The Shoplifters: return it

Morris Panych’s The Shoplifters is so slight that it almost doesn’t exist—although it does contain the beginning of an idea. That idea is that raw capitalism is unjust. Dom, a zealous security guard who’s training in a Superstore kind of place, apprehends a savvy old...

The Amish Project—without the Amish

The Amish Project is a sentimental fictionalization of a tragedy. In 2006, a shooter entered a school in the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. He held ten girls hostage and shot eight of them, killing five. The Amish responded with forgiveness, reaching...

Yoga Play: steady that pose

  If only it had a middle. Yoga Play has an enticing beginning and a meaningful conclusion. But, in between, it gets lost in low-stakes plotting. In Yoga Play, American writer Dipika Guha takes aim at the commercialization of an ancient ascetic practice. Think...

Much Ado About Nothing: It’s about more than this

A director needs to create a coherent world for a production. That’s their primary job. But Rebecca Patterson’s take on Much Ado About Nothing is all over the place. Much Ado is an interesting choice for Classic Chic Productions, which mounts all-female shows. The...