Why 'Daniel's Husband' Resonates More Than Ever
By BRIAN SCOTT LIPTON
Actor Ryan Spahn on why he's starring in this play a third time
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Over the past three years, Ryan Spahn has portrayed the same part in three separate runs of the same play. And yet, due to major political upheavals during that time, each successive mounting of Michael McKeever's emotionally charged Daniel's Husband has felt more urgent. Spahn plays...
Why a Lawyer Felt Compelled to Write 'American Son'
By REGINA ROBBINS
Playwright Christopher Demos-Brown makes his Broadway debut with the racially charged drama
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The new Broadway play American Son explores the notion of justice (or lack thereof) by chronicling a fraught night in the life of a Florida family whose teenage son has gone missing. His parents, an interracial couple played by Scandal's Kerry Washington...
It May Not Be True, But It Feels Real
By JUAN MICHAEL PORTER II
Ngozi Anyanwu stars in her new play Good Grief at the Vineyard Theatre
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Media depictions of black folk frequently flatten out their complexity. The relentlessly chipper black neighbor on that sitcom, or the magically wise black teacher in that movie only exist onscreen. In the New York premiere of Good Grief at the Vineyard Theatre, playwright...
These Puppet Shows Aren't for Kids
By JONATHAN MANDELL
La MaMa kicks off a monthlong festival of provocative puppet productions
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Food for the Gods is about the killing of black men; Exodus addresses the current refugee crisis; Blind is a solo work about disability. These may not sound like typical subjects for puppet shows, but little about the La MaMa Puppet Festival fits most audiences' preconceptions...
Meet the Big Apple Circus' New Female Ringmaster
By RAVEN SNOOK
How Stephanie Monseu became the ruler of the ring at the 41st edition of the show
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This may be the first year that Stephanie Monseu is standing in the spotlight at the Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center, but she's been training for the job for more than two decades. A veteran variety and neo-vaudeville performer, she cofounded the Bindlestiff Family...
He Doesn't Design Sets, He Creates Environments
By JONATHAN MANDELL
Why Tony nominee Dane Laffrey completely reconfigured the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater for Lewiston/Clarkston
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"You said you needed space; I gave you space," a drug-addicted mother tells her estranged gay son in Lewiston/Clarkston, two plays by Samuel D. Hunter presented as one evening at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. The mother's comment...
Why a Tony-Winning Funnyman Is Letting Others Get the Laughs
By MICHAEL MUSTO
Christian Borle makes his New York directorial debut with the comedy Popcorn Falls
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Christian Borle's comic invention and crackerjack timing have enlivened many a Broadway show over the past two decades. He took home his first Tony Award for his swaggeringly funny turn as Black Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher and his second as a preening, rock...
Watch Our Favorite Clips from 'A Very Wicked Halloween'
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No one mourns for Wicked! That's because, after 15 years on Broadway, Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's musical about the friendship between the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good is still going strong. In honor of this thrillifying anniversary, NBC aired the hour-long concert special A Very Wicked Halloween: Celebrating 15 Years on Broadway...