Office Hour NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (124)
See it if for an intense play focusing on issues needing thought-like well done plays that leave you open to after thought & discussion
Don't see it if Opposed to loud gun shots. Don't like gripping theater. Don't like a play that's not neat & tidy.Expect a fun light show.
See it if You are interested in the role of teachers as moral coaches for teenage students. Are they trained professionals?
Don't see it if You are not interested in the current problem of student safety in schools. You shock easily. Read more
See it if Superb acting by the two principals + playwright skilled at slow escalation of intensity + masterful staging and sound design = WINNER
Don't see it if you want fun! or are in any way triggered by the sound of gunfire -- this play is about the gun wars and has intense use of live blanks Read more
See it if Very good writing and interesting story she is a good playwr
Don't see it if Guns bother you
See it if moving, urgent exploration of our paranoia-fueled minds struggling with our better angels.
Don't see it if you just need peace, without reminders of gun-violence
See it if You are prepared for multiple moments of simulated violence and dialogue that paints cringe inducing images
Don't see it if You want a tidy narrative. This does not offer any easy analysis or answers.
See it if you seek a tense, eloquent, well-acted take on the timely topic of school shooting that also explores compassion, loneliness & misjudgment.
Don't see it if you expect any concrete conclusions to a complex topic. [The show asks more questions than it answers.]; you're uncomfortable with violence.
See it if You want to see an intense show about a very touchy subject
Don't see it if Seeing a play about gun violence is going to bother you. Read more
Critic Reviews (25)
"More suspenseful than any thriller, but Cho isn't after easy shocks; she wants us to think, long and hard, about why such terrible incidents happen...One of the playwright's smarter decisions is to make Gina of Asian heritage, as well, giving her some insight into him and saving 'Office Hour' from any white-savior narratives...A remarkable duet, performed with unyielding commitment as it builds to a furious emotional pitch."
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“’Office Hour,’ directed with simmering tension by Keller, has the power to unnerve and infuriate as it exposes a system that by design makes it seemingly impossible to thwart the next attack...Avoids heavy-handed polemics, focusing instead on character relationships...The performances are uniformly strong, and they transcend archetypes. Kim and Lee effectively negotiate the dangerous pas de deux between the compassionate teacher and agitated student."
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“Not only is Julia Cho's ‘Office Hour’ rivetingly acted by Sue Jean Kim and Ki Hong Lee, it is one of the few plays in recent memory to tackle a major social problem and offer an explanation or answer to society's needs. Under Neel Keller's astute direction and the production team's superb physical production, ‘Office Hour’ is both an important play and a compelling event in the theater. You may not agree with Cho's conclusions but you will not be bored for a moment.”
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“Painfully relevant...’Office Hour’ effectively adds an as yet little explored racial component to the frightening range of dysfunctional people using powerful rifles to vent their frustrations...With both Sue Jean Kim and Ki Hong Lee giving affecting performances...Keller's taut direction, Akerlind's lighting, and Moor's soundscape give Gina's efforts and Dennis's responses a truly scary and dramatically provocative edge that takes it into psychological thriller territory.”
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"Cho has written a relevant commentary on the new violence erupting in schools and colleges nationwide...These episodes contain lots of silence, more than pregnant pauses, that are off-putting and distracting which, in fact, director Neel Keller obviously didn’t count on...There is a predictability as the story moves along and also some surprises...A reminder of the on-going violence that plagues our society on a daily basis and the cost."
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"Do we require this to make us sensitive to the mass shootings that are so prevalent today?...'Office Hour' isn’t opening our wound for examination so it can heal, but instead, creating a thicker, tougher callus. Is that necessary?...The performances are all solid...Neel Keller’s delicate direction allows his actors the space to bring these characters and their stories to life."
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“An intense and provocative drama...A meditation on gun violence and the perceived power of human connection...Much of ‘Office Hour’ is a two-hander filled with a tension that crackles in the air...Their performances are filled with pain and yearning for human connection...’Office Hour’ makes an interesting case for appealing to a person’s humanity and empathizing...But Cho also shows us that it’s not always easy and straightforward as that."
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“Performed by a most excellent cast...One of the problems with the structure is that a greater sense of Dennis’s disturbance is hard to pin down or deepen. The ideas about power, silence, and the act of making oneself unlikeable are thought-provoking, and definitely keep us sitting on the edge of our seats, but what does it truly add up to in the end? They feel like fragmented concepts rather than a portrait...As a piece of theatre, we hope for a deeper understanding.”
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