There’s a reason why The Whipping Man is becoming one of the most produced plays around — its premise of a Passover Seder among newly freed slaves raised as Jews is mind-blowing, and with the right casting and directing, the play spins old concepts in stunningly creative new ways.  The production at Theater J hits all the marks and then some. [Read more...]

Some shows leave audiences humming a tune on their way out of the theatre. The hum you feel as the lights fall on New Jerusalem is a deeper vibration: the mental buzz that lingers after a wave of big thinking. [Read more...]

Maybe I’m over-analyzing things. But after a thorough review of the evidence, plus an extensive background check, I’m just not convinced that the Kinsey Sicks are actually running for president. [Read more...]

Faith can bind people together under the banner of common belief, or it can create deep rifts, irreconcilable by way of reason or shared history. In Theater J’s lovingly crafted production of Renee Calarco’s The Religion Thing, a polished cast navigates the playwright’s meditation upon the complex role of faith in relationships, marked by a heady brew of razor sharp humor, repressed secrets, and raw emotion. [Read more...]

Some memories waft into view from a lazy distance. Others brew slowly in the back of the mind. No such luck for Quentin, whose trip down memory lane isn’t so much a stroll as a triathlon, elbowed from all sides by the family, friends, and lovers of days gone by. If he runs off track from time to time, caught up in the flashes of what he might have done and said, we can hardly blame him. [Read more...]