[PORTO]
After a hit run at The Bushwick Starr, Kate Benson's surreal play about the patrons of a local bar in a gentrifying neighborhood transfers to the WP Theater.
... Read moreA woman walks into a bar. Her name is Porto. She’s a regular. She likes this bar: serious food, serious wine, serious bartender–a staple in a gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood. Her friends, her wine, and her artisanal snacks are there; her doubts about being a modern woman are put on snooze. A handsome stranger walks in and orders something special. Disruption ensues: an upside-down romantic comedy unfolds inside and outside her head. Desires of all kinds are awakened with a ferocious thump. A nice smile is a nice smile, but can we enjoy the sausage once we know how it’s made?
- Official Site
- 1 hour and 30 minutes
- Opens on January 29th, 2018
- McGinn/Cazale Theatre (Upper W Side)
Cast & Creatives (15)
![WP Theater: Producer in [PORTO]](http://d4ov6iqsvotvt.cloudfront.net/uploads/theater_company/logo/62/Women_s_Project_2x.jpg){kind=logo}
![The Bushwick Starr: Producer in [PORTO]](http://d4ov6iqsvotvt.cloudfront.net/uploads/theater_company/logo/55/thebushwickstarr_2x.jpg){kind=logo}
![New Georges: Producer in [PORTO]](http://d4ov6iqsvotvt.cloudfront.net/uploads/theater_company/logo/484/458355580.png){kind=logo}
![Kate Benson: Playwright in [PORTO]](http://d4ov6iqsvotvt.cloudfront.net/uploads/user/avatar/2927/KateBenson.jpg)
![Lee Sunday Evans: Director in [PORTO]](http://d4ov6iqsvotvt.cloudfront.net/uploads/user/avatar/80298/lee.jpg)
![Noel Joseph Allain: Cast in [PORTO]](http://d4ov6iqsvotvt.cloudfront.net/uploads/user/avatar/132784/Noel_Joseph_Allain.jpg)
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Reviews (11)
4 Critics' Reviews
for a previous production "Stealthily ferocious, comfortingly hopeful, very funny new play...A delicate mechanism, it hasn’t fully found its rhythm off the page, despite a largely excellent cast led by the wonderful Ms. Sirna-Frest...There is plenty of longing to go around in '[Porto]'...The path to pleasure in sausage, as in life, can be brutal, messy and seriously disgusting. A little precious, too. Yet the play is ultimately an exhortation to get out of your head and live, in thoughtful pursuit of joy." Full Review
for a previous production "A feel-weird comedy...While the cast is lovable, Benson's project is to use these endearing elements for a dark end. Essentially, '[PORTO]' undermines self-gratification itself. In the script, the word underbelly keeps emerging in different contexts, and the word's ugly, sagging quality lurks everywhere. The play, while presenting as an adorable comedy, forces us to feel revulsion at our basic pleasures, whether that's bacon or sex or company. It's a good piece, but beware—it's also effective." Full Review
for a previous production "Kate Benson's sweet, thoughtful new play...The poetic, slightly surreal drama meditates on habit and indulgence and the social and economic structures shaping our private lives…Evans's intimate production serves the play's delicacy…The ensemble cast...delivers warm, sympathetic portraits of figures that, to a Brooklyn audience, are familiar: evoking our own daily lives, with our own unexamined habits and pleasures, awaiting us after the lights go down." Full Review
for a previous production "A thoughtful and often surrealistic meditation on the contradictions and hypocrisies of contemporary urban life…Benson and her director Lee Sunday Evans gently and not so gently lampoon the milieu in which the play lives…The play is universally well acted…Issues frustrated me, but it’s a testament to Benson and Evans’ engrossing work that I felt so invested with getting to the bottom of my own feelings about what they had presented...This is a compelling work that deserves to be pondered." Full Review
7 Members' Reviews
See it if you like theatre that pushes boundaries and plays with the typical "rules" of a play.
Don't see it if you want a traditionally staged play. This show is anything but traditional (though it's not experimental or absurd at all()
See it if This play provides a mocking look at the hipster phenomenon. Is that a farm-to-table, ethically raised piece of sausage you're eating?
Don't see it if you have no idea what a hipster is supposed to be, never ate out in Brooklyn, or are a hipster who thinks hipsters should be taken seriously
See it if You want to have a surreal and ironic look into the " lives " of some men and women who spend time in a bar in a gentrified borough of NYC
Don't see it if you want a show with a clear storyline without continuos shifts and turns....
See it if You have no fear of the L train, and are up for a great snarky female-centric view of life in the bearded boro.
Don't see it if You choose not to demean yourself by attending events in minor venues in non theater nabes where they feature exciting creative stuff.
See it if see for an unique and interesting narrative about singleness, dating, and gastronomy. Excellent design, direction and ensemble performances.
Don't see it if if you're expecting the next great American play. [Porto] is an entraining 90 minutes, but I was hoping for a little more in the writing...
See it if you are a sad white hipster who wants to see other sad white hipsters mope about their lives for 90 minutes.
Don't see it if you don't want to be surrounded by sad white hipsters watching other sad white hipsters mope about their lives for 90 minutes.
See it if You respect playwrighting that plays with the form. Female focus on loneliness, gentrification, and humanity. Intentional stereotypes.
Don't see it if You want a straight cause and effect narrative with major events. You have trouble caring about anyone with privilege.
Also The direction is masterful. The sets are highly detailed and transport... Read more Read less