From the category archives:

Theater

Marin Ireland and Peter Kim in "Maple and Vine." Photo Credit: Sara Krulwich.

Jordan Harrison’s play Maple and Vine at Playwrights Horizons, directed by Anne Kauffman was a very intriguing story. Marin Ireland plays Katha a woman who has nightmares and hasn’t been the same since she had a miscarriage. That day changed her life, since then she felt empty with no path worth taking, she wasn’t sure who she was. She is married to Ryu played by actor Peter Kim who stood by her side all the time. One day, Katha meets Dean played by actor Trent Dawson who shows her a different life, the path worth taking towards happiness, or so Dean promises. [click to continue…]

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Roxanna Hope, Michael Laurence and Matthew Schechter and Dael Orlandersmith in "Horsedreams." Photo Credit: Sarah Krulwich.

Horsedreams by Dael Orlandersmith at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, wasn’t what I expected, but it was a great performance none-the-less. Dragged into the live scene of a packed club, we are introduced to young Desiree (Roxanna Hope). She lives for the night life and self-expression.  Desiree is a woman that can’t be chained, but is meant to be loose. On the dance floor she meets Loman (Michael Laurence), a corporate man that she doesn’t feels attracted to. Loman is grooving on the dance floor and spots Desiree, amazed by her beauty and body.  Their relationship soon leads to marriage and a life in Westchester.

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Gary Wilmes and Jennifer Lim in "Chinglish." Photo Credit: Sarah Krulwich.

David Henry Hwang’s new Broadway play Chinglish at the Longacre Theater, directed by Leigh Silverman, follows the bumbling escapades of American Businessman (and former Enron executive) David Cavanaugh (Gary Wilmes) as he tries to win a deal for his sign-making company in China. The story begins as Mr. Cavanaugh listens to advice from his “consultant” Peter Timms (Stephen Pucci) about how to succeed in corporate China. Mr. Timms explains that the Chinese admire big gamblers, regardless of whether or not they win or lose. This is a fitting opening to the play; which, as a bi-lingual Broadway show, is a big gamble itself. The super-titles projected onto the set in translation of the Chinese offered many laugh-out-loud moments as only the audience could understand the comic miscommunication occurring onstage. The biggest laughs of the night were achieved through the super-title translation; and yet the necessity of constantly reading the super-titles distracted from the facial expression and nuance of the actors. [click to continue…]

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Playwright Jordan Harrison on set for "Maple and Vine." Photo Credit: Sara Krulwich.

Maple and Vine, a play by Jordan Harrison, tells a complex story as it compares and contrasts life in 1955 and the present. We are offered an intriguing premise of a society and organization that endlessly perpetuates a lifestyle from 1955. The play manages to show us the suburban culture from this era but fails to deliver a unifying message or to demonstrate an overall theme. The overall narrative ends in two directions at the end. [click to continue…]

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Stephen Pucci and Jennifer Lim in "Chinglish." Photo Credit: Sara Krulwich.

David Henry Hwang’s new play Chinglish deals with communication and loyalty in today’s world, two large aspects of doing business. Thus, the hapless Midwestern businessman Daniel Cavanaugh (Gary Wilmes) opens the play with an explanation of chinglish, which describes the loss in translation of words between Chinese and English. He is trying to revitalize his failing signage company by finding a new market in a smaller Chinese city; he is convincing Minister Cai Guoliang and Vice Minister Xi Yan, Larry Lei Zhang and Jennifer Lim respectively, to contract him. To this end, he hires Peter Timms, an english teacher/business associate played by Stephen Pucci, to both translate and coach him. Here we learn the important concept of guanxi which describes the interpersonal relationships, social debts and capitol, and human networks in China. Guanxi forms the basis for business in China and remains an important theme throughout the play. [click to continue…]

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Bringing the Fifties to the Twenty First Century

by Sean Scotto January 19, 2012 Teen Reviews

Ever feel like you were born in the wrong time period? That’s an understatement for Katha and Ryu. Maple and Vine, written by Jordan Harrison and directed by Anne Kauffman, is the story of a married couple named Katha and Ryu (Marin Ireland, Peter Kim) living in the modern world. They are living an average [...]

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Ascuncion @ The Cherry Lane Theater

by Mary Rose Mueller January 11, 2012 Teen Reviews

The simple stage of Jesse Eisenberg’s new play Asuncion (produced by the Rattlestick Theater Company) is an apartment of at least two single males.  As the lights go on, we watch a man in his late twenties, smoking pot, wander out on the stage, light candles, and start playing with a keyboard and African drum. [...]

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Acrobatics + Dance + Theater = Traces

by Katherine Brannan-Williams January 11, 2012 High 5 Freelancer

There are none of the typical signs onstage at Union Square Theater indicating that a circus-type show is about to start, except for two vertical poles dead center. Replacing carnival rings and nets and clowns are everyday objects such as chairs, a piano, a wooden desk, and…a screen with my face on it? I recognize [...]

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On The Corner of Maple and Vine

by Cecilia Kim January 4, 2012 Teen Reviews

Katha lies awake in bed, unable to fall back asleep. The screech of cars, their loud neighbors, the soft rush of the sound of nature (must-haves for all insomniacs) echo in the small theater at Playwrights Horizons and Katha, played by the vivid Marin Ireland, lies awake in the middle of this all, unable to [...]

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Blue Man Group @ Astor Place

by Jessica Bain January 4, 2012 Teen Reviews

Going to see the Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theater was an amazing experience, especially being one of the first performances I’ve watched in a while. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was a completely non-verbal show with the only dialogue coming from props, not the actual performers. The [...]

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Blue Man Group @ Astor Place Theater

by Danielle Nelson December 21, 2011 Teen Reviews

Three men dressed in black with their faces painted blue, making music, creating art, and poking fun at contemporary media all the while being completely silent. These were my lasting impressions of the Blue Man Group performance created by Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, and Chris Wink that has been taken place in Astor Place Theater [...]

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Maple and Vine at Playwrights Horizons

by Logan Erickson December 6, 2011 Teen Reviews

Stop. Take a breath… relax. The frenetic pace of modern American life is overwhelming. Nostalgia for a simpler, happier time is rampant in today’s megalomaniacal society. Jordan Harrison’s “Maple and Vine,” directed by Anne Kaufman at Playwrights Horizons follows a young married couple—Katha and Ryu (Marin Ireland and Peter Kim, respectively) who abandon the hustle [...]

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How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

by Aglaia Ho November 30, 2011 High 5 Freelancer

Climbing the corporate ladder has never been a facile task.  How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is an entertaining classic Broadway musical which has returned to the Great White Way in a new elegant and star-studded production.  It follows J. Pierrepont (Ponty) Finch (Harry Potter star, Daniel Radcliffe), as he navigates the World [...]

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