Perhaps the philandering professor is a dramatic cliché.  Perhaps a professor who is angst-ridden and self-absorbed is just as much a dramatic cliché.  And perhaps, just perhaps, the professor as a character is just a dramatic cliché, period. Perhaps.  On the other hand, when a play features a formerly philandering, angst-ridden and self-absorbed professor bringing home an exotic dancer who he spends the entire evening lecturing to on the life and works of Dostoevsky before asking of her the most decidedly non-sexual favor you can ask of anyone, you just might find freshness yet. [Read more...]

The Venus Theatre production of Looking for the Pony made me cry.  And I was amazed as I looked around and saw the audience—men and women—wiping their eyes.   Playwright Andrea Lepcio took a personal experience—her sister’s pragmatic fight with breast cancer—and created a beautifully written, humorous, moving work.   If you’re looking for a night of good theatre complete with a marvelous story and fine acting, go see this play. [Read more...]

The intimate Venus Theatre performance space has been cleverly transformed into an old attic by Joe Musemeci. The seemingly low hanging rafters make you feel like stooping. The space is filled with the castoffs of the Diamond family of Ridgwood, NJ: old books, maps, a wardrobe with clothes, even your seats are their mismatched chairs, set along three sides of the room. [Read more...]

Sometimes you have to shine the light of day into the dark crevices of our society to expose problems that we try to hide.  With In the Goldfish Bowl, Venus Theatre focuses that light on four women on Death Row and exposes some of the injustices of the criminal justice system.  [Read more...]

Top Pick! – Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is in town.  The legendary wife of the legendary writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a whirling Southern belle filled with ambition, drive, sophistication and emotional vulnerability, wrapped in a surprisingly tough shell.  [Read more...]

So what would happen if Homer, the playwright, had written for ‘Saturday Night Live’?  You’d end up with something like Helen of Sparta, Venus Theatre’s campy mish-mash of ancient Greece and modern culture.  It’s not great art, but it is great fun. [Read more...]

Why’d Ya Make Me Wear This, Joe? is a strange title for a quirky piece that tries a little too hard to be quirkier than it is. What do I mean by quirky? The premise is straightforward enough [Read more...]

Who knew that the tragic series of unfortunate events that overtake Euripides’ Medea could be spun around and flipped topsy turvy, undergo a cuisinart Hollywood treatment, and come out a funny, zany comedy [Read more...]