See it if You care about this tough subject.
Don't see it if You don't want to be challenged
See it if You enjoy well acted and thought provoking dramas that leave you thinking about the show, hours after you've left the theatre.
Don't see it if You're in denial about racism still existing in 2016.
See it if Great acting and staging. An interesting look on a very real problem facing minorities, the police and our legal justice system.
Don't see it if If you prefer light musicals!
See it if You like edgy contemporary plays
Don't see it if You like conventionally uplifting theatre
See it if you love poltical plays and want something to think about after the play.
Don't see it if you are uncomfortable addressing racial issues
See it if you are a Bedlam fan (which if you are not you should be) and want a current topic (race relations) addressed well in the theatre.
Don't see it if race relations and thinking are not your thing
See it if your taste runs to intense drama with intelligent content
Don't see it if you want to be amused and not challenged.
See it if you like plays that ask open ended questions and don't tie things up with a neat bow.
Don't see it if you get confused by unconventional staging.
"There isn’t much to criticize in terms of character development, either in the script or in the efforts of the more-than-game cast...Because 'Dead Dog Park' forces us to view this conflict from the perspective of a presumed-innocent white police officer, we are then forced to ask of it: why?...There is a reactionary danger in asking a mostly-white Manhattan audience to side with the white authority figure."
Read more
"Mr. Tucker includes the audience into the decision-making process and challenges the audience to grapple with the play’s themes...Playwright Malawer offers more questions than answers and engages the audience in the maelstrom of crime and punishment...An important piece of theatre that engages the audience in the thrilling matrix of ideas and enduring questions that will somehow determine the quality of life in our collective future."
Read more
"The play’s subject of police brutality toward black victims couldn’t be timelier even though its issues of guilt and responsibility are deliberately left ambiguous...We become immersed in the murkiness of the tragic events and each character’s response, before, during, and after the trial...Eric Tucker handles the multiple scenes and locales in his cleverly minimalist way."
Read more
"While the play sounds as if it could be torn from tomorrow's tabloids, it is neither an indictment of police brutality nor the opposite; nor is it a thriller. It is a taut, provocative drama of ideas...While keeping our attention for a rapid and never-lagging seventy minutes, Malawer and Tucker also stun us—late in the action—with a grand theatrical surprise. All told, 'Dead Dog Park' is an intriguing, topical and thought-provoking piece of drama."
Read more
"Malawer tackles the social and economic fallout of residual racism, the unjust legal system, police brutality, and the travails of law enforcement by focusing on this incident and plunging it into uncertainty...The ensemble works well to reveal the measure of anxiety, pain and suffering...Though there are some minor slow spots...overall the production hits its mark. 'Dead Dog Park' is an important play because of its powerful message and because of its undercurrents."
Read more
"This ensemble cast is nothing short of exemplary and the script by Barry Malawer is powerfully bold in its construction of character-driven, intelligent dialogue...Eric Tucker deserves accolades for nurturing such compelling performances from his top-notch cast and creatively staging the action. All involved with this production should feel pride...If one play deserves to makes the jump from Off-Broadway to Broadway this year, it should be 'Dead Dog Park.'"
Read more
"Malawer's dialogue is precise and curt, though at times inevitably bordering on cliché…The six-person cast delivers a first-rate performance, sustaining the story's compelling pace…Tucker knows how to get the most of a story told with a small cast…The result: a story that would normally take much more time to be told in a traditional production unfolds at a break-neck pace, often affecting intense raw passion. And the result is a memorable play."
Read more