be a blessing. It’s even nicer when they live nearby. In “Morning’s at Seven,” the revival of Paul Osborne’s play at the Theatre at St. Clement’s, they are a little too close. The four Gibbs sisters live within walking distance of one another. Unmarried Arry ((Alley Mills) has lived with […]

December 3, 2021 For some, food is merely sustenance; for others, it is an art form. And for the former convicts who work at Clyde’s, a truck stop in Berks County, Pennsylvania, the perfect sandwich may offer a way out. “Clyde,” the exciting new dramedy by Lynn Nottage at the Helen Hayes Theatre, is hysterically […]

December 11, 2021 “What’s your justification?” demands the director, prodding his actors to consider their characters’ motivations in the play “Trouble in Mind.” Playwright Alice Childress had her own motivation when she wrote the play 60 years ago. She wished to portray how Blacks were being depicted in theater. Produced in 1955, the play was […]