Reborning NYC Reviews and Tickets

74%

(59 Reviews)

Positive

80%

Mixed

17%

Negative

Members say

Great acting, Absorbing, Intense, Edgy, Thought-provoking

About the Show

Art and life become disturbingly interchangeable in this dark comedy when a sculptor of baby dolls meets a woman desperate to recreate the past. Emily Bett Rickards (CW's "Arrow") stars.

Kelly is a Reborning artist, she creates lifelike dolls. These dolls are often based on real babies – sometimes for collectors, other times for mothers dealing with the loss of their infants. Kelly lives with her boyfriend Daizy who is a sculptor of a different variety.

Things take a dramatic turn for them both when new client Emily commissions baby doll Eva. The dark comedy that ensues takes an unsettling look at love, loss, trauma, and the power of creation.

Member Reviews (59)

Thought-provoking, Dark, Funny, Great acting

See it if great dark comedy. Well acted, written and staged. Bit of a thriller.

Don't see it if you don't care about trauma, coping mechanisms and consequences.

Intense, Good acting, Drawn out, Edgy, Contrived

See it if you want to see convincing acting in a somewhat unconvincing & overlong psychological thriller focused on the mother-daughter complex.

Don't see it if u suffer from pediophobia; u expect this dark comedy about a woman & her dolls to be merely a charming send-up of a girl & her Barbies.

Critic Reviews (7)

"A Meticulous Artist, Numb to the Touch, in ‘Reborning.’ This play by Zayd Dohrn, about a victim of a horrific crime who grows up to be a dollmaker, is a dark comedy — with a touch of horror."
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"Whatever the best way may be of treating this unappealing situation, 'Reborning' heads in several directions at once. Dohrn, whose dialogue is reliably snappy, treats it with humor at first. Later, the action veers into devil-doll thriller territory, although rather half-heartedly. Melodrama takes over in the later passages."
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"Nevertheless, through the efforts of the actors and valiant direction by Triolo, this dark play does succeed in bringing to light some of the complexities of motherhood, child loss and abandonment through the very unique reborning lens."
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"A compelling three-character play about loss and trauma…described as a dark comedy, the witty one-liners are not delivered to encourage hilarity [and so] this production struggles to maintain a consistent genre."
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"'Reborning,' a dark comedy by Zayd Dohrn, well written and excellently executed; does not allow itself to become bogged down in its big themes, but is entertaining, even at times outright funny, and leaves you feeling very satisfied."
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"Zayd Dohrn's three-person play is a family affair. Director Lori Triolo, who also acts has brought her mom and dad along for the ride: Joe-Marie Triolo's the art director and Peter Triolo designed the meticulously detailed set...It's hard not to project Zayd Dohrn's own parents on to this drama."
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"On paper…'Reborning' embodies a promising idea for a tense drama of parental love and loss, and the lengths to which people will go to deal with the trauma of grief...Dohrn's play presents the problem but does little to dig beneath its surface."
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