Signature Plays NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (58)
See it if you love experimental theater. All have fascinating moments w/strong staging and acting. Sandbox is punchy; Drowning slow; Funnyhouse weird!
Don't see it if you like traditional theater. This is highly challenging, unusual material. Not easy enjoyment. Not my thing, but memorable.
See it if you fondly recall the days of avant garde theater, think pretentious is a compliment, like a program of one acts by 3 writers, want to think
Don't see it if you have trouble following the vague, odd, pretentious, let's be weird for weird's sake type of shows, are put off by the odd and bizarre
See it if you enjoy absurdist plays addressing big issues (duty to old re dying, why "monsters" have feelings, etc.); strong acting ensembles
Don't see it if you want your plays to have discernible plots, you'd have no clue about meaning of impenetrable "Funnyhouse of a Negro" without wikipedia
See it if you're willing to be challenged by expert staging of 3 brilliant examples of 60s avant-garde theatre, still powerful & relevant today.
Don't see it if you have no interest in examining the human condition, acceptance, memory and identity, explored in captivating, unconventional ways.
See it if you missed out on the absurdist movement of the 1960-1970'x. It is fun to reflect back on.. What was this?
Don't see it if you need less thought provoking theater. One has to laugh and cry at the Albee 15 minute play It was the first time for us for the last play
See it if You're a theatre aficianado and want to see a great production of three rarely staged plays.
Don't see it if You dislike more abstract/experimental theatre pieces that tend to test your patience.
See it if you dig experimental theater and you're willing to draw your own conclusions.
Don't see it if you expect to be able to clearly discern what the shows you see are intended to mean.
See it if you want an inexpensive night out to see three lesser known plays by known playwrights; you like good acting
Don't see it if you do not enjoy working very hard to follow the essence of the plays; you are looking for action, fast pacing; you want a feel good evening
Critic Reviews (15)
"Under the accomplished direction of Lila Neugebauer, these works still have the power to engage, amuse and, above all, disturb…In every case, this first-rate creative team has done its job. That is to say, they’ve created unfamiliar worlds that somehow feel deeply, ineffably familiar — the sort of places that you visit as you’re falling asleep. And all the places you’ve ever lived, and all the people you’ve ever been, start to mingle and merge into one eerie, endlessly reflected entity."
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"Although wildly diverse, the three pieces that make up Signature Plays are all grappling with death...Albee, Fornés and Kennedy have been breaking rules since the late ’50s and early ’60s, and today’s most daring playwrights have absorbed their influences—but what a joy to hear this raw music straight from the source. Director Lila Neugebauer delivers each work with a custom-tailored design and approach to performance, treating them not as museum relics."
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"A trio of brilliant plays…In each work, Lila Neugebauer's direction is nothing short of extraordinary. With the impeccable performances of her cast, she combines the diverse tones, techniques, and themes into two humorous and frightening hours of theater...This electric production is a feast for the eyes as well as the brain. It's also further proof that Lila Neugebauer is one of the theater's most versatile and accomplished directors working today."
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"Two of the plays, the Albee and Kennedy entries, premiered in the 1960s, a time when 'downtown theatre' was defined by the kind of experimentation and symbolism that baffled as many as it inspired...This is one of those rare instances where an Edward Albee play can be considered the most accessible of a collection...'Drowning'...is a lethargically-paced play...'Funnyhouse of a Negro' at its time, was a rare instance of a black woman writing about black women."
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"A kind of sampler of the avant-garde from the last several decades...The results are distinctly mixed...'Funnyhouse of a Negro' more than lives up to its bizarre gothic atmosphere, making itself the only one of the three plays on display to feel thoroughly contemporary...If the first half of ‘Signature Plays’ offers less than one has any right to expect, the opportunity to see a first-class production of Kennedy's play is not to be missed."
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"The Sandbox,’ ‘Drowning,’ and ‘Funnyhouse of a Negro’ are all major pieces worthy of examination, and given thoughtful, well-considered mountings here under the direction of Lila Neugebauer, so they do not seem depressing per se. What you get instead is a potent, pungent look at how three different towering American theatre artists have approached the difficult subject of identity and conquered it on their own unique, highly theatrical terms."
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"A wonderful evening of absurdist plays…The star of the evening is director Lila Neugebauer. Any lesser talent may fumble with the three plays’ absurdism, or lose sight of the distinctions between each play’s unique approaches to heighted language. Neugebauer excels in finding relatable ties to unfamiliar worlds...It is her acute dramaturgical eye that ties all three distinct plays together in a cohesive evening of theater."
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"Directed by Lila Neugebauer, the 'Signature Plays' are beautifully (it's tempting to say ideally) cast...Each offers a distinctive slant on existential angst, finding humor as well as pathos in the characters' suffering...As studies in loneliness, alienation, and unease, the Signature Plays fit together nicely as a single evening...The themes and the zaniness that marked the mid-century avant-garde are so familiar now, on stage and off, that they're no longer viewed as absurd."
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