All tagged Dane Laffrey

REVIEW: “Peace for Mary Frances”

“Peace for Mary Frances”, a new play by Lily Thorne, receives a world premiere production by The New Group starring Lois Smith as a fading matriarch of a very dysfunctional family, waiting to die in home hospice.  Hyper-realistic, brimming with both tedium and spasmodic explosions of family feuds, death isn’t always the most compelling experience to observe, but that turns out to be the point.

REVIEW: Marin Ireland in “Summer and Smoke”

Marin Ireland gives a ravishing performance in a first-rate revival of Tennessee Williams’ rarely seen “Summer and Smoke”, jointly produced by Classic Stage Company and Transport Group.  This lyrical, low-rent Southern Gothic tragedy is stripped to its bones by director Jack Cummings, III, allowing the actors to shine uninhibited and deliver riveting and magnetic performances.  This play is a highlight of the spring season in New York, and should not be missed.

REVIEW: “This Flat Earth”

“This Flat Earth”, by Lindsey Ferrentino, unintentionally taps into the headlines to explore what happens when a school shooting shatters the world of a 13 year old survivor; while good ideas and questions abound, the play is unfocused and unrealistic, too lightly sketching its characters and lacking a central, cohesive, and convincing point of view.