Raven Snook

Director Michael Longhurst isn’t big on naturalism—at least not for the shows he helms. That’s part of why he and playwright Nick Payne work so well together. Over the past three years, the British compatriots have collaborated on a number of thought-provoking productions. Now they’re both making their Broadway debuts with Manhattan Theatre Club’s Constellations, […]

Playwright Jenny Rachel Weiner uses broad comedy to explore the drama of preprepubescent girls — While most dark comedies about adolescent angst take place in high school (see Heathers, Mean Girls, et al), playwright Jenny Rachel Weiner thinks the anxiety sets in before the teen years. Even now as an adult, she still finds tweens […]

Whether protesting climate change, racial injustice, or overconsumption, Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping do it in glorious song — It’s going to be a very busy Thanksgiving weekend for the Talen family. For the holiday, Bill Talen, better known as political performance artivist Reverend Billy; his partner and longtime director, Savitri D; […]

Welcome to Building Character, our ongoing look at performers and how they create their roles When director Scott Ellis called Alessandro Nivola back in 2012 about playing the part of moralistic Victorian doctor Frederick Treves in a mounting of The Elephant Man at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the actor knew he couldn’t say no. After […]

Two new immersive shows at the Park Avenue Armory appeal to grown-ups as much as children

Circus Amok’s latest show marks 25 years of public fun (with a message) — When my then-three-year-old first saw Jennifer Miller, she blurted out, “You’re a girl with a beard!” It’s an exclamation the Circus Amok founder has gotten used to hearing over the decades, whether she’s onstage or off. A performer, playwright, Pratt professor, […]

Though the Off-Broadway musical comedy Pageant could be described as a beauty contest with drag queens, you should banish all images of RuPaul’s Drag Race from your mind. While it’s true that the show’s six sparkly contestants, all vying for the coveted title of Miss Glamouresse, are played by men in women’s clothing, they’re not […]

Drunk Shakespeare, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, the Accidental Shakespeare Company: the Bard’s plays are constantly being reinterpreted in unusual ways. Even in this offbeat company, however, the Puppet Shakespeare Players stand out. In Puppet Titus Andronicus, now at the Beckett Theatre, one of Shakespeare’s most notoriously bloody tragedies is reimagined by kooky felt creatures […]

Although the Peccadillo Theater Company’s new comedy Drop Dead Perfect sends up a wide range of American cultural touchstones—from The Glass Menagerie to I Love Lucy to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? —its greatest inspiration is arguably the high-camp, cross-dressing work of Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company. As with Ludlam classics like The Mystery of Irma Vep , Drop Dead Perfe