Public Servant

See it if A show that starts out fine but spirals after an hour. Good set design and lighting and Ed 's role is well done.

Don't see it if If you dont want a show that gets needlessly political. If you dont want a political show that is pointless in its politics.

See it if ... you'd like an interesting story about a local commissioner with family/parenting problems. Slow pacing. Understated writing and acting

Don't see it if .. you prefer high drama and intense conflict

See it if you like important messages in a play that needs better direction. TBTB goals are great and worthy of support.

Don't see it if you want great interaction among the characters. Difficult to enjoy with hard-to-hear male actor, overly warm theater & uncomfortable seat.

See it if You are interested in the company Theatre Breaking Through Barriers and their efforts to present a play.

Don't see it if You can’t deal with a plot that develops excruciatingly slowly and a play in which there seems to be long pauses between spoken dialogue.

Also I saw the very first performance so presumably the timing will speed up as the actors continue to feel more comfortable with the script. If you are a fan of the NBC TV series “This Is Us” you may expect the playwright who also wrote this, to show the excellence you have been accustomed to, I did not think this was the case.... Read more Read less

See it if you enjoy exploring the lives of characters who try to be good but don't always succeed and of characters with disabilities.

Don't see it if you expect realistic, three dimensional characters who act in complex nuanced ways. These characters were made for TV.

See it if You want a piece investigating reproductive health and how politics relate to a community.

Don't see it if You want a well paced show, with actors responding to each other. Such long pauses, the actors were acting, not reacting.

See it if Too many important issues crammed into a short play thus fragmented in content with awkward scene changes which do not help.

Don't see it if you do not have the patience for a slow moving play

See it if If you enjoy small cast and contemporary themes this might appeal to you

Don't see it if You enjoyed the cake and assumed the same author would bring the same wit and smart dialog to this production

See it if You are interested in a play trying to address contemporary issues

Don't see it if Do not expect anything extraordinary, a bit amateurish, predictable

See it if You want to see a not very original message play about women's rights (abortion) and plight of the middle class (also fertility problems).

Don't see it if You are a theatergoer accustomed to more original, higher-quality off-Broadway productions.

Also I saw this for free. I'd have been pretty upset had I paid 60--or even 30.

TBTB is dedicated to "breaking barriers" and the lead is a competent actor with a disability of some sort. She's good, as is the male actor who plays the commissioner. He was in Gina Gionfriddo's Can You Forgive Her?, which was one of the only plays I've ever thought mediocre (at best) at the wonderful Vineyard Theater theater. He's fine. The young woman is making her off-Bway debut post-Rutgers BFA.

The problem lies in the material. I did not see Cake, but I love This Is Us. I think Bekah Brunstetter is better at TV than that theater, which is lucky for her, as theater leads to poverty and TV leads to real estate in West LA and NYC.

I don't regret seeing it but it's a play that serves only one purpose: to stand up for women's right to determine the fate of their bodies. But no pro-life lunatic is going to see this and be changed. So it's preaching to the choir.... Read more Read less

See it if You like slow-paced drama, with little humor. Plays with a germ of an idea that is barely developed. Adequate acting, awkward direction.

Don't see it if You crave a play that makes you think beyond the obvious, acting that finds complexity of a character. You hate pause-inspired performances

See it if You are interested in the company Theater Breaking Through Barriers and their efforts to present a play.

Don't see it if you have no tolerance for self indulgent characters who make no significant connection to each other or the audience

See it if you enjoy good staging and decent acting by an interesting company.

Don't see it if you don't like talky, fraught interpersonal relationships and a civil service overlay. Main character did not project-strained to hear.