Wilderness NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (54)
See it if you're interested in being moved by the stories of parents struggling to raise their teenagers, based on and interwoven with real people.
Don't see it if you don't like documentary theater.
See it if you like multimedia presentations and want to see a gripping story of young people healed by nature. Anne Hamburger is a genius. Must see!
Don't see it if You are not interested in teenagers and their parents.
See it if You like documentries,true stories, are a parent,sibling or friend of a person suffering from mental illness, addiction or trauma.
Don't see it if You are looking to see a comedy or are upset by the serious subject matter. I saw some audience members moved to tears.
See it if You want to be inspired. You want to learn the emotional journey some troubled youth go through. You want to laugh and cry in the same show.
Don't see it if You don't like dramas. You don't like actors playing multiple roles. You are looking for a comedy. Read more
See it if Last day today. But it's being published. Yay. Great play for parents and young adults. Authentic and moving.
Don't see it if If you like traditional plays.
See it if You want to see something deep and moving about troubled youth. You want to hear the parents view about their troubled youth.
Don't see it if You want light and fluffy. You don't have a problem with extreme measures taken for dealing with troubled youth. Read more
See it if Really powerful and personal. Everyone should be able to relate to something in it. Emotional piece for sure. Clever use of visuals.
Don't see it if You don't like self-examination pieces or therapy centered narratives.
See it if You are interested in plays about current social issues. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to be involved in a Q&A after the show.
Don't see it if You're looking for theatre that is all wrapped up with a neat little bow. Mental health and life is messy, and this show doesn't candy coat
Critic Reviews (5)
"A terrific, moving new multimedia theater piece about troubled youth...Despite the complexity of its structure, the production’s emotional fluency is bell-clear, as is its honesty about the complex and sometimes mysterious roots of the characters’ problems...The young actors are all superb...'Wilderness' is at its eloquent best when it is simplest, when the characters and their parents discuss their lives, in unadorned language, with an honesty that is deeply affecting."
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"There isn't much new here. The play never becomes more than a static after-school special of the '90s. The performances themselves also feel forced and not fully lived in...Director Bockley places this collage together as best as he can, though the performances can never recover from their moments of forced sweater-on-chair ballet. I craved more time with each scene, allowing us to understand and explore each moment with nuance rather than melodrama and interpretative dance."
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"Now and then the juxtaposition of interview footage with scripted scenes took some of the punch out of the latter...Interpretive movement sequences, directed by Devon de Mayo and Patrick McCollum, did not seem entirely necessary but nonetheless fit in with the overall aesthetic. While some of the stories, at times, seemed to become repetitive, the play ends on an uplifting note...In the hands of its talented cast and imaginative creative team, the stories take on incredible life."
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"A compassionate glimpse at the outer edge of teenage angst...A smart ensemble of young actors turns the real-life stories from Hamburger's research into an endearing constellation of high school kids in distress...Though it's poignant to hear from the parents, the interactions between the teens are what's most compelling here...There's a lot of beauty here. Between scenes, the teenagers perform unison choreography, which is, often, evocative and graceful."
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"What could be maudlin and sentimental is anything but. In one of the most vivid moments a kid reveals that her mother tried to hang her when she was younger. A counselor burst out into tears (usually crying onstage is the sign of lazy writing) and when asked why says, 'it just seems like someone should cry,' in a plainspoken way that can only break your heart. One of the greatest strengths of 'Wilderness' is that it feels too real to be a play."
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