There is a scene in the haunting early minutes of Eddie Mensore’s impressive Mine 9 that deftly captures the plight of the American laborer in just a few strokes: Forced to choose between working in unsafe conditions or shutting down a dangerous mine, the miners unanimously choose the former. It’s a scene reminiscent of the […]
Author: Joshua Crone
Took up playwriting as a Marine in Southern California and spent the next decade supporting his habit with jobs as a carpenter, programmer, fisherman, teacher, before settling on a career in Polish and German translation. Along the way, wrote and directed plays in Krakow, Berlin and London, earned a Masters in philosophy from the Jagiellonian University and studied directing at the Polish National Film School in Lodz. In 2014, moved to Los Angeles, where he crewed on half a dozen films at AFI, produced several plays and shot his first feature. Currently lives in Astoria, Queens. Recent New York productions include Squatters, Washed in the Blood and The Jail at Philippi.
What They Did: A Review of “What We Do”
An hour before the premiere of “What We Do,” directed by Polina Ionina and presented by The How, I was dragging my feet and running late. Then an ominous text arrived. Dad was in the ER. The past year had seen a diagnosis of Parkinson’s, a broken leg, a crippling cellulitis infection, and now back […]
The Fringe Play as First Date: A Review of “The Buffalo Play”
Conventional wisdom has it that plays make lousy first dates. You sit beside someone you’ve only just met, avoiding eye contact and conversation–a terrific start! To which I reply: It depends on the play. If it’s as original, thought-provoking, and wildly entertaining as The Buffalo Play, which premiered last night at the Tank’s intimate 56-seater, […]
An Englishman, an Irishman and an American Wake Up in Plato’s Cave
Whatever political realities may have prompted Animus Theatre Company’s captivating revival of Irish dramatist Frank McGuinness’s Someone Who’ll Watch over Me, the universally human dimensions of the play are what ultimately justify its extended sentence. The unrelenting image of two, sometimes three, men chained to a wall burns itself into the brain in the course […]
Healing the Divide: A Review of “Skylar”
Dedicated specialists have struggled since the time of Brecht to keep the theatre alive. The diagnosis is clear: Film and television have set in. But approaches to treatment differ. The Broadway and off-Broadway approach, essentially palliative, staves off death with injections of cash for movie stars and elaborate spectacles. Then there is off-off-Broadway, a loose-knit […]