"'Touch' is an affecting play wonderfully staged with superb acting…'Touch' tells a very personal story of abiding love, the deep pain of loss, and the potential for healing after a tragedy. It is a completely enthralling show. The four-person cast is exceptional in their roles as they capture raw emotions and often unsettling moments…'Touch' is a show like you've never seen before. The distinctive characters and emotionally charged plot make it unforgettable."
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"A tender and humane play about love, loss, mourning, and a search for meaning, opening tonight in a well-acted and, yes, touching production…'Touch' is at its best when it is fully focused on Kyle as a struggling and realistically complicated, not always pleasant individual…Under Nathaniel Shaw's direction, McElligott does a splendid job of bringing the devastated Kyle fully to life and gives us good cause to join him through the long, sometimes meandering journey out of darkness."
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“Toni Press-Coffman’s 2000 drama now having its first New York revival is a talky play whose first act is told almost entirely in monologues addressed to the audience. However, its depth of emotion and its detailed powerful character study make this an unusual evening of theater. Under Nathaniel Shaw’s compelling direction, the cast of four made up of Pete McElligott, Amadeo Fusca, Emily Batsford and Katrina Lenk are totally believable as they inhabit these characters.”
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"This is a play for grown-ups and not those who have attention-deficit disorder...The splendid cast includes Pete McElligott (Kyle), who carries the play for the first half, and whose subtle, nuanced, always interesting performance is prize-worthy...The excellent director is Nathaniel Shaw...The playwright has expertly crafted a work using astronomy to both define the protagonist’s life and help him cope with death by lifting him above the terrestrial here and now."
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"Playwright Toni Press-Coffman infuses several difficult passages with humor or takes us aside to illuminate earlier, lighter events…Relationships are layered and believable...Though it could be a bit shorter, the play will hold you fast. You may wince, grin, and tear up. Director Nathaniel Shaw has done a splendid job with both staging and characterization…Pacing, paramount in this piece, is marvelous…The nuance and depth of Pete McElligot’s performance is riveting."
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"A fascinating tale of a great love crushed by a violent act, it’s part love story, part murder mystery, and a tender dissection of the human spirit...Artful humor, and flashes of humble yet cosmic grace relieve the sadness…With marvelous skill under the sure hand of director Nathaniel Shaw, McElligott and playwright Toni Press-Coffman continually pull us back in…Dramatic focus and entirely believable points of conflict make this slow-moving story grab hold for its full two hours."
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"It requires a delicate dance to make a character we never see feel real enough for us to care about, while not hitting us over the head with necessary information. Fortunately, the playwright’s text and McElligott’s delivery are more than up to the task...Where the show runs into problems is with the character of Kyle...Direction by Shaw is rather slow-paced...Problems aside, 'Touch' remains a quietly involving piece about the human heart and the ways people respond in times of grief."
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"Nostalgia and grief spill from each expertly crafted line...The dialogue is fresh, raw, ragged, and at times troubling...The entire company has produced a beautiful tragedy about a violence whose effects are felt universally. The actors all deliver a thrilling (sometimes frightening) range of emotions that fill the small Theater C of 59E59...In the intimate room of the theater, there is no choice but be dragged in, to fall in love, to be devastated, to be horrified."
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